The 70's and 80's in Ireland

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Gyalist wrote: »

I started a retail business in 1987 and a pair of Levi's 501s was about £60 - £65. For most young people that would have been almost as much as their weekly take-home pay.

I was only a kid in the 80s/early 90s but was conscious of stuff being insanely expensive- Anything “branded” was a real luxury like the example you give.
Globalization and freeing up of trade has really made consumer items way more affordable to the masses.
People’s standard of living is way higher now. Things people do daily like eating out now would only happen a few times a year (if at all). There were far less restaurants in any case!
Coffee was a jar of Maxwell house or Nescafé (there were cheaper own brands too!). Likes of Costa and Starbucks were unknown and it’s really only the last ten or fifteen years that’s become a big thing.

Wibbs

Charles Babbage wrote: »

I did use the Internet in the 1980s, it wasn't great

In the 80's? I doubt it. I saw a kinda "internet"(which name escapes) in a B&B in France in the mid 80's. It was like teletext that went two ways. Kinda. Because of a career thing I got what was the Internet foisted upon me in around 94 and it was very basic. Initially had Apple's E-World, which was almost exclusively American, with zero local colour. AOL was better and attempted to have more local stuff(90% UK stuff). It started to rev up in and around 97/98. But in general terms I was a rarity in the mid 90's. My internet provider had a thousand people in Dublin on their books. Maybe you did have the internet(well its precursor) in the 80's, but you would have been a teeny tiny minority.

My car then went just as fast as the one I have now,

Then your car back then must have been out of the ordinary, or your car now is slow. Being a petrolhead from near birth, with a family of petrolheads around me growing up, I can tell you that most old cars, even much vaunted classic old cars were slow as fuck compared to many average boring hatchbacks today(and didn't stop so well, or corner). I remember the hype when the Sierra and Escort Cosworths came out. They were painted as widow makers and baby killers and insurance cost more than the car did because they were so powerful. 200-220 brake horsepower. Eh... And most 70's 80's cars were far less reliable, with much input needed from the owner. They were reliable like a baby's arse. You would tend to them with love but sooner or later they'd shit themselves.

Parking was easier to find.

True dat.

Purple Mountain wrote: »

And you probably had a more active sex life than now!

Not in my "youth" anyway. Had scattered showers of shagging in my 20's, but it was after the millennium turned things really ramped up for me. Clearly you were better looking than me in your teens.

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Dakota Dan wrote: »

Nothing wrong with the food as it was a lot closer to organic than the sh1te that’s around today. But having bacon and cabbage 6 days a week and chicken on Sunday wasn’t much fun.

Don’t think that’s entirely true- there wasn’t the same regulations and standards around food production as now. Plenty of fairly potent pesticides that are now illegal were mainstream back then.
Need only look at the BSE crisis which started in the 80s as evidence of lower standards.
Not to mention higher hygiene standards (salmonella in eggs/chicken was another scare)

Masala

Back then.... a village 10 miles away was like in another country. We used to thumb everywhere and the problem was the fear of thumbing back from somewhere and not getting a lift. Once had to walk 10 miles home

Now I can cycle it in 25 minutes without breaking a sweat

And going to Dublin from the country was a real treat. Might get to Dublin once a year if u were lucky

Masala

And the amount of Masses your parents made u go to was huge!!

And masses very very very lonnnnnnnnng

The Crowman

Ilovethe bonesofyou wrote: »

Triple A golden maverick.

Cos this is no time to take a gamble.

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Masala wrote: »

And going to Dublin from the country was a real treat. Might get to Dublin once a year if u were lucky

Only lived in Kilkenny but “going up to Dublin” seemed like an ordeal in itself. Now it can be done in an hour and people do it daily. The country became a lot smaller

Ursus Horribilis

Masala wrote: »

And the amount of Masses your parents made u go to was huge!!

And masses very very very lonnnnnnnnng

There were always decent sized congregations at these masses too. Come early to get a seat near a radiator!

whisky_galore

branie2 wrote: »

The "Moving Statues" of 1985.

If people think the world is batsh*t crazy now, this was nothing short of mass hallucination. Imagine people thinking a thing made of concrete could move and do a dance and whatever, only the travellers would believe it now.

whisky_galore

Ursus Horribilis wrote: »

There were always decent sized congregations at these masses too. Come early to get a seat near a radiator!

Nope. You're welcome to it. Hours of my life I'll never get back.

Cabaal

Josiah Greasy Barefoot wrote: »

Both decades were, to my experience, marked by high unemployment and high interest rates.


I wouldn't go back to them for any reason.

My parents had a mortgage with 18% APR.....18% was also the unemployment rate at that time too when they got the mortgage. Yet we have people trying to claim we were better off
:rolleyes:

whisky_galore

road_high wrote: »

Coffee was a jar of Maxwell house or Nescafé (there were cheaper own brands too!).

Or an Irish made brown sludge in a bottle called Irel.

Eggs For Dinner

The 70's for me

Hated every minute of school
Driving the electric milk truck every Saturday morning at 14 years of age
Going to Lansdowne & Dalymount to watch Ireland
Met my current wife
Working with my Dad in his shop (miss you Dad)
Eating a proper size Curly Wurly
Spending 3 months every year in our mobile in Wexford
**** like my life depended on it
My 1st Summer job
Flares

Wibbs

whisky_galore wrote: »

If people think the world is batsh*t crazy now, this was nothing short of mass hallucination.

The last frantic death rattle of a dying church and that period of old Ireland with it. Statistically at the time Ireland was the youngest nation in Europe and watching that nonsense even the younger holy joes in more isolated rural Ireland started to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all.

Coillte_Bhoy

Bringing rakes of hang sandwiches and flasks of tea to big matches, and standing around at the boot of the car eating them. None of this running into a garage to pick up a bite to eat.

Big Nasty

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Bringing rakes of hang sandwiches and flasks of tea to big matches, and standing around at the boot of the car eating them. None of this running into a garage to pick up a bite to eat.

Still the norm at classic car shows!

iguana

The 80s were my childhood and my memories of it are mainly colourful and wonderful. My parents didn't have a lot of money but my mum is just excellent at financial management, both my parents are crafty/capable DIYers and my dad was a binman who regularly rescued other people's rubbish and brought it home for them to fix up. They were also really great at getting us to want what they could give. So while we didn't ever have any of the latest stuff, we always really, really wanted what we could get and we had so much. They never shied away from being honest about what we couldn't afford but did it in a way that made us focus on everything we did have. Rooms full of toys, so much clothes, everything was so colourful. Great cartoons on tv, the excitement when movies like Superman finally made it on to tv, lots of freedom to play and have adventures.

I know that my son is likely having a much better childhood now. And that it's a lot less financially stressful for me to provide him with most things he wants/I know he'd love. (Though plenty of his stuff has also been rescued from skips/the recycling depot.) Trips like Disneyland/Legoland are also feasible rather than total pipedreams. But I do know that some of the best elements of my childhood, like the freedom, don't come as easily these days, so I go out of my way to ensure he can have similar experiences.

zmgakt7uw2dvfs

Deleted User wrote: »

I think when most people look back, their late teens/college years are the happiest. It’s a time of blossoming, learning, experimenting, become a person in their own right.

Maybe most people. Personally I was quite unhappy and awkward at that stage. I really came into my own at 30, when everything fell into place for me.

I often think if suicidally ideated young men in their late teens and twenties could only wait until 30+, life would get a lot easier.

2011

Just look at this 1985 RTE new report:

I remember it so vividly.

Dakota Dan

zapitastas wrote: »

Were an awful lot less tubby feckers about in the 80s

Saying that once someone hit 70 they looked about 100. Most pensioners back then resembled Eamon dunphy.

When women hot their late 30’s early 40’s they were like old women compared to the women today who still look young in their 50’s. Or maybe it’s me just getting older.

angel eyes 2012

Masala wrote: »

And the amount of Masses your parents made u go to was huge!!

And masses very very very lonnnnnnnnng

Thankfully my parents had zero interest in attending mass in the 80s and we didn't have to either. Instead, I have happy memories of Sunday trips to the beach or drives around the countryside.

Dakota Dan

sunbeam wrote: »

Probably down to poorer nutrition, limited healthcare, and for many a combination of hard outdoor labour and lack of sunscreen. First time I remember seeing sunscreen in the chemist was in 1988. Many considered me mad for using the highest factor available then-factor 15

Definitely not poor nutrition, women let themselves go after getting married and wore sh1te clothes and no makeup.

Dakota Dan

Back in the 70’s most rural shops had a counter and you asked the shop assistant for what you wanted or gave them a list and they got what you wanted while you waited. No impulse shopping back then or buying sh1te that’s shoved in your face today.

JupiterKid

Wibbs wrote: »

That was my impression too, even at the time. There was a gulf between middle class Dubs and working class, but the gulf between Dublin/Cork/Galway and "The Country" was much larger. For one thing they were much more isolated from media. A captive audience. RTE was your lot as far as TV went(though radio gave you more)and if people think RTE today has a bias, bejesus it was more obvious then. A few years back I found an RTE Guide from the mid 70's and the references to the Church and input from priests in articles was eye opening. If you lived in Dublin or along the East coast, many people had either a dirty great aerial on their house, or had "the pipe" so you got the British TV channels which opened up your mental and cultural world. This tended to take away more of the Church and official state influence. There were fewer god botherers for a start. In the 80s when the satellite stuff was added to the mix again at the time I noticed a change in the cultural vibe.

Indeed - very true. The divide between urban and rural Ireland was much sharper back in the 70s and 80s.

Channel 4 coming along to our TVs in Dublin in 1982 really put the cat among the pigeons - uncensored French and other foreign films with sex scenes, programmes on gay and lesbian life that were daring for 1980s Britain let alone Ireland. The church must have been in convulsions at Channel 4 corrupting inpressionable young Irish minds (whilst all the time they were sexually abusing countless Irish children).

And then in 1991 Utopia, the first sex shop in Ireland, opened. The Legion of Mary protested outside it for the first year it was in operation!

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Dakota Dan wrote: »

When women hot their late 30’s early 40’s they were like old women compared to the women today who still look young in their 50’s. Or maybe it’s me just getting older.

No it’s very true. I can compare my own mother to my grandmothers who always seemed like old women to me- my mother is probably older than them now. Hair color wasn’t such a big thing !

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JupiterKid wrote: »

Ineed - very true. The divide between urban and rural Ireland was much sharper back on the 70s and 80s.

Channel 4 coming along to our TVs in Dublin in 1982 really put the cat among the pigeons - uncensored French and other foreign films with sex scenes, programmes on gay and lesbain life that were daring for 1980s Britain let alone Ireland. The church must have been in convulsions at Channel 4 corrupti g inpressionable young Urish minds (whilst all the time they were sexualky abusing countless Irish children).

And then in 1991 Utopia, the first sex shop in Ireland, opened. The Legion of Mary protested outside it for the first year it was in operation!

The early 90s was when it all come to a head. All the church scandals we now know were exposed or about to be exposed and the sale of contraception deregulated.

archer22

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Back in the 70’s most rural shops had a counter and you asked the shop assistant for what you wanted or gave them a list and they got what you wanted while you waited. No impulse shopping back then or buying sh1te that’s shoved in your face today.

In my area there used to be a mobile shop with all the basics that used to traverse and call to all the isolated houses in the back roads and boreens a couple of times a week...even people with cars used to avail of it as it saved them a trip to the local town.

NasserShammaz

harry Bailey esq wrote: »

We used to rent our telly from a little shop in finglas off Dessie Ellis. He's now a TD and sinn féin spokesperson on housing. Still lives in the house in finglas where he grew up. I'm no shinner but he's a nice genuine fella.

Free Dessie Ellis graffiti and Smash H Block. black flags on telegraph poles/telegraph poles

archer22

And the Posties on their bicycles in the rural areas...remember the bell ringing at the gate.
In my area there is miles of massive hills so the poor buggers had a really brutal job.

Still they used to make it 5 days a week in all weathers.
But that was before online shopping...Don't how they would fare if it was today

Masala

Don't remember anyone 'young' having cancer. It didn't seem to exist back then