You know you’re getting older when……

[McRhu]

.You know you're getting older when..

You can remember the Phone Book being akin to a well-fed doorstep. Back in the day it could easily outweigh the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica set for any given year. I received the last ever Phone Book in my letterbox this morning and I thought at first it was a supermarket flier so delicate had it become - and that's with it including the classified section. The erstwhile Charles Atlas of printed media has become the Charles Hawtrey. How the mighty have fallen. RIP JR Hartley.

 

[birchesgreen]

.You know you're getting older when..

You can remember the Phone Book being akin to a well-fed doorstep. Back in the day it could easily outweigh the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica set for any given year. I received the last ever Phone Book in my letterbox this morning and I thought at first it was a supermarket flier so delicate had it become - and that's with it including the classified section. The erstwhile Charles Atlas of printed media has become the Charles Hawtrey. How the mighty have fallen. RIP JR Hartley.

I've got an old phone book, remember when one of the tests of strength on Britain's Strongest Man was to tear up multiple phone books? Anyone could do it now.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I've got an old phone book, remember when one of the tests of strength on Britain's Strongest Man was to tear up multiple phone books? Anyone could do it now.

On the railway we would do it with fare manuals. The Western one wasn’t too bad but the Southern one being thicker was a challenge.

 

[Busaholic]

I've got an old phone book, remember when one of the tests of strength on Britain's Strongest Man was to tear up multiple phone books? Anyone could do it now.

If you lived in London the phone book came in four massive volumes, A-D being the first iirc, and those didn't have a classified section either, just pure A-Z format.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

On the railway we would do it with fare manuals. The Western one wasn’t too bad but the Southern one being thicker was a challenge.

The trick was you tear all the inner pages first, out of sight...

 

[Ashley Hill]

The trick was you tear all the inner pages first, out of sight...

No,you broke the spine before twisting the rest in half .

 

[Peter Sarf]

No,you broke the spine before twisting the rest in half .

Is this how one treats old people ? .

 

[Ashley Hill]

Is this how one treats old people ? .

At my age if I attempted to do the twist I’d probably break my spine .

 

[Peter Sarf]

At my age if I attempted to do the twist I’d probably break my spine .

You know your getting older when get up from a seat on a 378/710 and realise you cannot because you have been trying too hard to look forwards or backwards thus twisting your back and neck. So now remember that to stay standing is far more comfortable. Learnt this again on Friday.

 

[Gloster]

You see young, and not so young, people walking back to traffic along a road without a pavement and feel like shouting, ‘Always walk facing onward-coming traffic’. This was dinned in to me as a child and still, after forty years of driving, seems to me to be a basic and simple way of increasing your chances of seeing the morrow. (Caused by me seeing two women in dark clothing walking two abreast back to traffic along a narrow road in poor visibility; they might not have known that it is a road prone to speeding, but…)

 

[Lost property]

You see young, and not so young, people walking back to traffic along a road without a pavement and feel like shouting, ‘Always walk facing onward-coming traffic’. This was dinned in to me as a child and still, after forty years of driving, seems to me to be a basic and simple way of increasing your chances of seeing the morrow. (Caused by me seeing two women in dark clothing walking two abreast back to traffic along a narrow road in poor visibility; they might not have known that it is a road prone to speeding, but…)

Which is on a par with "look right, look left, look right again " albeit one look either way is sufficient when people happily step out to cross a road (mobile fixation optional) without even a cursory glance or turn of the head at a "T" junction.

See also cyclists, at night, on unlit country roads, fetchingly clad in dark / black clothing. Dinky strobe light isn't sufficient warning !

 

[Typhoon]

You know you are getting old when you can complete

"look right, look left, look right again "

without thinking!

 

[Dai Corner]

You know you are getting old when you can complete

without thinking!

and, without prompting, remember the Tufty Club

 

[Typhoon]

and, without prompting, remember the Tufty Club

The name meant something - I have looked it up - it was after my time. I must be old.

 

[Ashley Hill]

I remember the public information films with Tufty,his mother and Wiily Weasel etc but I was never in the Tufty Club.
For those who remember here they are,or if you’re too young to remember you may learn something .

 

[Fermiboson]

I am 18. It horrifies me that half the things in this thread apply to me.

 

[Dai Corner]

I remember the public information films with Tufty,his mother and Wiily Weasel etc but I was never in the Tufty Club.
For those who remember here they are,or if you’re too young to remember you may learn something .

Tufty was 70 last year, and is still alive and well and reading his emails.

Tufty - RoSPA

Tufty Fluffytail was born in 1953, as a creation of the late Elsie Mills MBE. Original stories for RoSPA featured the squirrel and his friends to introduce clear and simple safety messages for children.

www.rospa.com

Tufty Fluffytail is RoSPA’s iconic red squirrel who was instrumental in helping millions of children to learn about road safety from the 1950s-1990s.

Created in 1953 by Elsie Mills MBE, who worked on child safety initiatives at RoSPA, Tufty helped to communicate simple safety messages to children across the UK.

In 1961, his influence was cemented through the formation of the Tufty Club – a nationwide network of local road safety groups for children. At its peak, there were 24,500 registered Tufty Clubs, with membership passing two million children in 1972.

Tufty memories​

Tufty loves to receive messages from people who remember him. You can write to him at [email protected].

 

[Killingworth]

I have already experienced 2 Prime Ministers in office younger than me: Cameron and Johnson. I think Starmer fits this category too.

When you realise that your sons are older than the last two Prime Ministers, Truss and Sunak - although Trump and Biden are still older than me.

 

[Dai Corner]

When you realise that your sons are older than the last two Prime Ministers, Truss and Sunak - although Trump and Biden are still older than me.

I had to look it up, but find that I'm older than Obama who is now 62.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I had to look it up, but find that I'm older than Obama who is now 62.

Can't say for definite, but you've very possibly been older than the said Barack H. Obama for most of your life.

 

[Whistler40145]

When you remember that Children's Television was British and hardly anything was Americanised

 

[Mcr Warrior]

When you remember that Children's Television was British and hardly anything was Americanised

When did the 'Tom & Jerry' and 'Yogi Bear' cartoons first appear on BBC/ITV?

 

[AM9]

Tom and Jerry were cinema cartoon characters from 1940. Yogi Bear came with the Hannah and Barbera created Huckleberry Hound show to TV in the UK (on ITV) around 1960. Also included at that package was Pixie and Dixie (mice), Snagglepuss (cat) and with Yogi, Boo Boo bear.

 

[Lost property]

Tom and Jerry were cinema cartoon characters from 1940. Yogi Bear came with the Hannah and Barbera created Huckleberry Hound show to TV in the UK (on ITV) around 1960. Also included at that package was Pixie and Dixie (mice), Snagglepuss (cat) and with Yogi, Boo Boo bear.

All of which were a quantum leap in entertainment.

Lets face it, the BBC felt children's entertainment should be terribly middle clarse, with an equally suitable presenter, hence we got Bill and Ben, Muffin the Mule, Sooty and Sweep and, a very special mention for two little pigs who missed their destiny....served up as rashers / chops / joints on a plate !

 

[dgl]

You see young, and not so young, people walking back to traffic along a road without a pavement and feel like shouting, ‘Always walk facing onward-coming traffic’. This was dinned in to me as a child and still, after forty years of driving, seems to me to be a basic and simple way of increasing your chances of seeing the morrow. (Caused by me seeing two women in dark clothing walking two abreast back to traffic along a narrow road in poor visibility; they might not have known that it is a road prone to speeding, but…)

I will sometimes walk back to traffic on a lane if I know the view round a corner or similar is restricted and I believe I will more likely to be seen than if I walked facing traffic. Cathole Bridge Road/Henley Road between Crewkerne and Misterton that goes over Crewkerne level crossing has some tight bends where it safer at points to walk with your back to traffic.

 

[Typhoon]

When you remember that Children's Television was British and hardly anything was Americanised

I seem to remember westerns like The Lone Ranger on BBC, there was also Champion the Wonder Horse (can't remember the channel). Laramie might have been on during children's programmes.

I probably watched more American programmes then than I do now (which shows that my taste has matured with age).

There were also some prgrammes from Europe (France?)

 

[Dai Corner]

I seem to remember westerns like The Lone Ranger on BBC, there was also Champion the Wonder Horse (can't remember the channel). Laramie might have been on during children's programmes.

I probably watched more American programmes then than I do now (which shows that my taste has matured with age).

There were also some prgrammes from Europe (France?)

As we're on a railway forum; Casey Jones the steam loco engineer.

The Magic Roundabout was French, with an English narration which only loosely followed the original story.

I remember a series featuring horses which may have been French or Swiss badly dubbed into English.

Top Cat was an American cartoon in which the theme tune was re-recorded as 'Boss Cat' to avoid advertising the eponymous feline food.

 

[Typhoon]

As we're on a railway forum; Casey Jones the steam loco engineer.

The Magic Roundabout was French, with an English narration which only loosely followed the original story.

I remember a series featuring horses which may have been French or Swiss badly dubbed into English.

Top Cat was an American cartoon in which the theme tune was re-recorded as 'Boss Cat' to avoid advertising the eponymous feline food.

That is the one I was trying to remember. Belle and Sebastian originally came into my head but I think that came later,

(You know when you are getting older when others think I am referring to a Scottish beat combo,)

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I remember a series featuring horses which may have been French or Swiss badly dubbed into English.

Might this have been the oft-repeated mid 1960s era Yugoslav/German co-production "The White Horses"; the UK theme tune for which was subsequently a 1968 Top Ten hit single for "Jacky" (a.k.a. Jackie Lee)?

 

[Busaholic]

I will sometimes walk back to traffic on a lane if I know the view round a corner or similar is restricted and I believe I will more likely to be seen than if I walked facing traffic. Cathole Bridge Road/Henley Road between Crewkerne and Misterton that goes over Crewkerne level crossing has some tight bends where it safer at points to walk with your back to traffic.

Yes, the 'face oncoming traffic' rule is like 'i before e except after c' in that there are exceptions. It's horses for courses, really.