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What "back then" inconvenience would annoy today's youngsters?

(95 Posts)
CrazyUSA Sat 18-Jul-26 21:16:26

Having to go out to blockbusters rather than look for a movie on netflix.

Calendargirl Sun 19-Jul-26 10:58:24

Having to use a map to find somewhere, instead of using ‘sat nav’.

MT62 Sun 19-Jul-26 10:41:28

Ritual of trailing to the telephone box to wait for your date to call & make arrangements to meet up 🤣

Writing into the lonely hearts column in the local paper (my dad once wrote in on my behalf behind my back as I was so shy).
No ‘plenty of fish’, or ‘grinder’ back in the day 🤣

MT62 Sun 19-Jul-26 10:32:13

CrazyUSA

Having to go out to blockbusters rather than look for a movie on netflix.

I loved that ritual of choosing a film & across to threshers to get a nice bottle of plonk.
Sadly both have gone.

JenniRen Sun 19-Jul-26 10:20:43

Finding 4d (four old pennies) then walking up the road to the red phone box to make a phone call to a friend to make arrangements to meet up. They had a telephone because her Dad was on call with his job.

ViceVersa Sun 19-Jul-26 10:11:39

SpinDriftCoastal

Being told off by anyone you were not respectful to, the neighbour, lady at the paper shop, friend's granny, the policeman, your parents, etc. It was easier just to say please and thank you and wait your turn rather than be told off. No self entitlement tolerated in those days.

Yes! I remember seeing a woman being really cruel to her dog - I would be maybe 9 or 10 at the time, and I said to her that she should stop hitting the dog. Well, of course living in a small village, she knew my mum, so she went and told her what I had said and I got hell for it. I thought I was doing the right thing in speaking up for the dog, but my mum was furious that I had dared to speak to an adult in that way and god, did she make me pay for it!

hollysteers Sun 19-Jul-26 10:07:53

No washing up liquid (not for us anyway). We used Tide or whatever soap powder Mum had.
Dogs on the loose around the streets.

Oldnproud Sun 19-Jul-26 09:57:17

The only 'takaway' was a chippy, where the choice of what 5o have with your chips was between cod and haddock. Oh, and mushy peas. Sausages were added to that list at some point, which must have caused a lot of excitement 😁

SpinDriftCoastal Sun 19-Jul-26 09:52:55

Being told off by anyone you were not respectful to, the neighbour, lady at the paper shop, friend's granny, the policeman, your parents, etc. It was easier just to say please and thank you and wait your turn rather than be told off. No self entitlement tolerated in those days.

Oreo Sun 19-Jul-26 09:50:15

Doodledog

Those rubber things that you put on the bath taps to improvise a shower to rinse your hair. One side always pinged off, so you got a sudden rush of hot or freezing water.

Haha yes, we had a pink one and it barely worked, pinged off or leaked😂

Oopsadaisy1 Sun 19-Jul-26 09:31:15

No central heating.
The only heat came from the kitchen Rayburn, so we ate and practically lived in the one room.
No fridge, no hairdryers, no car, we had an old gas boiler for sheets and towels and a mangle to get them dry enough to hang on the line, after rinsing them in (sometimes cold) water. Other clothes were all washed and rinsed by hand and then out came the mangle again.
Our elderly neighbours used an old barrell with a dolly to wash their clothes so we thought we were quite well off.
Queuing at the local grocers for our weekly shop and putting the bill in ‘the book’ until Dad got his wages on the Friday.
Catching 2 buses to get to my relatives house, we had to stay overnight as it took most of the morning to get there, they didn’t have any heating either but they lived a walk away from a small beach so that was a treat, couldn’t go into the water though as it was opposite Fawley oil refinery and the water and the beach had great lumps of oil and tar floating in and on it!

J52 Sun 19-Jul-26 08:55:52

Having to use ‘the family shampoo’, no specific type for your hair and no conditioner.
Awful if you had curly/ frizzy hair that you dried with a very slow cold hairdryer.

BlueBelle Sun 19-Jul-26 08:20:02

Sitting in front of the open oven door on a stool to dry my hair after washing it ( once a week)
Izal toilet paper
Only radio and books and a comic once a week
No house phone till I was about 25 I had to ring the corner shop if there was an emergency and they d fetch my mum (only happened once I think)
Only one holiday when I was 4 years old, next one was when I was 17 with friends, that was a hoot.
No tampax (Towels and a belt)

Cossy Sun 19-Jul-26 08:11:08

Lots of interesting stuff here, many of which would highly inconvenience me these days grin

All our children travelled to and from secondary school by bus, no bus pass or school bus!

Cossy Sun 19-Jul-26 08:08:44

Oldnproud

Having to go to a library and look in a book if you wanted information.

YES!

Astitchintime Sun 19-Jul-26 07:30:02

Having no choice but to catch a bus to school, or worse still, walk all the way! Not all families had a car at all and two car families were very rare. And not everyone got a bus pass either! These were only issued to children living three miles or more away from my school, and that was measured basically as the crow flies, not via the bus routes. We lived just inside the three mile limit so no bus pass for me!

butterandjam Sun 19-Jul-26 07:08:56

"Party" Landline telephones shared with strangers.

Maremia Sun 19-Jul-26 06:48:06

Having your friends iron your long hair in the sixties, using brown paper, as curls were not permitted.

eazybee Sun 19-Jul-26 06:20:29

Today's youth would have to walk, cycle or bus to their school and leisure activities instead of being transported by car to the entrance and collected likewise at the end.

MayBee70 Sun 19-Jul-26 02:08:30

Queuing outside a phone box to phone someone…

Doodledog Sun 19-Jul-26 01:14:16

Those rubber things that you put on the bath taps to improvise a shower to rinse your hair. One side always pinged off, so you got a sudden rush of hot or freezing water.

Charleygirl5 Sun 19-Jul-26 00:54:47

We didn't have enough money for hot water, so we rarely had a bath. Always a strip wash and washed by my mother.

I could tell the day of the week by the evening meal.
We had an inside loo, but when we went on holiday to Ireland to my grandfather's farm, the loo was a hike away. Also, there was no running water there, so I had to help carry buckets to the house and it was a hike

NotSpaghetti Sun 19-Jul-26 00:26:18

CrazyUSA

Having to go out to blockbusters rather than look for a movie on netflix.

My daughter was talking about Blockbuster only yesterday - recalling what a treat it was.

If the choices on streaming services disappeared, Blockbuster would presumably be a treat all over again.

nanna8 Sun 19-Jul-26 00:22:48

No washing machine or fridge or phone come to that. 1950s London. Mind you, if you pressed the button in the phone booth sometimes you hit the jackpot, pennies from heaven !

friendlygingercat Sun 19-Jul-26 00:18:32

Having to dig a path through the snow to get to the outside loo. Tearing up sheets of the local paper for toilet paper. Making sure there were no spiders lurking under the seat. For girls dealing with and disposing of old fashioned sanitary protection - belts and pads.

pably15 Sun 19-Jul-26 00:10:42

having to wait till Friday when dad came home with his wages.mum going to co-op the get groceries and wait in queues.