How do you know you're getting old...

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When your grandchildren ask what devices you had growing up. I still remember the advent of 'stereo' with excitement. :D
 
Or 13 shillings for a Mars bar!

Try a fiver for a coffee (admittedly, a good coffee here) but blimey, a FIVER????? "Back in my day you could buy a LOT for a fiver!

(OK. OK: QUOTE: 'ole int ground? Sheer looksery. We 'ad to live in a shoe box, 'ad ter git up 'afore we went to bed, (etc, etc). Then on, "these young whippersnappers ov terday don't they've even bin born!" UNQUOTE)

(For the benefit of our transatlantic cousins - and the youngsters, if any of 'em are reading this - in the above I'm paraphrasing a very famous UK TV comic sketch from the '70s where 2 old codgers with "Norvern Brit accents" are exaggerating more and more over the hardships they had to go through when young. As - yet another - sign of my advancing years I can't for the life of me remember who did the original sketch, very sorry. But I'm sure someone will be along soon to set the record straight).
 
Thanks a lot Phil. You're "a trooper" Sir! I shall enjoy watching that again.

Edit for a P.S. Yup, I did enjoy seeing that again. Must be YEARS since last time (and I even recognised the 4 faces)!

Another edit for another P.S. Not sure I can name all 4 though!
 
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When your grandchildren ask what devices you had growing up. I still remember the advent of 'stereo' with excitement. :D

Only due to having cheap relatives do I have a clue what a US hi-fi system was.

I don't mean like a component system with a rack and speaker towers, but the giant things that you put a lamp on and that cost the moon:



expensive enough to have a cabinet made separately by a furniture company. Probably free or near free at estate sales unless there is an internet forum pushing them as a must have.

The size of the magnet on the bass speaker astounds me given the size of the alnico magnets on JBL speakers in amplifiers from the same period (then again, a fender twin in the 1960s cost the equivalent of about $5500 dollar's in today's money if you ordered JBL alnicos).

About a third of that now and a fifth if you're willing to settle for solid state (which was probably well received - solid state - back when these hi-fis were made).

As a kid, I was absolutely not allowed to use the turntable for fear of damaging either the needle or a record.
 
My shaving mirror tries to give me a hint. It started by turning my hair grey, then it gave up on me and somehow changed to my father. Then it changed to my grandfather! I think I need an electric razor ;)
 
When today's inflation rate is a lot less than when you got your first job or bought your first house.
 
Another edit for another P.S. Not sure I can name all 4 though!
From left to right, Tim Brook-Taylor, John Cleese, Graham Chapmen and Mary Feldman, that is the original sketch, lots of other re-makes with different people, but always John Cleese.
 
How about a cheer for all you good old guys instead?
My brother in law is one, 86 years old, a genuinely nice man and crazy as a coot in an endearing sort of way. There are four things he always has in his pockets - a small screwdriver, an optician's penlight, a ball of string and a yo-yo. The first three because he says you never know when you may need them and the yo-yo is because he just likes playing with it. He doesn't like shopping though and when his wife drags him through the stores the yo-yo will come out and he's pretty darned good with it as well. In his working life he was an ophthalmic surgeon and mastered all the tricks of the yo-yo as a means of putting his child patients at ease.
I admire him for not giving a rat's backside about what anybody thinks. Growing old disgacefully - that's the way to go.
 
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