Who remembers the 80's recession

uch

Well there's loads of talk here about the recession but for some of us it's the second time around, so who remembers? and what are your 'first' recession memories

uberalles

I was out six night a week in the 80s and dont remember a lot of it as a result.

Lesson St. Fine wines ......... hiiiiiiiic

patwicklow

Yes pubs were packed back then all empty now thats tescos for ye..

Where To

We used to collect tadpoles in jars in the 80s



FOR FUN!!


:mad:

Guill

Got 50p a week pocket money. Bought a quarter of sweets and was as happy as a pig in ****e.

I can remeber times when my parents were under pressure, I didn't realise at the time but looking back now makes me wonder...

patwicklow

Where To wrote: »

We used to collect tadpoles in jars in the 80s



FOR FUN!!


:mad:

now they dance around poles..

uberalles

If you drink and drive .......... "two will do".

There were fewer cars on the road then so it was almost encouraged.


And always remember to drink and drive .......... you need a car.

JohnMearsheimer

I was around for it but was too young to take it in. I wish I could say the same about this one.

Chuck Stone

Everyone looked* and sounded like the Joe Duffy show.

Twas turrible.


*yes, looked like a radio show.

gurramok

Everyvbody respected each other, none of this Celtic Tiger greed and self worth. Oh, and it was rare for gangland killings to occur in such numbers.

tallus

I remember it well, paid huge tax after my cut off figure of 74 punts. Govt were just as big a bunch of money grabbing bastards back then too.

super_furry

Where To wrote: »

We used to collect tadpoles in jars in the 80s



FOR FUN!!


:mad:

Bees too. Couldn't tell you the number of red-arses I caught.

Dudess

gurramok wrote: »

Everyvbody respected each other

sure.

T954

tallus wrote: »

I remember it well, paid huge tax after my cut off figure of 74 punts. Govt were just as big a bunch of money grabbing bastards back then too.

And we still haven't done a thing about it....just keep takin it paddy you're good for more aren't ye

bbam

I think the big difference is that the 80's recession came on the back of generally hard times in the 70's.. So it was less of a "come down"..

We would go off to school with bread and butter and often have soup and bread, or soup and potatoes for dinner..

Our current recession or depression is coming on the back of what seemed like extraordinary wealth (a pure illusion) and so is harder for many to accept.. Also facing into a recession with a mountain of debt is a serious problem for many..

I know my parents made huge sacrifices to afford us some sort of decent living standard, occasional holidays and days out, I knew then it was hard for them but only realised later in life the extent of the hardships they worked through..

Our current position in Ireland is dire, but with time it will pass.. If I were young and less settled I'd be looking at jumping on a plane and leaving for a few years.. However we're hunkered down for the long term here, knowing full well that the worst may still be to come..

Balmed Out

The complete lack of trafic in my park. Playing soccer, hurling etc with no cars interupting.

The escalator in merchants quay (cork). It was the first I ever used and id look forward to being dragged around town so id get to try it out.

There was roughly around 4 to 5 hundred times the amount of dog poo on footpaths as there is now.

Every St. Patricks day pissed rain.

Jokes about kerrymen and ladas.

Dallas was the highlight of everyones week, except little boys who preferred V.

Adults authority was unchalengable. You wouldnt ever be cheeky to one.

It was considered really, really weird that my mother had a part time job.

The majority of kids walked to school and possesed bags about 4 times larger then today. Ive travelled to other continents since with smaller bags.

Teachers throwing chalk, dusters etc or giving you the odd slap, picking you up by the ear was not unusual.

donegal_road

We used to buy our petrol in the North because it was cheaper, while we were there we did grocery shopping as it was a lot less expensive.

Marmalade sandwiches, dilutable orange with the 10p for each returned bottle, people used to hitch everywhere, so many Irish in England for work, black and white tv (in the early 80's), Honda 50's all over the place, pints were £1.30 approx in 1988, phoning abroad was very expensive and had to be done through the operator at the telephone exchange, Spectrum 48k computer where you had to load games from an audio tape, last but not least... I dont remember debt, you either had money or you didnt, I dont think I ever saw a credit card in the 80's

chin_grin

I remember there being another thread about it.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056574924

ejmaztec

There was a better class of begrudgery, nepotism and parish-pump politics in the 80s.

Sleepy

Yup, born in 1980 so the majority of my childhood was spent in that recession.

Standard Toaster

Anyone getting their petrol/diesel nicked from the car yet?
Memories....



What we need is another Self Aid. Save us Bono.

stargazer 68

I went to Saints nightclub 6 nights a week and walked home to Raheny! Kids these days dont know how good they have it!!

jester77

I remember it well. It was a lot different back then, there was no telephones in the houses, TV had only 2 channels and central heating didn't exist. Getting out of the bed in the morning was torture, it was like stepping into a fridge. Everything was hand me down, I remember one lad who had a few older sisters and he would have to wear their underwear, back then no one gave a crap about image or made fun of something like that. Having a home cooked meal in the evening was something that was appreciated and not something everyone had the fortune of having. Everyone had brothers, sisters, aunts & uncles living in the US & the UK that you would only see every few years. Things don't seem to be that bad this time around, but the debt people have now didn't exist back then. So you can't really compare the two, they are very different.

Snakeblood

gurramok wrote: »

Everyvbody respected each other

Well that's just flat wrong.

who the fug

Standard Toaster wrote: »

Anyone getting their petrol/diesel nicked from the car yet?
Memories....



What we need is another Self Aid. Save us Bono.

The dreaded petrol cap with key, fecking easier to get into Fort Knox, than open that blasted thing with a key

pragmatic1

Where I live in Donegal there was way more employment oppertunities in the 80s e.g fishing, factories, tourism, farming. Thats all gone. Its very bad now. My parents who are in their 60s say they've never seen times as bad as these.

who the fug

Standard Toaster wrote: »

What we need is another Self Aid. Save us Bono.

Great thing about leaving is I won't have to watch one them ever again

stevenmu

The definitive 80s recession experience: hand-me-downs.

When you compare that to this recession where kids are worried that they might have to get fake gucci handbag instead of a real one, or that they might only have an iPhone 4 instead of a 4s. This really is the worst recession ever, we can't even get poverty right.

fundlebundle

Where To wrote: »

We used to collect tadpoles in jars in the 80s



FOR FUN!!


:mad:

That's mad. We did the same. Must have been an 80s thing. There was always one fat tadpole left in the jar a month later.

Captain Darling

gurramok wrote: »

Everyvbody respected each other, none of this Celtic Tiger greed and self worth. Oh, and it was rare for gangland killings to occur in such numbers.

And we all lived happily every after, amen.

fundlebundle

In the 80s my dad usually had 2 or 3 jobs to pay the bills, now he is working in India to pay his bills.

Other things I remember about the 80s

Trivial persuite (sp?)
Gammon ham with pineapple rings on top
Wooly jumpers with diamond patterns on them.
Feeling and hearing the wind blowing through a closed window - before double glazing.

fishy fishy

houses were freezing (except in the room where the fire was).

there might have been one person on the street with a phone - calls made from
USA from family members would have that one phone number.

hitchin a lift was the norm - there were even "rules" on how to join the hitchin queue.

having a "ham sandwich" was a treat for visitors. Usually you would have soggy tomato or bread and butter.

If you wanted a fashionable item of clothing, you paid it off week by week until you could pay it off.

dog poo poo was white. (must have been before gourmet dog food was invented).

nothing was thrown away - it was always made use of.

The "cool" wines at Christmas was either blue nun or black tower

gurramok

Snakeblood wrote: »

Well that's just flat wrong.

How? Community spirit was strong in those days, there was no belittling anyone. Everyone helped each other and gave respect.

2 stroke

As a school leaver in my first job I paid tax at 65%.

SEPT 23 1989

I will compare the two recessions in 2016

the next four years will be devastating in this country

Kurz

People had less stuff and less income but much less debt. We were probably better off back then in that sense. Very few people classed themselves as 'middle class', vast majority were working class and proud of it. Most are still working class but wouldn't ever dream of admitting it, we have a gigantic self-proclaimed 'middle class' now.

Very few had phones, a car, a second tv set or holidays abroad.

The thing I miss the most is probably how quiet it used to be on Sundays and holy days/bank holidays.

Logical Fallacy

I was pretty young at the time, but i do recall a genuine sense of "wow, that dude must be rich" when you saw someone driving a Merc or a BMW, these days everyone seems to have one, recession or not.

Snakeblood

gurramok wrote: »

How? Community spirit was strong in those days, there was no belittling anyone. Everyone helped each other and gave respect.

It's wrong because I remember the 80s. Anyone who wasn't part of the majority catholic group was ostracised. Anyone who was black was treated as an oddity. Everyone still hated travellers. If your point is 'Everyone in my group treated everyone in my group with respect', then fine, but saying that everyone treated everyone with respect is completely wrong.

Dyr

super_furry wrote: »

Bees too. Couldn't tell you the number of red-arses I caught.

It was the shugeys ye had to watch out for. Not quite sure how anything got pollinated bakc then. Must have been like the bee equivalent of alien abduction.

"Where the f**k were you murphy? you were supposed to have that pollen back hours ago"

"ya won't believe this boss..."

I remember gangs of youths drinking out of cans most nights near where I live (by The Lough in Cork), there used to be picnic tables there and these lads to me appeared to be late teens early twenties, the Gardai used to come and warn them off every now and then. I remember one night one of the rear lights on our car was broken by a stone thrown by one of them, Dad went over on his own to them (about 10 of them) with my hurley and threatened to crack their heads open, off they went sh1tting it, as bad as they were there was an element of respect for folk back then.

Still, I was often nervous enough going to the corner shop at night with all these gangs of lads roaming around

I remember joy riding was a big enough problem back then, abandoned and sometimes burnt out cars were not uncommon a sight on the walk to school.

Back then we were all happy enough in primary school, somewhat oblivious to financial problems etc, from what I can remember most of the lads at school, their Dads had jobs, not great jobs, but jobs and we all were fed relatively well.

fishy fishy

Snakeblood wrote: »

It's wrong because I remember the 80s. Anyone who wasn't part of the majority catholic group was ostracised. Anyone who was black was treated as an oddity. Everyone still hated travellers. If your point is 'Everyone in my group treated everyone in my group with respect', then fine, but saying that everyone treated everyone with respect is completely wrong.

most of the black people were actually treated with a lot of respect, as they were usually doctors and surgeons in the hospitals. Communities did stick together and helped each other out. Neighbours knew neighbours and they did respect each other.

I never remember anyone being "ostracised" because they were not catholic - remember there were lots of protests all over ireland when the pope came in 1979 so to say that people not catholic were being ostrasiced is wrong - maybe in your town, but it definitely wasn't widespread.

cynder

fishy fishy wrote: »

most of the black people were actually treated with a lot of respect,

I never remember anyone being "ostracised" because they were not catholic - remember there were lots of protests all over ireland when the pope came in 1979 so to say that people not catholic were being ostrasiced is wrong - maybe in your town, but it definitely wasn't widespread.

Black people were treated with respect, however if you were white and english and not catholic then you were in trouble.

amacachi

I remember the 80s recession well, it lasted til about 1996 in my house.

amacachi

grindelwald wrote: »

Black people were treated with respect, however if you were white and english and not catholic then you were in trouble.

I know at least one who wasn't.

Pataman

Only allowed fizzy drinks at Christmas, easter etc.
I was the youngest, so I got the hand me down bikes, jumpers etc.
But the summers were warmer then!!

Snakeblood

RoverJames wrote: »

I remember gangs of youths drinking out of cans most nights near where I live (by The Lough in Cork), there used to be picnic tables there and these lads to me appeared to be late teens early twenties, the Gardai used to come and warn them off every now and then. I remember one night one of the rear lights on our car was broken by a stone thrown by one of them, Dad went over on his own to them (about 10 of them) with my hurley and threatened to crack their heads open, off they went sh1tting it, as bad as they were there was an element of respect for folk back then.

It sounds a bit more like an element of respect for folk with hurleys to be fair.

Yakult

What caused the recession in the 80's? Please tell me it wasn't housing and developers?!

Cú Giobach

fishy fishy wrote: »

most of the black people were actually treated with a lot of respect, as they were usually doctors and surgeons in the hospitals.
.

Not only were they treated with respect but according to one fella I know who moved here in 1984, they were considered exotic, and different but not in a negative way (he wasn't a professional btw).
He moved from The Caribbean and stayed in England for a few years before moving here.
He said it was the best choice he ever made, he had the time of his life till the mass immigration started, everyone wanted to talk to him in the pubs, he always had a woman hanging off his arm (before eventually marrying), and he made many many genuine friends.
Nowadays he sometimes gets told to f*** off back to Africa . :mad:

ejmaztec

Yakult wrote: »

What caused the recession in the 80's? Please tell me it wasn't housing and developers?!

It was probably the governments on their own, but they felt that the 80s recession wasn't bad enough, so teamed up with the bankers and property developers to see if they could create a worse one. Fair play to them all, they came up trumps this time. They're now planning the next one.

Sparkyd2002

Yakult wrote: »

What caused the recession in the 80's? Please tell me it wasn't housing and developers?!

Just lack of work really. Many huge factories closed down and many communities depended solely on them . My memory of it was it was worse because Social Welfare was far less in terms of value and support if i remmebr correctly. We didnt have the same spending power hence there were far less consumer products in the shops to choose from. Was just a shrunken market all round really. When i look at photographs from back then of Cork or Dublin it makes me think Im looking at somewhere in Uzbekhistan! My father had what would be considered a good job but I remember my parents always had to budget and save hard for the nice things in life. Its true though, there was far less debt. Some would say its the inability to access credit that prolongs a recession! Dont think we've ever seen a property bubble like this one before thats for sure. Problem is its affected access to all capital, not just Capital for property purchases....

ongarboy

Balmed Out wrote: »

The complete lack of trafic in my park. Playing soccer, hurling etc with no cars interupting.

The escalator in merchants quay (cork). It was the first I ever used and id look forward to being dragged around town so id get to try it out.

There was roughly around 4 to 5 hundred times the amount of dog poo on footpaths as there is now.

Every St. Patricks day pissed rain.

Jokes about kerrymen and ladas.

Dallas was the highlight of everyones week, except little boys who preferred V.

Adults authority was unchalengable. You wouldnt ever be cheeky to one.

It was considered really, really weird that my mother had a part time job.

The majority of kids walked to school and possesed bags about 4 times larger then today. Ive travelled to other continents since with smaller bags.

Teachers throwing chalk, dusters etc or giving you the odd slap, picking you up by the ear was not unusual.

What has any of the above got to do with the recession in the 80's? That's just remembering anything from the 80s!

I remember the recession in so far as my dad had to emigrate to America for 12 months in 1986 and leave my mother and us behind to find work as none was available here. I was too young to associate it with a recession as I probably didn't even know what that word meant then. We did not go on holidays and often wore hand me downs from cousins. Food was always the very basic St Bernard type but my mother was a great cook so we didn't notice or feel we were missing out. The only things I really noticed as a 10/11/12 year old is that we didn't have a video recorder or multi-channel when many of our neighbours did and the explanation was that it was too expensive. Video players cost about 2 weeks wages back then.