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Half a century ago... what were you up to?

(242 Posts)
Riverwalk Sat 22-Jul-23 14:57:15

This time in 1973 I was 18 and waiting to start nurse training, having left school three years earlier at the tender age of 15.

I don't know were the time went but would like to re-visit and make a few changes! smile

mrswoo Sat 22-Jul-23 18:15:33

Had just left my native Birmingham for a job at Heathrow Airport. I imagined a life of glitz and glamour but in reality it was fairly mundane.

Knittynatter Sat 22-Jul-23 18:36:50

I was 14. I hated school which I found very confusing, had no friends, didn’t understand the world or where I fit in it but loved reading novels. If that was me now I’m sure I would be diagnosed and pigeon holed but as it was I was shy and antisocial.
I grew out of it 😂

Washerwoman Sat 22-Jul-23 18:41:27

I was 14 and fortunately loved school.In the summer holidays we went to Oban for a family wedding .Then I was a bridesmaid at my brothers wedding.I felt very sophisticated as I wore a bit of lip gloss which I bought in Woolies and kept in a makeup bag that came free with Jackie magazine. Happy days !

silverlining48 Sat 22-Jul-23 18:57:20

Married 4 years living in a rented flat, living a frugal life, desperate to save every penny for our first 2 up 2 down terraced house.
No bank of mum and dad in those days .

LovesBach Sat 22-Jul-23 19:00:31

Married for several years, expecting first baby, and feeling very, very sick all day and every day! Unbelievbly that baby will be fifty next year.

Oopsadaisy1 Sat 22-Jul-23 19:01:49

I was married with a toddler and pregnant with our second daughter, happy days.

Marydoll Sat 22-Jul-23 19:33:58

I was eighteen and working in the Knorr factory, making stock cubes and behind a bar in a working men's club, before starting university in the autumn.

rockgran Sat 22-Jul-23 19:35:52

About to start teaching.

kittylester Sat 22-Jul-23 19:37:15

7 months pregnant with ds2, living in a Shropshire village and not liking it too much.

Bakingmad0203 Sat 22-Jul-23 19:38:00

I was in my first year at Polytechnic doing 12 weeks work experience in Cheltenham as part of my HND. I loved it, visited some beautiful places and learnt a lot. It convinced me to stay on the course, even though I realised I preferred working to studying! I always meant to go back, but never have.

TerriBull Sat 22-Jul-23 19:40:16

PaperMonster

Waiting to start school!!

Just reading through everybody's experiences. PaperMonster, you're a baby grin

NotAGran55 Sat 22-Jul-23 19:46:10

I was 17, working shifts with a great young crowd, just about to pass my driving test in my own car, boyfriend with a Lotus Elan, going to gigs, parties, filling my wardrobe and having a ball!

pinkprincess Sat 22-Jul-23 19:49:25

I was a stay at home mother with a 3 year old son and his baby brother who had just had his first birthday.
My DH was in the Merchant Navy so coping alone most of the time.

GrandmaSeaDragon Sat 22-Jul-23 19:55:35

I was 23, married 2 years, selling our flat and buying a semi in suburban Surrey, working full-time.

Iam64 Sat 22-Jul-23 19:56:30

I was unhappily married with a one year old. Making the best of it and happy to have a babe. Wondering what I could do to improve things. Took me a while to work out nothing I did could make it all ok

Sar53 Sat 22-Jul-23 19:57:04

I was just 20, working in London. I had met my first husband and we got married in 1974.
I wish I knew then what I know now.

AskAlice Sat 22-Jul-23 19:58:26

I turned 16 on this day 50 years ago! I'd had my O Level results (which were very good) and wanted to leave school as I'd had enough and knew exactly what I wanted to do! My parents insisted that I go into the 6th form and study for A Levels so I was a miserable girl over the summer holidays...I finally managed to leave school part way through the Lower Sixth and have never regretted it.

MrsKen33 Sat 22-Jul-23 20:07:57

We had just bought our first house. I had a two year old and a seven year old. My parents were alive and lived near. We were happy.

NotAGran55 Sat 22-Jul-23 20:13:22

Happy Birthday 🎂 AskAlice

Curlywhirly Sat 22-Jul-23 20:31:45

I was 17 and in my second year of working. I started work as a Junior Clerk in the Town Clerk's Office and had just been promoted to the heady heights of shorthand typist. Had money for the first time in my life and was happily spending it on clothes, LPs and going out. Loved every minute of it.

grumppa Sat 22-Jul-23 20:42:31

Just got married; we celebrated our Golden Wedding on 13 June. We honeymooned in Paris.

Louella12 Sat 22-Jul-23 20:48:38

I was 12 and madly in love with David Cassidy

Smileless2012 Sat 22-Jul-23 20:51:01

Oooh I was 12 and madly in love with him too Louella and still listen to his music. Did you ever go to one of his concerts?

'Happy Birthday' AskAlice cupcakeflowers.

LOUISA1523 Sat 22-Jul-23 20:58:00

I was 8....my first holiday abroad in 1973....to Malta

CanadianGran Sat 22-Jul-23 21:23:51

I would have been 11, on summer break at home. I have a terrible memory for details, but I don't think my mother had started working full time yet. We may have been home watching younger siblings while Mum picked cherries on a nearby farm, or we may have been picking with her for part of the day.

We picked raspberries from our yard and sold them by the roadside. I read a ton of books, listened to the top hits on the radio, walked to the nearby store when we could scrounge money for a popsicle, all with the girls next door. In the afternoons we would sometimes walk a mile to the public swimming pool (outdoors), but the walk home was all uphill, so you ended up hot and needing another swim! Most mums didn't drive in those days, or the dads had the car at work.