# Scenes We Remember From Our Childhood



## Verisure (Aug 7, 2021)

Scanning through the internet now and then I occasionally find a photo of a scene that brings me back to my childhood. Here is one of them. I recall getting on my "tippy toes" but getting most of the water on my chin anyway.


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## Sassycakes (Aug 7, 2021)

Spending Summer vacation in Wildwood NJ.With my parents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. They were Wonderful days.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 7, 2021)




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## Verisure (Aug 7, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


>


Ohhhhh, yes!


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## Sassycakes (Aug 7, 2021)

When I was in school we had to hide under our desks to avoid the atomic bomb. I would rather have hidden under the desk when the Nun was holding her yardstick.


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## feywon (Aug 7, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


>


One of my fondest memories is of standing in an Aunty's backyard with my slightly younger cousin Dennis as it got dark and the fireflies came out.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Aug 7, 2021)

My family sitting around the fire my grandpa built most every night during the summer. He would gather just enough wood to last about an hour before we headed back to the house to get ready for bed.


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## Verisure (Aug 7, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> When I was in school we had to hide under our desks to avoid the atomic bomb. I would rather have hidden under the desk when the Nun was holding her yardstick.
> View attachment 177618
> 
> View attachment 177619


Yes, indeed! I remember practicing "duck and cover". The alarm would go off and everyone had to drop to the floor. I don't know what year your photo depicts but I was born in 1947 and although we didn't use ink our desks were thicker, the lid lifted up to access your books and paraphernalia within and they still had an ink well in the top. I also went to Catholic school (till they kicked me out 3 years later) and besides the nuns raping your hands with a ruler there were also the brothers who would smack you on the top of your head with their ring turned down towards the palm of their hand.


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## fuzzybuddy (Aug 11, 2021)

Believe me, I went to Catholic school. If it were a choice between nuclear annihilation, or a nun with a yard stick, I'd take the lesser evil-the atom bomb.


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## Time Waits 4 No Man (Aug 11, 2021)

feywon said:


> One of my fondest memories is of standing in an Aunty's backyard with my slightly younger cousin Dennis as it got dark and the fireflies came out.


Where I lived as a child, we always called them "lightning bugs". It wasn't until years later that I first heard the term, "firefly":





​


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## Paco Dennis (Aug 11, 2021)




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## Aneeda72 (Aug 11, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> When I was in school we had to hide under our desks to avoid the atomic bomb. I would rather have hidden under the desk when the Nun was holding her yardstick.
> View attachment 177618
> 
> View attachment 177619


I remember doing this in public school.


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## CinnamonSugar (Aug 11, 2021)

Paco Dennis said:


>


I saw that growing up....  and here's more camping 'fun'... look real enthusiastic, don't we?  lol


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## Verisure (Aug 11, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> Believe me, I went to Catholic school. If it were a choice between nuclear annihilation, or a nun with a yard stick, I'd take the lesser evil-the atom bomb.


You don't want to know how heartless and brutal Mother Terese was but if you do want to know just look it up. I guess she thought that if your life was miserable it was your own fault and you should suffer to your last breath believing that suffering was the only way that God would forgive you for your sins.


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## peppermint (Aug 12, 2021)

Time Waits 4 No Man said:


> Where I lived as a child, we always called them "lightning bugs". It wasn't until years later that I first heard the term, "firefly":
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I still like the lightning bugs.....They were not fireflies....in our part of New Jersey...


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## Verisure (Aug 12, 2021)

peppermint said:


> I still like the lightning bugs.....They were not fireflies....in our part of New Jersey...


There are two fundamental types: Those that "light" independently and those that "light" in unison.


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## PamfromTx (Aug 12, 2021)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 12, 2021)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 12, 2021)




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## PamfromTx (Aug 12, 2021)




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## Verisure (Aug 12, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 178406


Yeah! Singed or burnt?


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## PamfromTx (Aug 12, 2021)

Verisure said:


> Yeah! Singed or burnt?


burnt


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## Verisure (Aug 12, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 178407


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

Dad wore a Tribly. But other than being fashionable there really wasn't any practical purpose to wearing hats, was there?


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## hollydolly (Aug 13, 2021)

Verisure said:


> Dad wore a Tribly. But other than being fashionable there really wasn't any practical purpose to wearing hats, was there?
> 
> View attachment 178418


errm...I think they kept people's heads warm...


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> errm...I think they kept people's heads warm...


Could be.


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## feywon (Aug 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 178407


Being a country i went out an 'danced' in the rain. Or sat on our dock (we lived on a River Bank) and watched the rain move down the River towards us, the drops hitting the river made it even more visible.


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## feywon (Aug 13, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> errm...I think they kept people's heads warm...


and protected bald spots from sunburn. 
My first husband would never wear one of any kind any season. Of course he didn't need to worry about scalp getting sunburned he had thick curly hair. In Winter, however since he would not so much as wear a hooded coat, he'd come in the apt sometimes with a thick layer of snow on top of his curls that started to melt as he walked up stairs to 5th floor.


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

feywon said:


> and protected bald spots from sunburn.
> My first husband would never wear one of any kind any season. Of course he didn't need to worry about scalp getting sunburned he had thick curly hair. In Winter, however since he would not so much as wear a hooded coat, he'd come in the apt sometimes with a thick layer of snow on top of his curls that started to melt as he walked up stairs to 5th floor.


I didn't know riverboats had 5 floors.


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## feywon (Aug 13, 2021)

Verisure said:


> I didn't know riverboats had 5 floors.


??? No, but NYC apts houses do.  This memory is some years AFTER my rural Florida childhood.


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

feywon said:


> .......  This memory is some years AFTER my rural Florida childhood.


Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!


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## hollydolly (Aug 13, 2021)

feywon said:


> and protected bald spots from sunburn.
> My first husband would never wear one of any kind any season. Of course he didn't need to worry about scalp getting sunburned he had thick curly hair. In Winter, however since he would not so much as wear a hooded coat, he'd come in the apt sometimes with a thick layer of snow on top of his curls that started to melt as he walked up stairs to 5th floor.


..My husband won't wear a hat at all, summer or winter,, he hates the feel of them on his head...


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## fmdog44 (Aug 13, 2021)




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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> ..My husband won't wear a hat at all, summer or winter,, he hates the feel of them on his head...


I wear a snap front whats-it-called.


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

fmdog44 said:


> View attachment 178480


Yessiree Bob! I used to do some that at my grandparents place on the lake. But mostly I was a-catchin' frogs and turtles.


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## hollydolly (Aug 13, 2021)

Verisure said:


> I wear a snap front whats-it-called.
> 
> View attachment 178484


known as simply a ' Flat Cap' here.. or in Scotland and Ireland among older men they're called a  Bunnet 

They're very fashionable amongst the 20 and 30 somethings...


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## Sassycakes (Aug 13, 2021)

*It's funny that I came upon this thread again today. I had just gotten done reading an email and one of my cousins put a few pictures in it from the past. The picture had my Dad's parents in it and his sisters and brother. The other picture was of my Grandmother giving all the grandchildren their Christmas gifts. Of course, because my grandmother hated us,me and my sister were just sitting on the floor with the other cousins but we never got a gift. I immediately got rid of the pictures. Why my cousin even sent them to me annoyed me and how he knew my email made me even more annoyed. He wasn't allowed to talk to me when we were growing up so why send me pictures,*


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> known as simply a ' Flat Cap' here.. or in Scotland and Ireland among older men they're called a  Bunnet
> 
> They're very fashionable amongst the 20 and 30 somethings...


Thanks for the info.


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> *It's funny that I came upon this thread again today. I had just gotten done reading an email and one of my cousins put a few pictures in it from the past. The picture had my Dad's parents in it and his sisters and brother. The other picture was of my Grandmother giving all the grandchildren their Christmas gifts. Of course, because my grandmother hated us,me and my sister were just sitting on the floor with the other cousins but we never got a gift. I immediately got rid of the pictures. Why my cousin even sent them to me annoyed me and how he knew my email made me even more annoyed. He wasn't allowed to talk to me when we were growing up so why send me pictures,*


How awful but I reckon your cousin doesn't remember the situation "back then" or he's trying to mend things that he was not responsible for creating in the first place. Is that possible?


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## Sassycakes (Aug 13, 2021)

Verisure said:


> How awful but I reckon your cousin doesn't remember the situation "back then" or he's trying to mend things that he was not responsible for creating in the first place. Is that possible?



I doubt he doesn't remember because he lived around the corner from us for years. he even dated a girl that lived on my street and I would see him and he never said hello. My father's family was strange and yet I admired my Mom for visiting them every week so my Dad would see his parents. We were never even allowed to go in the dining room when they would eat dinner. We had to sit in the living room. They say what goes around comes around All of my Cousins don't talk to one of their brothers or sisters. Strange family to say the least.


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## Verisure (Aug 13, 2021)

Sassycakes said:


> I doubt he doesn't remember because he lived around the corner from us for years. he even dated a girl that lived on my street and I would see him and he never said hello. My father's family was strange and yet I admired my Mom for visiting them every week so my Dad would see his parents. We were never even allowed to go in the dining room when they would eat dinner. We had to sit in the living room. They say what goes around comes around All of my Cousins don't talk to one of their brothers or sisters. Strange family to say the least.


Now that really "sucks" ... I'm thinking of another word but I want to keep it clean. The positive bit is that neither you nor your cousins created that feud. Maybe your cousin(s) want to be friends? I am guessing that both your and their parents have passed on? The barrier is gone. What do you think?


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## Fyrefox (Aug 14, 2021)

My father lived in the suburbs of NYC, and rode a train to work in the city every day for decades.  Men passed the time on the train by buying and reading daily newspapers, which my father brought home every day; they cost about 6 or 8 cents then.  Commuting men like most men everywhere wore _hats _when they went out; you weren’t fully dressed without one!  In the hottest summer heat in the days before air conditioning, my father still wore a jacket, tie, and hat to and from work; he just switched to a straw or lightweight hat.  It was a classier age...


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## Verisure (Aug 14, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> My father lived in the suburbs of NYC, and rode a train to work in the city every day for decades.  Men passed the time on the train by buying and reading daily newspapers, which my father brought home every day; they cost about 6 or 8 cents then.  Commuting men like most men everywhere wore _hats _when they went out; you weren’t fully dressed without one!  In the hottest summer heat in the days before air conditioning, my father still wore a jacket, tie, and hat to and from work; he just switched to a straw or lightweight hat.  It was a classier age...
> 
> View attachment 178572


Back when men felt that family income and its well-being were his responsibility alone. *"It's a man's world"* they used to say. Of course, these days reading the newspaper is the best way to stay misinformed.


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## Irwin (Aug 14, 2021)

My friends and I spent a lot of time down by the Hudson river when I was growing up.






I had a VW camper bus that we'd load up with a keg of beer and my home stereo speakers, which we'd set on the roof, and have a party in a clearing on the other side of the tracks. 

I lost my virginity down by the river in the back seat of my Camaro, which was not exactly the most comfortable environment for that kind of activity, or any activity for that matter. Not long after that, I got the VW bus — my love machine!     I wound up living in that bus for about six months.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

Irwin said:


> My friends and I spent a lot of time down by the Hudson river when I was growing up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Having once had a Camaro myself (and knowing the cramped quarters in the back seat of it) I have to ask if you were alone when virginity departed.  

I also built a camper out of a 1955 Chevy one-ton panel truck. I had shag carpeting on the floor, two single cots hinged one to each side, a butane stove, an overhead stereo system, Camaro bucket seats, and a '63 Olds rear member that allowed the stock one-ton low gear four-speed run higher on the open road.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> You don't want to know how heartless and brutal Mother Terese was but if you do want to know just look it up. I guess she thought that if your life was miserable it was your own fault and you should suffer to your last breath believing that suffering was the only way that God would forgive you for your sins.


That Just about sums up my catholic school. Run by The Vincentian Fathers, so called because they were members of: "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul." Punishment came in the form of a hand hold lead strap, encased in thick leather, that hurt like hell.


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## CinnamonSugar (Aug 15, 2021)

happy memories of spending summer afternoons reading a book in the shade with the soft grass for a cushion


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> That Just about sums up my catholic school. Run by The Vincentian Fathers, so called because they were members of: "The Society of St. Vincent de Paul." Punishment came in the form of a hand hold lead strap, encased in thick leather, that hurt like hell.


I endured only 3 years of Catholic primary school. It was downright torturous at times.  I don't know if,* "Putting the fear of God into you"* is a strictly Catholic expression but I think that it might be.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

CinnamonSugar said:


> View attachment 178693
> 
> happy memories of spending summer afternoons reading a book in the shade with the soft grass for a cushion


Simply beautiful. Nancy Drew I presume? I read them all. It's true.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> I endured only 3 years of Catholic primary school. It was downright torturous at times.  I don't know if,* "Putting the fear of God into you"* is a strictly Catholic expression but I think that it might be.


The obsession that all catholic teachers, priests, nuns and brothers had, was sex. It was described as: "Sins of the flesh," with a strong emphasis on the word flesh. You couldn't argue that priests, bishops, even popes all married in the first twelve hundred years of the faith.

When the current Pope Francis was ordained, he said that Martin Luther was right, the church must constantly reform. Saying that at my school in the 1950's would have got you expelled.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> The obsession that all catholic teachers, priests, nuns and brothers had, was sex. It was described as: "Sins of the flesh," with a strong emphasis on the word flesh. You couldn't argue that priests, bishops, even popes all married in the first twelve hundred years of the faith.
> 
> When the current Pope Francis was ordained, he said that Martin Luther was right, the church must constantly reform. Saying that at my school in the 1950's would have got you expelled.


Now there's some food for thought.

Going to the confessional (does Scientology ring a bell?) I was most uncomfortable admitting to having had *"impure thoughts"*. All the while Catholic priests were bunging little boys and getting a few of the most devout young ladies in the town pregnant.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

Every schoolboy had a bicycle, many of us would commute to school on a bike.

But you could also use that bike to go to some river, stream or even a canal and if you lived near the sea, a pier, to spend the day fishing.


The UK was late in scrapping it's steam trains, that resulted in our male baby boomers becoming trainspotters.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> View attachment 178734
> Every schoolboy had a bicycle, many of us would commute to school on a bike.
> View attachment 178735
> But you could also use that bike to go to some river, stream or even a canal and if you lived near the sea, a pier, to spend the day fishing.
> ...


An idyllic time but for steam trains. I travelled overland _"on my own steam"_  (as it used to be called)  cadging lifts whenever possible - from Sweden to Cape Town - and I took up residence in Rhodesia just prior to the Honourable Mr. Ian Douglass Smith's handing over the government to "black rule". To think that Mugabe was the best choice at the time! He was too. Anyway, all through Zambia, Botswana, Rhodesia and the RSA there were steam engines still shuttling rolling stock onto the proper line in various rail yards.  A sight to behold.

Ps. Have you heard any news from our Marg?


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

When Marilyn stood on that grate in the film, "The Seven Year Itch," It gave ideas to owners of funfairs. (carnivals)
My grandmother had a fish & chip shop in the coastal town of Ramsgate, I would spend my long school holidays there.
Along the seafront was a permanent funfair known as Merry England. One of the most popular attractions was: "The House of Fun,"

Common features of The House of fun are dark corridors, light-up skulls, gravity-powered tipping floors, and, inspired by The Seven Year Itch, airjets at the exit. Some had motorised devices like moving floors and stairways or down scaled revolving barrels. But it was that airjet that drew the crowds. The one at Merry England was never in the same place. There was a long grate, replicating the one in the movie, the airjet could come out of anyone of a number of outlets.

Seeing this and seeing something that I know will get me scolded by the priest at my next confession, I threw caution to the wind and stood at the bottom of the thrill ride called The Big Dipper. I shall definitely be going to hell in a hand cart, but it sure beat train spotting.


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## CinnamonSugar (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> Simply beautiful. Nancy Drew I presume? I read them all. It's true.


Happy Hollisters were my fave but my reading tastes were (and are) eclectic.  I just can't lie on the grass on my stomach anymore lol


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> ... My grandmother had a fish & chip shop in the coastal town of Ramsgate, I would spend my long school holidays there.


You must have had a ripping good childhood! I'll bet you were bursting at the seams with all of that vinegar. LOL.



horseless carriage said:


> ..... One of the most popular attractions was: "The House of Fun,"
> 
> Common features of The House of fun are dark corridors, light-up skulls, gravity-powered tipping floors, and, inspired by The Seven Year Itch, airjets at the exit. Some had motorised devices like moving floors and stairways or down scaled revolving barrels. But it was that airjet that drew the crowds. The one at Merry England was never in the same place. There was a long grate, replicating the one in the movie, the airjet could come out of anyone of a number of outlets.
> 
> Seeing this and seeing something that I know will get me scolded by the priest at my next confession, I threw caution to the wind and stood at the bottom of the thrill ride called The Big Dipper. I shall definitely be going to hell in a hand cart, but it sure beat train spotting.


I was in the US as a child and I knew all of these. Also was the centrifugal thingy that would spin, plastering you against the cylindrical wall and once you were firmly stuck there the floor would slowly drop out from under your feet.


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## Irwin (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> Having once had a Camaro myself (and knowing the cramped quarters in the back seat of it) I have to ask if you were alone when virginity departed.



No, I wasn't alone, but I used to get cramps in my legs from having to be in such a contorted position, which put a damper on the mood.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> You must have had a ripping good childhood! I'll bet you were bursting at the seams with all of that vinegar. LOL.
> Maybe I will sharesome of those shildhood anecdotes.
> 
> 
> ...


Look at that photo, on the extreme left there's someone upside down.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> Look at that photo, on the extreme left there's someone upside down.


Yes, I know. Standing on your feet on the Big Dipper and standing on your head for the centrifugal thing were the rage.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

Irwin said:


> No, I wasn't alone, but I used to get cramps in my legs from having to be in such a contorted position, which put a damper on the mood.


I have a follow-up question to that but this is a family-oriented forum so I'll let it go.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 15, 2021)

Verisure said:


> I have a follow-up question to that but this is a family-oriented forum so I'll let it go.


I was thinking much the same thing. Gear lever and eye watering comes to mind.


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## Verisure (Aug 15, 2021)

horseless carriage said:


> I was thinking much the same thing. Gear lever and eye watering comes to mind.


Thank God it wasn't a Mustang. Ford had "T" shifters.


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## fuzzybuddy (Aug 17, 2021)

One of the things I will always remember is going out on the hill in back of my house, about 6 PM,  and see this white dot in the sky- Sputnik. It was 1957 and it was the first thing in space. Our cars had fins, we had "modern" furniture,, we were living in the Space Age. Here I was, a ten year old kid, and I could see it for myself. The little white dot was the future, and I could see it from my back yard. Cool.


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