It was just a matter of time until ...

[The Smythe Meister]

Go anywhere today and it’s like a scene from a zombie film, heads down focussed on whatever device then give you a filthy look because you stop dead in front of them. We’ll end up with a generation or two of hunchbacks

... Hunchbacks with enormous thumbs, vision that fails at anything further than a foot away,no actual communication skills,and, the ABSOLUTE right to be provided with everything for no return....
... "I gotta ave more benefits, how else am I gonna pay for me Fags,vodka,full Sky package and latest iPhone.... Oh,and don't forget I need to get stuff for my fifteen kids, I'd ask their dads... but I don't know who they are"
Makes me fume these days :confounded:

[stillp]

... Hunchbacks with enormous thumbs, vision that fails at anything further than a foot away,no actual communication skills,and, the ABSOLUTE right to be provided with everything for no return....
... "I gotta ave more benefits, how else am I gonna pay for me Fags,vodka,full Sky package and latest iPhone.... Oh,and don't forget I need to get stuff for my fifteen kids, I'd ask their dads... but I don't know who they are"
Makes me fume these days :confounded:

And extra for the tattoos and piercings!
Pete

[Tim Marlow]

I can't really remember what age I walked to school by myself ( 20 mins walk for a kid ), but it must have been 6 or 7! When I was 13/14, I used to go for 10/15 mile bike rides, with a couple of mates - parents had no idea of where we were & It wasn't consideredout of the ordinary.f
One thing from that era, that you don't tend to see now, was the number of loose dogs ( not strays ) , but not that many cats! That may have been peculiar to the local area
Dave

Sounds very similar to me Dave. I used to go train spotting by bike, cycling to Eastleigh, Westbury, or Bournemouth which are all around twenty ish miles away. Cycled to Swindon once, which was about forty miles, I was absolutely knackered after that one…..by train I was used to going as far as Cardiff, Birmingham, and London by the time I was fourteen. My parents didn’t question it at all. Mind you, they were from a generation that left school at fourteen and went into full time employment, so we’re more used to kids of that age being more independent.
As to dogs, on the estate where I lived it was commonplace for most people to let the dog out when they went to work and let them back in when they got home. Damn things used to go around in packs. Cats are dawn and dusk hunters, so would be less obvious during the day. Used to be common for people to put the poor little buggers out all night though.

[Guest]

I can't really remember what age I walked to school by myself ( 20 mins walk for a kid ), but it must have been 6 or 7!

That late? I think it was 4 for me. But then, the way to school was to the end of the street, turn the corner, to the end of that street, turn another corner, and you’re almost there — call it four minutes max even at that age

When I was 13/14, I used to go for 10/15 mile bike rides, with a couple of mates - parents had no idea of where we were & It wasn't consideredout of the ordinary.f

Age 12, around here you go to secondary school, and if you live in a village, that means the nearest town, which will be anywhere between 15 and 45 minutes away by bike. Every kid age 12 and over, who lives in a village, does that twice a day, five days a week. Of course, kids these days all have electric bikes …

[Airborne01]

My mother once left me outside the shop and went home, she forgot she had a new born, came back and there I was sound asleep.

My mum did that as well - ten years later she came back and wondered why her new-born had short trousers ...My life has had some interesting moments ... !
Steve

[stillp]

Cycled to Swindon once, which was about forty miles

I bet you regretted that! I lived in Swindon for three years, and about the only good thing I'd say about the town is that it doesn't take very long to drive to some much nicer places.
Pete

[Airborne01]

Pulled up to a junction in the truck and looked at what the traffic was doing, and there she was in the opposite junction in the 4x4 Chelsea tractor, cup of coffee in one hand and phone in the other while admiring the makeup.....
Another driving in the fast lane (overtaking lane) phone in one hand and putting on the mascara with the other...
And I will not tell you about what another was doing but she had her head in the males lap..... later found out to be a big tv soap star.....

My bestie Gillian ... ? Surely not ( she said she was only looking for her contact lens)!
Steve

[Airborne01]

I bet you regretted that! I lived in Swindon for three years, and about the only good thing I'd say about the town is that it doesn't take very long to drive to some much nicer places.
Pete

Harsh - so harsh!
Steve

[Guest]

I can't really remember what age I walked to school by myself ( 20 mins walk for a kid ), but it must have been 6 or 7! When I was 13/14, I used to go for 10/15 mile bike rides, with a couple of mates - parents had no idea of where we were & It wasn't consideredout of the ordinary.f
One thing from that era, that you don't tend to see now, was the number of loose dogs ( not strays ) , but not that many cats! That may have been peculiar to the local area
Dave

I can remember I went to school with my aunt when she was in school. I being the brat, had to walk along in front of her and her friends, I was not allowed to walk with her.
Cycling - about the same age as you Dave, I had enough of living at home, so packed the eight man ex army canvas tent, ridge pole, poles, pegs and mallet, blankets onto my bike along with supplies (jar of jam, butter and loaf of bread) and off I went all across Birmingham and headed along the A45 to Elmdon where I set up camp opposite the airport.... Must have looked like one of those N. Vietnames on the Ho Chi Min trail....

[Guest]

WELL Mike i took jen shoppin the other day an left her there for a couple of hrs as goin to see a mate an as i was drivein through a fairly tight street with cars parked on both sides an oncomin traffic as well i see the women just step out in front of me as i was drivein at the speed limit of 30mph an she just walked along the side of her car from the rear an without lookin back at to see my car approatchin she just opened her car door to get in an boy did i have to hit the brakes as with cars comin up i would have knocked her door off an she dint even bat an eyelid when i was along side her an she just looked at me with out any thought at all BOY OH BOY talk about put the wind up me just as well ive got good brakes on my car if no ABS i would have knocked her door off oh dear what is up with people today ?
chrisb

Had the same in Londonistan when in the truck, but I took the door off at the hinges. luckily she was just in the car and getting out.

[Guest]

Go anywhere today and it’s like a scene from a zombie film, heads down focussed on whatever device then give you a filthy look because you stop dead in front of them. We’ll end up with a generation or two of hunchbacks

Hunchbacks with bottle-bottom glasses, and when they look at you their eyes will be like a goldfish looking out of its bowl.....

[Tim Marlow]

I bet you regretted that! I lived in Swindon for three years, and about the only good thing I'd say about the town is that it doesn't take very long to drive to some much nicer places.
Pete

To be honest, it was a spotting trip. We spent our time on the station or the railway works. Never went into the town at all. At that age I went to a lot of towns and only saw the railway station LOL…..at least I was outdoors getting exercise….

[Guest]

To be honest, it was a spotting trip. We spent our time on the station or the railway works. Never went into the town at all. At that age I went to a lot of towns and only saw the railway station LOL…..at least I was outdoors getting exercise….

I still go plane spotting, only airliners and biz now, about once a week I am let free to terrorise the locals.... no it is not the anorak and bobble hat, now it is a bloody big Volvo suv.

[yak face]

At least she wasn’t holding her phone horizontally, screen upward and microphone towards her, some distance away from her face.

That one always puzzles me too jakko , they hold it like its a Ryvita theyre about to take a bite out of , talk to it then hold it horizontally to their ear to listen , then back to the face etc etc. its as if they dont actually know how a phones supposed to be operated!

[Andy T]

That one always puzzles me too jakko , they hold it like its a Ryvita theyre about to take a bite out of , talk to it then hold it horizontally to their ear to listen , then back to the face etc etc. its as if they dont actually know how a phones supposed to be operated!

I guess it's so the screen doesn't get plastered in that thick make-up that seems to be all the rage right now!