Nostalgic Blog

As I look out of the window here the sky is grey and it's raining. Back in the day, before there was 24 hour a day entertainment for children (on-demand television so you can watch whatever you like whenever you like, tablets etc etc), it was the sort of day that we'd mope around, bored. At the time being bored seemed to be the worst thing in the world... apart from going to the dentist... and school dinners... and blancmange... and (I'll stop now!). Cue the 1970s parents' regular refrain... "Find something to do!" Time to explore shelves and cupboards to rediscover things tha..

Back at the end of the 70s a new, how did they come up with that idea, programme appeared on BBC2.  I can remember if it was on Sunday afternoon or, and I think I'd probably plump for this if I had to, at about 6.30 on a Wednesday or Thursday evening. It was called "The Great Egg Race". Ring any bells? The premise was simple... There were teams of boffins (engineers probably)... I think 3 per team and probably 3 or 4 teams... As usual this might be a bit out because I refuse to Google anything until I've written most of this blog post because half of the fun is delving as..

As I'm doing mundane stuff around the house and in the garden I spend a whole load of my time trying to think of obscure nuggets of things that I remember from when I was little.  Not the most obvious stuff... that just doesn't have it (whatever "it" is).  But the leftfield stuff which we've probably all almost forgotten about... That's the stuff that triggers the "oh yes, I remember that" reaction which is solid gold. I was thinking about television, as I frequently do. Saturdays. Swap Shop and Tiswas... Grandstand and Dickie Davis (with his silver hair streak..

How many of these childhood Christmas memories can you remember?

The devil is in the detail they say... and that was certainly true when it came to tokens at Christmas.

One, in particular, made my heart sink when I was 9...

Remember Stickle Bricks?  Take a trip down toy memory lane...

Do you remember View-Master?  It was the sort of 1970s version of Youtube... Sort of... Yes I know that's an incredibly stretched comparison... but there's an element of truth to it. We didn't have a View-Master.  But loads of our friends did.   And when we went round to their houses to play after school I remember frequently having a go with it... and then seeing what other discs they had to view. I seem to remember that they were also quite regular features in the jumble sales which seemed to be so common back then. And if the name View-Master doesn't ..

Do you agree with my controversial list of the worst biscuits ever?

... from an 8 year old's perspective anyway...

How many of these can you remember?  Have I left out your favourite?

How many of these memories remind you of birthday parties when you were little?

Iconic foods you thought had long since disappeared... or have they???

It was one of the staple puddings of school dinners at our junior school.

In the queue I would repeat to myself internally...

"Please don't let it be... please don't let it be..."... willing it with all my might.  What was it?

I say that these are the most nostalgic snacks ever.

Or am I wrong?  You decide...

Remember when the coolest cats wore orange foam headphones?

Did did you do this too on Sunday afternoons?

They wrote well.  They leaked horribly.  But what else were they really good for?  

They were unscratchable... and you could smear them with butter and jam, pour coffee over them... wipe'em down and then pay them.

Because Tomorrow's World said so!

Do you remember tribbles?  Or this song from 1987 that was number 1 for two weeks?

There's one item from my childhood that stands head and shoulders above all others as being completely and horribly unfit for purpose.

What's brown and not very sticky?