The 70's and 80's in Ireland

Lydia Faithful Swordplay wrote: »

Those 501s ads increased Levis sales by 800% or something insane like that.

There was What A Wonderful World (the Sam Cook one not the Louis Armstrong one) with the guy in the bath... then the launderette/Heard It Through The Grapevine one which went stratospheric. Then Be My Baby, The Joker ("Some people call me the space cowboy..."). That was another thing about the 80s - there was a lot of nostalgia for the 60s!

Did the Levis ad with the woman in the yellow bikini taking a man's jeans come out in the 80s?

My mistake

Lambs Quarters & Drills & Drills of thinning for 3d a drill.Knots down & Out !

JupiterKid wrote:

You see, in real terms goods and most services were much more expensive in relation to incomes which were much much lower than today. Credit was hard to come by so for holidays and luxuries now taken for granted, you had to save. A dishwasher or video recorder or even a microwave was a luxury item. A cooker or fridge would often cost several months' salary of a middle class 1980s Irish household - a middle class that was much smaller than now.

We had a lock on our phone - 3 teenagers in the house and me dad going through every call on the phone bill saw to that. Electrical appliances being bought from the ESB shop and paid in installments on the bill. Most people I knew rented their TVs.

Life was hard, I learned from my parents that money was for most families back then finite and a budget was there for week to week spending which you couldn't over spend. My younger siblings grew up in better times in the 80's and have nothing like my concern over cash and the need to live within ones means. Hard and all as they were I feel priviliged to have lived during the 70's/80's and appreciate it for lessons learned on the value of respect for money.

"bolek and lolek" cartoon on the tele...
fizzle sticks
better music
miami vice
perri crisps, 'triangle' shaped orange juice, small milk bottles at school
No 10 bus went cross city
collecting club milk wrappers to get matchbox cars

80s here. Moved from Dublin to rural Kerry. Still remember arriving at the house surrounded by wildness. It was summer, the grass was long and the sun was warm and I quickly forgave my parents for taking me away from my friends. Was a good, honest place to grow up although I remember things like being very scared of the absolute pitch blackness of night after coming from Dublin, waking in the early morning to cows mooing.

I don't remember specifics of the life really, I vaguely remember in Dublin we'd some sort of weird pay phone in the house and I'm sure we didn't get one installed in Kerry for a long time. Everything I wore was from my older brother which in turn went to my younger brother. TV was a two channel affair. My uncle had a black and white one till the day he passed away. I've more clearer memories of the 90s and how fast things moved from then on.

I enjoyed my childhood. Was talking to the missus only last night and I feel like it would be hell growing up today with all the consumerism and social media to navigate.

Great music. Most other things were shlt.

a rented brown wood-effect Ferguson TV

Spent most of the 70's in the army on the border. No jobs around and got 7 pound a week border money on top of the 15 wages which kept me in booze. Too little to save. Drank a lot, courted a lot. No one had much so all were the same. The girls used to go with fellas who paid for their meals and drinks and when the summer came the girls had enough saved they went abroad on holidays...without the lads. The anti Irish army feeling was quite depressing. We were called Free State Bastards. The only lads with short hair at that time were skinheads and soldiers. The hunger strikes were a big thing then with black tapes wrapped around the telephone poles. We would go to the pubs for a chat with the lads and drink soda and lime when bobs were low. The wimmen were gorgeous (is it obvious I was full or them harmones?). Friday afternoon traffic was mad altogether that could extend your journey home by at least twenty minutes. The GAA was very popular and so were Folk Masses. Junkies were not common and were looked on as a curiosity and probably a bit cool. The hairstyle was 'the London Look' unisex blow dry with the blower pointed just above the middle of your forehead was all the rage. God I remember the orange paisley matching Ben Bherman shirt and tie, you could see me in the dark. The color faded after a few washes and was then used for work, if you had it. George Webb shoes were popular, if you could afford them. Kids used plastic sandals that used to split just under the instep. They were cheap. The pawn office in fairview was popular. We used to pawn our reel to reel tape recorder for a few pound and get it out in a few weeks. No-one had much but all were the same. I used to make pin-art, or stringcraft pictures and sold a few. I made a big one for The Broadstone Inn which was removed after a few years when the tobacco smoke make the string all muddy brown. Made a few bob but not enough to justify the exercise. Buying the cheap mince in the Moore Street butchers, who had added a red dye so it would disguise the fat content. Dunnes stores was the cheapest and rent for a one roomed flat in Broadstone was a fiver a week, sounds cheap but the dole was 8 quid a week, and you had to sign on every week. There were no homeless people in Dublin that I remember and few if any beggars. Free love, for feck sake what was all that about? It must have been in England, we could not afford it here in Ireland. Condoms were impossible to get until mail order came in, and varied in quality, (you don't want to go there).
The main thing I remember is....no jobs....and no color...I still have the photographs to prove it!

I remember the 70's very well. Poor, broke.
But rents were do-able and even house purchase was possible for anyone who had a half-decent job.
Also, before AIDS, but after the Pill, was a golden age of hippie-dom and making love, not war. And the music reflected that - hopefulness, in spite of fears - so many good songs!
Important social movements like the Whole Earth Catalog and Womens Lib were steadily gathering momentum.
People sent letters and cards through the post, all the time: no texting or emails or nothing "instant" like that.

Reading back over this thread, it appears that there was a very wide gulf of difference between life for the Dublin middle classes, and the way things were in country places.

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

No - it didn't work like that. That particular myth has been doing the rounds on Boards for years now because it suits those who complain about the current system.

It was 1979 and as far as I remember you had to have held at least two (possibly 3 ??) Provisional licences beforehand. A couple of my teachers availed of this but it caused consternation with the insurance companies as many refused to insure those who hadn't done the test.

A large part of the backlog was caused by the postal strike which went of for months. Actually the 70s' and early 80s' were a great old time for strikes including the Bank strike, RTE , Guinness, Dunlops and Dublin Bus amongst them. The postal strikes probably had the biggest effect though as it affected everyone. It's mad to think that if they went on strike now it would only have a fraction of the effect.

Anco turned into Tús, then a CE Scheme, then Solas, then Fthe BILD, who knows what it is now?

Shamrock Rovers winning 4 in a row