You know you’re getting older when……

[AM9]

And The Beezer

...and Beano, Dandy, Lion, Eagle, ...

 

[Ashley Hill]

Or Whizzer & Chips.

 

[Killingworth]

...and Beano, Dandy, Lion, Eagle, ...

Swift and Robin

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When you remember those Charles Atlas bodybuilding adverts.

 

[32475]

And Whizzer and Chips

 

[AM9]

I also remember some of the gadgets that appeared in those comics:
Paper guns where a folded piece of brown paper would pop out from a gun-shaped card cover when pulled rapidly down
A plastic boat that would move around a bowl of water when some baking powder was placed in a cavity at the rear
A plastic diver which held a bubble of air in water so that when in a stone screw top bottle of water could be made to descend and ascend by tightening and loosening the screw top.
Each of these gimmicks kept us occupied for a day or so

 

[dangie]

I also remember some of the gadgets that appeared in those comics….

Not in the comics, but in the newspapers.
X-Ray spectacles which would see through clothes. Always shown with the outline of a young lady.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

One comic had a cardboard sheet with slots and small cardboard pieces with the names of football teams which enabled you to show which team was in which position in the division and you could update it every week.

 

[DelW]

I also remember some of the gadgets that appeared in those comics:
...
Each of these gimmicks kept us occupied for a day or so

And in breakfast cereals too.

From one of those, I remember jig-toys (?) - about six or eight small plastic pieces that fitted together to make a little 3D model.

I remember a jeep and an aeroplane, but I think there were six altogether, and I think I managed to collect all of them. They were good for playground "swaps".

 

[Merle Haggard]

Does anyone else remember the 'Seebackoscope'? It was an invention to enable you yo see what was going on behind you. Its size meant that this observation was likely to be noticed; basically a periscope with two corners containing angled mirrors, held so that one mirror was in front of your eyes and the upper one faced backwards over the head..
As well as being very noticeable it probably reduced your forward vision to zero.

Widely advertised including, I think, the Meccano Magazine.

 

[DelW]

Does anyone else remember the 'Seebackoscope'? It was an invention to enable you yo see what was going on behind you. Its size meant that this observation was likely to be noticed; basically a periscope with two corners containing angled mirrors, held so that one mirror was in front of your eyes and the upper one faced backwards over the head..
As well as being very noticeable it probably reduced your forward vision to zero.

Widely advertised including, I think, the Meccano Magazine.

A slightly different name, but this is the version I remember, indeed I think I owned one once:

SEEBACKROSCOPE - Bakelite toy by E & S - Made in England - Boxed | #272690341

This allows you to look forward and backwards at the same time. Very old and in good condition. I will combine shipping for multiple purchases. All purchases will be sent well packed to protect the mo

www.worthpoint.com

(Advertisement for a bakelite "seebackroscope" on an antiques website)

There was an angled mirror at the far end of the tube which gave a view backwards and somewhat sideways, through a hole in the side of the tube.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

One comic had a cardboard sheet with slots and small cardboard pieces with the names of football teams which enabled you to show which team was in which position in the division and you could update it every week.

Sounds a bit like what was issued in the "Shoot!" weekly football magazine at the start of every season in the mid 1970s.


(Pic of Shoot Football League Ladder for Season 1977/78)

 

[Merle Haggard]

A slightly different name, but this is the version I remember, indeed I think I owned one once:

SEEBACKROSCOPE - Bakelite toy by E & S - Made in England - Boxed | #272690341

This allows you to look forward and backwards at the same time. Very old and in good condition. I will combine shipping for multiple purchases. All purchases will be sent well packed to protect the mo

www.worthpoint.com

(Advertisement for a bakelite "seebackroscope" on an antiques website)

There was an angled mirror at the far end of the tube which gave a view backwards and somewhat sideways, through a hole in the side of the tube.

Thanks, this must be what I was thinking of.

I had a clear memory of what it looked like but must have been mistaken - this one seems comparatively inconspicuous, the one in my mind's eye looked like you were holding a stovepipe in front of your head. A memory of a memory, I guess.

Bakelite - could be moulded in any shape - the wonder new material. Until you dropped it

 

[AM9]

Does anyone else remember the 'Seebackoscope'? It was an invention to enable you yo see what was going on behind you. Its size meant that this observation was likely to be noticed; basically a periscope with two corners containing angled mirrors, held so that one mirror was in front of your eyes and the upper one faced backwards over the head..
As well as being very noticeable it probably reduced your forward vision to zero.

Widely advertised including, I think, the Meccano Magazine.

It was advertised by Ellisdons who had whole page adverts on the back page of many magazines. They sold a weird range of gadgets like:
black face soap (a bar of soap with a foil label from beneath which black powder would ooze making one's face black in parts).
indoor fireworks
stick on boils
etc.
Here's a link with a copy of a typical page.

 

[ChrisC]

When you get to the stage where you feel you have become too old to use fast food outlets.

I’ve never been a fan of such places and amazingly you can even count the number of times I’ve been in a MacDonalds on one hand. The other week I was staying in a location where there wasn‘t much choice other than this type of eating place. The few I considered I found them totally bewildering for someone who rarely uses this type of place. First there was those where you were expected to place your order via a confusing screen. Then when I eventually did find one where I could be served by a person they spoke so quickly using terms that I hardly understood. I think I may have been better using the screen! When I actually got sat down to eat and looked around at all the young people in there, even though I’m only in my late 60’s I felt a bit out of place.

I’m not now completely behind the times. At one time would not order food and drink using an app. Thanks to some forum members during a forum walk last year they helped me to use the Wetherspoon's App for the first time. I find it so useful now whenever I visit a Wetherspoons on my own to be able to find a table and then order my food and drink without having to go to the bar.

 

[Killingworth]

When you get to the stage where you feel you have become too old to use fast food outlets.

I’ve never been a fan of such places and amazingly you can even count the number of times I’ve been in a MacDonalds on one hand. The other week I was staying in a location where there wasn‘t much choice other than this type of eating place. The few I considered I found them totally bewildering for someone who rarely uses this type of place. First there was those where you were expected to place your order via a confusing screen. Then when I eventually did find one where I could be served by a person they spoke so quickly using terms that I hardly understood. I think I may have been better using the screen! When I actually got sat down to eat and looked around at all the young people in there, even though I’m only in my late 60’s I felt a bit out of place.

I’m not now completely behind the times. At one time would not order food and drink using an app. Thanks to some forum members during a forum walk last year they helped me to use the Wetherspoon's App for the first time. I find it so useful now whenever I visit a Wetherspoons on my own to be able to find a table and then order my food and drink without having to go to the bar.

Thought I'd done quite well mastering the MacDonalds many onscreen options in South Shields recently. All seemed to have been accepted including payment and I waited to collect my printed confirmation to take to the collection point. Nothing happened. Realising I'm getting older my assumption was that I'd done something wrong. The young folks on the next screen were collecting their receipts just fine.

After watching them carefully I wandered over to the counter. "Oh that terminal never works, what was your order number?" Blessed if I knew. Fortunately the old duffer could recall all he'd ordered and it was already waiting for him. Unfortunately by this time he'd forgotten he'd really gone in to McDonald's to use their clean loos!

 

[317 forever]

You don't want to hear radio shows concentrating on just 80s or newer music, for finding it too modern.

 

[DelW]

When you get to the stage where you feel you have become too old to use fast food outlets.

I’ve never been a fan of such places and amazingly you can even count the number of times I’ve been in a MacDonalds on one hand. The other week I was staying in a location where there wasn‘t much choice other than this type of eating place. The few I considered I found them totally bewildering for someone who rarely uses this type of place. First there was those where you were expected to place your order via a confusing screen. Then when I eventually did find one where I could be served by a person they spoke so quickly using terms that I hardly understood. I think I may have been better using the screen! When I actually got sat down to eat and looked around at all the young people in there, even though I’m only in my late 60’s I felt a bit out of place.

I’m not now completely behind the times. At one time would not order food and drink using an app. Thanks to some forum members during a forum walk last year they helped me to use the Wetherspoon's App for the first time. I find it so useful now whenever I visit a Wetherspoons on my own to be able to find a table and then order my food and drink without having to go to the bar.

I think the problem is that most people need a bit of guidance on how to use these systems for the first few times - but as someone of advanced years you (I) feel a bit daft having to ask a nearby teenager. Of course the teenagers all learn easily from their friends at school, so they wonder why you're having a problem. Then of course you've got to remember it all for next time, which may be months away, and by then the user interface will have been updated ...

 

[Dai Corner]

I think the problem is that most people need a bit of guidance on how to use these systems for the first few times - but as someone of advanced years you (I) feel a bit daft having to ask a nearby teenager. Of course the teenagers all learn easily from their friends at school, so they wonder why you're having a problem. Then of course you've got to remember it all for next time, which may be months away, and by then the user interface will have been updated ...

I use the app and can fumble my way through it in the privacy of my table on the corner and have them bring my order over.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When the nurse at the NHS clinic you attend weekly unties up your shoelaces for you at the start of the leg dressings and then reties them at the end of the session without being asked....

 

[Welshman]

When you get to the stage where you feel you have become too old to use fast food outlets.

I’ve never been a fan of such places and amazingly you can even count the number of times I’ve been in a MacDonalds on one hand. The other week I was staying in a location where there wasn‘t much choice other than this type of eating place. The few I considered I found them totally bewildering for someone who rarely uses this type of place. First there was those where you were expected to place your order via a confusing screen. Then when I eventually did find one where I could be served by a person they spoke so quickly using terms that I hardly understood. I think I may have been better using the screen! When I actually got sat down to eat and looked around at all the young people in there, even though I’m only in my late 60’s I felt a bit out of place.

I remember the first time I tried one.
I asked for a beefburger and chips.
"You want a burger meal?" the young thing behind the counter replied.
"Yes, I want a meal. That's why I've come in here, for a meal. I want a meal with chips, please"
Puzzled look from attendant as I was given a burger and two bags of fries.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I remember the first time I tried one.
I asked for a beefburger and chips.
"You want a burger meal?" the young thing behind the counter replied.
"Yes, I want a meal. That's why I've come in here, for a meal. I want a meal with chips, please"
Puzzled look from attendant as I was given a burger and two bags of fries.

I had a similar conversation in Burger King a while ago. I wanted just a burger for quick protein, no chips.

Big King burger please.
Big King Meal!?
No, just a burger
You want just a burger?
Yes please, just a burger.
So you want the burger bun with nothing in?
... ... ...

I've also had a similar problem to you in McDonald's when they offered salad instead of French fries, which I preferred; very difficult for the staff to understand I don't want a salad as well as the French fries.

 

[Gloster]

I eat proper food.

 

[ChrisC]

I eat proper food.

There just comes a point, when I have been away for a few days, when I really want what I consider a proper meal with plenty of fresh vegetables. I can only go so long with eating meals consisting of rice, pasta, pizza and even chips. Sometimes when staying in a hotel and have had a good breakfast it is so difficult to find somewhere reasonable to eat later in the day. On the rare occasions that I do have to use a fast food place it would just be nice to be served by staff who speak intelligible English at a reasonable speed that can be understood.

 

[Killingworth]

I remember the first time I tried one.
I asked for a beefburger and chips.
"You want a burger meal?" the young thing behind the counter replied.
"Yes, I want a meal. That's why I've come in here, for a meal. I want a meal with chips, please"
Puzzled look from attendant as I was given a burger and two bags of fries.

Oh dear, it must have been 35 years ago that my family dragged me into my first MacDonalds, probably in Innsbruck. I caused great amusement by asking for a knife and fork.

 

[ChrisC]

Oh dear, it must have been 35 years ago that my family dragged me into my first MacDonalds, probably in Innsbruck. I caused great amusement by asking for a knife and fork.

I know the feeling. The last time I went in a Burger King, many years ago, I wanted a plate, even if it was just a cardboard one.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I know the feeling. The last time I went in a Burger King, many years ago, I wanted a plate, even if it was just a cardboard one.

McDonald's always have the word 'Restaurant' on the facia; it is easy to have one's expectations dashed.

 

[Lewisham2221]

You know you're getting older when you prefer to engage in childish snobbery rather than consider getting to grips with a concept that has been around for decades...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When you remember girls at either end of a skipping rope chanting some garbled gibberish (to my five year old ears) in 1950.

 

[gg1]

Sounds a bit like what was issued in the "Shoot!" weekly football magazine at the start of every season in the mid 1970s.

View attachment 165698
(Pic of Shoot Football League Ladder for Season 1977/78)

They were still around until at least the late 80s/early 90s and looked much the same.

I used to religiously update mine every Sunday from the tables in my dad's Sunday People.