Good Old Times

[Van Buren Supernova]

So I was just thinking about most youngsters nowadays have known internet all their lives. Social media is how they always communicate, to express opinion, share thoughts and get connected. It's always the norm to construct their public profile or persona.

 

Everything, their existence, is out there, just a easy type and click away. They hardly know anyway else.

 

Some probably don't understand the struggle of using this typewriter to get anything done in formal way.

The uneven tone from finger pressures and age of the ribbon (which probably a delight to detective work since they can become clue somehow).

The struggles with the ink ribbon, carbon copy and adding or reducing words to make the right edge looks as neatly as possible, the meaning if a 'ting' sound. It's a pleasure to remember.

 

I'm around the middle range in term of age here, but I have quite significant exposures in good(?) old times.

 

Another thing about getting in touch and so-called 'public profile', in my school time, was by circulating a diary.

This diary, mostly at least once inch thick notebook with fancy papers was passed around, one friend at a time, they would bring it home and returned it to you in a day or more. Each one write a page or more regarding their particulars, basic stuffs like name, address, quotes etc. More creative one would try to do something like sharing stories about good times and some sort of testimonials. Depends on the level of friendship, they would attach a photo, black and white passport photo would be the lower range or for good friends..gasp, fancy photo with colors (yes it was a luxury, not cheap and good effort) :p

 

The circulation normally started couple of month before school ended or earlier, so at the end, you would have all the nice particulars and pictures of those schoolmates, and that was how we remember each other or keep in touch.

 

 

Have stories about your things that are now outdated, that are going to or already become a museum worthy display?

 

For fun and good memory, we are practically a month away from S4 but I'm bored bored bored, please share your good old times, most of us probably can still relate. :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

I still have a nice portable typewriter in a sturdy carrying case. We're using it as a doorstop. You've picked a really good example of something that's become virtually obsolete over a short time span. I'm trying to think of another activity that has changed as much as writing a letter has. Oh, right -- laundry! That changed a few decades earlier, though.

 

When I was a kid, we had a very nice electric washing machine in the basement. We would turn on the hot water tap and fill the machine with a hose then turn off the tap. We'd push a lever to turn on the agitator, add detergent, then add the white clothes and sheets and let them wash for a while.

 

When we decided they were clean, we would push the lever back the other way to stop the agitator and flip a switch to turn on the wringer. Then we'd fish one item at a time out of the wash water with an old broom handle and feed it between the rollers of the wringer, which would press the water out. The item would drop into a rinse tub, which we'd filled with hot water while the washer was running. Once everything was in the rinse tub, we'd swish it around good with the stick, then swing the wringer around and feed one item at a time through it and into the other rinse tub.

 

After swishing everything again, we'd move the wringer and feed things through it into a bushel basket, which we would carry out to the back yard. There we'd use wooden clothespins to fasten each item onto a rope to dry. A few hours later, we'd take them off and put them back into the basket to carry into the kitchen, where we'd fold some items and prepare the others for ironing.

 

That involved sprinkling a judicious amount of water on the item, then rolling it tightly up and stuffing it into a plastic bag so the moisture could equalize throughout the item. Then we'd take it out, iron it, either fold it or put it on a hanger, and we were all done!

 

Well, not exactly done -- we generally did three loads: whites (first, while the water was clean and hot), then colored things, and finally work clothes, cleaning rags, and such. So while one load was being rinsed, the next load was in the washer, and so on. And I didn't even mention starch and bluing, mostly because I don't offhand recall just when or how those were added.

 

Things sure are different now, with automatic washers and dryers, and no-iron clothes!

[besleybean]

I used to love typewriters, but really, computers are so much better!

[J.P.]

…And silent. You can write the whole night long without even thinking of your neighbors. Or the aching fingers.

 

And then you always made a mistake in the last line.

 

I've had a very similar writing machine sitting on my shelf as decoration. It had to go to make space for dolls though.

 

BTW, a historical tidbit: Writing machine was a dream of my youth. I believed to be an aspiring writer, but how can you become one without a writing machine?

The problem was that in the real existing socialism writing machines (as many other things) were considered a threat to the system, because you could mutliply texts not compatible with the system. So writing machines were rare, and all of them had to be registered, so an author of a text could be identyfied. (every machine had it's specific print pattern, because the metal letters were never perfectly even

[Arcadia]

Television.
 
My family, always slow to adopt new technology, didn't even have one until the mid-60's. It was in a huge wooden cabinet with doors on it, and had an entire room to itself. The screen was nearer to a square shape than a rectangle, it was wider from front to back than it was from side to side, it had knobs and dials, and even though color TV's had come out by then, ours wasn't. You had to get up and walk over to it to change the station/volume. (Me being the youngest, that was usually my job.) 
 
At night, we all watched the same show at once, together, my dad on the couch with one of us kids, the rest of us on the floor, my mom cleaning up in the kitchen. Dad chose what we watched -- with only 2-3 channels to choose from, there wasn't much to argue about.
 
Favorite shows: Westerns! I remember having a particular fondness for Nick Adams in The Rebel. My sister and brother were more into Steve McQueen in Wanted Dead or Alive. ;)  But I watched them all; Wyatt Earp, Have Gun Will Travel, Cheyenne, Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, Fury (not really a Western, but it was about a horse, which was the whole point of Westerns as far as I was concerned :D ), Sugarfoot (I can still sing the theme song!), Bat Masterson, The Rifleman. (I still watch the Rifleman when I find it- the kid was fabulous and the plots are better than I remembered.) For some reason, though, we never watched the big ones: Gunsmoke or Bonanza. I suspect because those were aired at night, when Dad was home ... I seem to remember watching the others during the day. Maybe after school or on weekends?

I was also hugely into Saturday morning cartoons. Especially Rocky and Bullwinkle; I was still watching that thing 10-20 years later. I think it's a shame they don't have those any more, but I suppose the kids can't miss what they never had. :( Top Cat. George of the Jungle (can still sing that one, too ) Underdog. The Jetsons. Secret Squirrel.

 

Now I have dozens of channels and can barely find anything to watch.....

[besleybean]

We actually have one of the smaller TV packages. 

Hubby always moans at me, because I never go past the first page anyway!

That gives me BBC 1, 2 and 4(sadly 3 is now only on-line), ITV(Scottish region for me), Channels 4 and 5.

What else do I need?

Actually, I do occasionally go and seek a music channel!

[Carol the Dabbler]

... in the real existing socialism writing machines (as many other things) were considered a threat to the system, because you could mutliply texts not compatible with the system. So writing machines were rare, and all of them had to be registered, so an author of a text could be identyfied....

Wow. :(

 

All I had to worry about was keeping my typewriter clean and changing the ribbon now and then.

[besleybean]

Part of history...

[Van Buren Supernova]

@laundry..wow, that sounds like elaborate effort to do the laundry, especially the wringer part. But it also sounds very systematic and kind of proper. About ironing, do you remember what kind of iron used? It passed my time, but my mom told me they use hot charcoal to put into the iron:

I'd prefer to walk around in wrinkly clothes than burnt hands actually.

P.S apparently the iron is now highly sought after as antique. Found out when I happened to need one for a project. Anyway I have a nice miniature one for handphone stand and as paperclip container.

 

@typewriter.. interesting, didn't know it was as controlled like that there. I remember it was a common item, my dad had a few and I was allowed to use one provided I helped him typing his documents (Did Mrs. Hudson use typewriter too to help his husband?:p)

 

@TV.. of course.

At night, we all watched the same show at once, together, my dad on the couch with one of us kids, the rest of us on the floor, ..

Anyway this sounds like good time. Miss that!

And wasn't it a nightmare that once you missed a show, you missed it!

No YouTube, no Netflix, no torrents, DVD or CD. You had to wait for the rerun that might or might not happen.

 

But thank goodness... we had VHS tape! :D

There was always a neighborhood shop where we could rental movies or series, but we had to be fast because they normally only had one copy and old tape came with all sort of problems (including possible entanglement).

And don't forget to rewind before returning, otherwise they would fine you.

Yes because the tapes didn't rewind themselves..! :p

[Carol the Dabbler]

Our irons were electric, thank goodness. Mom says when she was a girl, they used irons made of solid metal that were heated by setting them on your wood-burning cookstove. You needed to have more than one, so that when the one you were using cooled off, you'd have a hot one ready.

 

By the way, her childhood washing machine and wringer weren't electric either. The washer was hand-powered by pushing a lever back and forth (and back and forth and...) to slosh the clothing around in the water. I believe they had a wringer, but I assume it was powered by turning a crank.

 

Yes, I enjoyed doing the laundry. It was, as you say, systematic, and yielded satisfying results. It was time-consuming but not difficult, yet required enough concentration that it wasn't boring. You're right, the wringer did take a bit of a knack. If you tried to put too much through at once, it would pop open -- a safety feature, actually, in case you accidentally got your hand in it.

 

As for television, that all sounds familiar -- right up to the video-tape. I never even saw any till about 1970, and that was a huge professional reel-to-reel machine such as might be used in a studio. Home cassette machines were not available until the 80's.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Yes, the laundry sounds like something I would enjoy if I had the time. We didn't have that, I remember my mom used washboard and bucket, that's all. When I stayed by myself and couldn't afford laundry service, I just used hand to wash.

 

Reel to reel machine, wow, I imagine you must had very interesting looking stuffs at your home. That thing is huge!

 

My friend had that cranking small device that we peeked through some kind of viewfinder and watch short movie. I don't remember what it's called but it was expensive for kids.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Oh, goodness, that reel-to-reel video tape machine wasn't mine! I was visiting someone who had it, something to do with their father's job, I think.

[besleybean]

When I was in teacher training, we had to learn how to thread one of those things!  

That is if you actually meant a  reel-to-reel. 

In the above pics, I only see a video tape and a cassette recorder.

[Carol the Dabbler]

When I was in teacher training, we had to learn how to thread one of those things!

That is if you actually meant a reel-to-reel.

In the above pics, I only see a video tape and a cassette recorder.

We had to learn how to use a Bell & Howell 16mm movie projector. It was already antiquated at the time, but the prof said That's what we'd find in most schools -- and he was right!

[besleybean]

I think that's the kind of thing I mean.

A reel-to-reel to me is an audio tape recorder...my dad used to have one!

[Carol the Dabbler]

I assume you could have a reel-to-reel anything. Although the term has indeed been used a lot for older audio recorders, that's simply because they used two separate reels (rather than a cassette). Same term could apply to certain video tape machines, I should think. Wouldn't know what else to call that kind.

[Arcadia]

Still use my cassette player, because most of my anime is on cassettes. Actually, so are most of my movies.

[besleybean]

For me:  Cassettes are audio....I would say video tape, for film/TV

[Arcadia]

I think I say VHS.

 

Phonograph records. I still have every one I've ever owned, plus most of my Dad's. A passion for listening to music was something he, my sister and I closely shared. (My sis and I even became disc jockeys for awhile!)

 

Never had too many audio tapes, so I've replaced most of them with iTunes by now, but can't afford to replace all the LPs. Yet. Workin' on it.

 

I actually rather love my iPod (but I hate iTunes) ... if I had to choose between it and my record player, it would be a hard choice. But only because of all the music I love that I would lose, not because I'm nostalgic (much) about LPs. Although they are pretty cool. But they take up so much space....

[besleybean]

Oh I still have all my vinyl...though haven't played it for years.

I have some tapes, too...

But honestly these days I tend to stick a music channel on TV, or watch Youtube.

[Arcadia]

Never could get into music videos, for some reason.

[besleybean]

They are sometimes distracting.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Didn't know that it's called vinyl until I found this in Sherlock merchandise online shop or something.

Unlike this picture, it only shows the cover, so I was wondering WTH is vinyl, I'm familiar with vinyl as interior material only as we only called it gramophone disc.

I barely remember we had it, certainly saw some vinyls, but don't remember if there's gramophone at home. (I'd love to have that Sherlock vinyl if only I had the player)

 

We definitely had Laser Disc not that long ago, it's still at my brother's house I believe. In case anyone is wondering, I am a year younger than BC, but we are a bit behind time. I may sound frigging old or frigging young at times, the only constant thing is I'm always immature. :p

 

Cassette..! Ah...I remember spending hours trying to reel back a tangled cassette, smoothen the wrinkled tape (wrinkled tape would sound like those creepy computerized voice sent by serial killer :p), using nail polish to glue the dismembered ones, and staying up trying to record song from the radio (I hate DJ who talked before the song ended. Ruin it!). It still amazes me that cassette has two sides.

 

[Arcadia]

That is my favorite thing about records/vinyl -- the size of the cover art. I have some beautiful album covers.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Does it really sound good?

I'd describe it as hauntingly good actually, but my references are from movies.

 

 

Anyone familiar with this? Kerosene stove.

 

We used this for a long time. The wicks are connected to kerosene container below and we light the one above. It's nice simple engineering actually.