The 70's and 80's in Ireland

RiderOnTheStorm · 15-09-2018 11:38am

Feck lads.....13 pages since yesterday....cant read it all, but my tuppence worth (as a guy who lived his formative years in the 80s)....

Music BRILL

Movies BRILL

Clothes RUBBISH !!

archer22 · 15-09-2018 11:39am

Those on the dole used to get a voucher for a free pound of butter each week as there was an EU "butter mountain".

They all got excited when they heard that there was also an EU "wine lake" and were expecting another voucher every week.

Sadly that never materialised :pac:

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 11:42am

archer22 wrote: »

Those on the dole used to get a voucher for a free pound of butter each week as there was an EU "butter mountain".

They all got excited when they heard that there was also an EU "wine lake" and were expecting another voucher every week.

Sadly that never materialised :pac:

You could use Butter Vouchers to buy smokes in Finglas/ and you could buy a loose from a shop that was a van with no wheels 8p I think but that sounds a bit expensive

mikemac2 · 15-09-2018 12:03pm

Chocolate cigarettes

Some politicians would have a meltdown if these were still around. I can hear the screeching already

Half penny coins. Always useful for your penny sweets and yes a penny sweet cost a penny

Opal fruits & marathon were the names, bring em back!

Lucozade was for sick people, not a treat for your lunch. Also came in a large glass bottle. These bottles were often used later to store holy water.

Club shandy. It was in a brown can. Again this wouldn't be allowed these days as it had beer though it was probably 0.00001%. They still have the orange, lemon but the shandy is no more. Probably poor sales as it was disgusting (possibly 90's not sure)

Cavan cola, alas no more

branie2 · 15-09-2018 12:04pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

I loved McDonalds as a kid. It was a real treat. Now some families practically raise their children on fast food and that -
combined with little outdoor play - is a major reason why we have a childhood obesity problem.

I remember some friend of my mam's from when they lived in Belfast in the 60s as young women coming to visit from the States with her son in the mid 80s - she was a very stylish MILF and he was a tall, tanned good looking 16 year old lad with perfect teeth and my big sister had a crush on him (she'd be morto now at that lol:D) - they lived in Cleveland, Ohio. I remember him telling me that his city had 25 McDonalds when Dublin had only about 4 or 5 at the time. I couldn't get my head around that!! 25 MaccyDs in one city alone - it seemed amazing to a 10 year old lad in 1985.

I also remember my Dad going to New York on a business trip in circa 1984 and he came back with walkmans for my two older sisters and myself. They were super cool! Massive chunky Sanyo things but my mates were mad jealous. I still have mine after 34 years and I bet if I put batteries in it - it would still work.

Anyone remember Soda Stream?:o

I remember it well. We had it in our house.

AndrewJRenko · 15-09-2018 12:12pm

I went researching Sodastream recently, to see if I could use it to get sparkling water without the plastic bottles. It turns out that they've just stopped doing the flavoured syrups, so sparkling water is actually all it can do, much to the frustration of many existing owners. The sparkling water would be something twice the price via the Sodastream than the plastic bottle.

dasdog · 15-09-2018 12:19pm

I only really remember the mid/late 80's.

The Good
So many concerts from the age of 13. Metallica were even good back then.
ZX Spectrum or C64 for the posher kids. VHS.
Playing in the streets. Kerbs, heads and volleys. Disappearing for hours on end on your bike with friends.
There was a real sense of togetherness. We were a very proud but troubled nation.

The Bad
The smog before the introduction of smokeless coal. It was like a Dickens novel some nights.
Parts of Dublin city centre were completely derelict. People give out about Temple Bar now. It was an absolute dump in 1988.
Food was pretty terrible for most.

The Ugly
Unemployment, poverty, fighting, joyriders, glue sniffers, heroin.

NUTLEY BOY · 15-09-2018 12:35pm

1984 - the top rate of income tax was 65% (sic) plus national insurance on top of that.

Some people were sentenced to death.

As far as I remember there was actually a bar in UCD Belfield.:)

Elephant flares.

Friday evenings in Dun Laoghaire or the North Wall looking at people leaving on one way tickets.

The giant blue double doors of the employment exchange in Gardiner Street - a very busy place in the 1980s particularly.

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 12:58pm

Wibbely Wobbley Wonders

RobertKK · 15-09-2018 1:10pm

The days before health and safety...remember it as a child siting on top of the square bales of hay on a trailer as my factor brought the hay home to the haybarn.
Sitting on top of the bales, ducking down to avoid tree branches and cables crossing the road...
We also had some epic lightning storms, never saw so much lightning close up as I did in 1985, was just happy to survive that.
Overall as a child it was fun times on a farm.

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 1:15pm

Assassination attempts

Dakota Dan · 15-09-2018 2:09pm

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

What was it like in the 1980's in Ireland?

I have seen pictures, video and my god it looked like a depressing place. :eek:

Grey, delapidated, hopeless.

What was it like? How did you get by without internets, wheelie bins, toilets...?

Would you go back if you could??

*Might as well throw in the 70's too for people of that vintage.

No toilets on the 80’s? It might come as a surprise to you but most houses has toilets in the 60’s. No central heating in the 70’s though so it was a hot water bottle to heat the bed with chilblains as a result and huddle around the stove to get some heat before it disappeared through the uninsulated walls and roof. People survived it and hardly any complaining or sense of entitlement like people have nowadays.

oceanman · 15-09-2018 2:13pm

not getting beat over the head with endless rules and regulations form the nanny state we live in now..

Sal Butamol · 15-09-2018 2:13pm

Butter vouchers were still going well into the late 90's, up until around 1998.

freshpopcorn · 15-09-2018 2:15pm

Dakota Dan wrote: »

No toilets on the 80’s? It might come as a surprise to you but most houses has toilets in the 60’s. No central heating in the 70’s though so it was a hot water bottle to heat the bed with chilblains as a result and huddle around the stove to get some heat before it disappeared through the uninsulated walls and roof. People survived it and hardly any complaining or sense of entitlement like people have nowadays.

I think a lot of new houses had toilets but I know lots of rural farm houses and they simply didn't have toilets or install them right away.
I know a few people and the district nurse basically made people get them when they got older in the 2000's.

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 2:27pm

last day of school before the summer holidays and then 2 months off, being told by your mum to get out of the house and don't come back till lunch time

dr.fuzzenstein · 15-09-2018 2:30pm

JupiterKid wrote: »

Anyone remember Soda Stream?:o

They're all the rage again. Just for water mind you, no one in their right mind would use those disgusting syrups, even though they're still available and with new "organic" flavours now.
Had a few over the last few years. The amount of fücking rubbish from plastic water bottles is one thing I absolutely don't miss.

On topic:
Bottles of water, soft drinks and beer in crates that where reusable and you paid a deposit on.
Why the absolute fcuk does everything have to be throwaway plastic bottles these days?

Edgware · 15-09-2018 2:41pm

The Crowman wrote: »

Those weird Eastern European cartoons RTE would show as filler between programmes, National Film board Of Canada animated shorts and these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFgcx76RIg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m-095okyQY

Ah good old Rolek and Bolek

Edgware · 15-09-2018 2:44pm

News beginning with...

The body of a man has been found in the Shankill rd area of East Belfast..

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 2:46pm

Playing football all day and then having next goal the winner when the scores 23-17 but your being called for dinner

NasserShammaz · 15-09-2018 2:47pm

Edgware wrote: »

News beginning with...

The body of a man has been found in the Shankill rd area of East Belfast..

keyholders in the area please come to your premises

sunbeam · 15-09-2018 3:04pm

I was born in 1972.

One phone in the village in the 70s, in the Big House. The porch would be left open at night in case anyone needed to make an emergency call to the doctor.

Went to a primary school heated by open fires until the early 80s. Kids from senior infants on were expected to set these fires each day. Parents provided the turf.

Kids from 3rd-6th Class were expected to boil the kettle/set the table and wash up after teachers' lunch. In fairness, they made the boys do this as well as the girls.

Few of us had cars as most fathers worked in England for nine month's of the year. My dad sent me letters and comics each week, but as a young child I had often forgotten what he looked like by the time he came home each December. His return was a bigger event than Christmas, as he arrived with a boot full of toys. It was fantastic when he found a job in Ireland in the 80s and could come home at weekends.

Photographs were a rarity in the 70s and you wouldn't waste film on anything other than a special occasion. Nobody even bothered to take any for my Christening. Christenings were held within a couple of weeks of birth, out of a genuine fear that the child might die and end up in limbo.

As few of us had cars everything came to your door, There were several mobile shops, butcher, milkman, travelling banks, dry cleaners etc.

Holidays consisted of relatives from abroad coming back to stay with us each summer.

Parcels of hand me downs from the American/British cousins were always received with excitement and delight.I was the only girl in my class to have a new first communion dress due to my unfortunate lack of such cousins. Many brides also wore dresses borrowed from friends or relatives.

I look back on the early 80s with more fondness that the latter part of the decade, mainly because I hated secondary school. From day one it was impressed on us that there was nothing in this country for us and we would eventually have to leave.

The constant message was that the world was a harsh and miserable place. We had chances that our parents never had but woe betide any of us that screwed things up. There would be no second chances. I often wonder what we could have achieved if we had a fraction of the positivity and confidence that is instilled in kids today.

I'm still completely stunned that the boom happened before I left college and I didn't have to emigrate. Feels like I flipped over into a parallel universe in 1995.

Franz Von Peppercorn · 15-09-2018 3:08pm

Dakota Dan wrote: »

No toilets on the 80’s? It might come as a surprise to you but most houses has toilets in the 60’s. No central heating in the 70’s though so it was a hot water bottle to heat the bed with chilblains as a result and huddle around the stove to get some heat before it disappeared through the uninsulated walls and roof. People survived it and hardly any complaining or sense of entitlement like people have nowadays.

By central heating are you excluding radiators?plenty of people had those.

As for the op and toilets and wheelie bins. Of course there were toilets and wheelie bins are hardly a great advance. We should be having wheelie bins on the moon at this stage

freddie1970 · 15-09-2018 3:34pm

i remember the food being brutal ...i know hate the smell of bacon and cabbage

Gonzo · 15-09-2018 3:35pm

I was born autumn 1973.

Don't remember much about the 70s but remember all of the 80s

The Good:
I was young and carefree
hanging out with friends, cycling, school summer holidays.
Movies were great
Music was very good
Cartoons were great
People socialized properly, no smartphones or social media
Sweets and Ice-cream seemed more exciting and better value
anything from America was larger than life and really exciting

The Bad
Clothes were just awful in every way.
Hand-me-downs.
Grey buildings, derelict buildings.
Dreary parts of towns and cities.
Our roads were not much better than dirt tracks with potholes everywhere.
Lots of poverty.
Unemployment.
Northern Ireland Troubles.
All irish people were tarred with the one brush due to the troubles.
Expense of airline tickets. - No low cost flying back then.
Lack of TV Stations other than RTE and BBC/ITV.
Poor technology.
School was really crap back then, lack of facilities with nothing remotely fun about it.
Lack of variety in food. Some of the food we ate was just horrible.

Star Bingo · 15-09-2018 3:38pm

freddie1970 wrote: »

i remember the food being brutal ...i know hate the smell of bacon and cabbage

Just put it in a pot and boil it. Boil it all!

Scummy cabbage mmmm....

15-09-2018 3:43pm

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

As far as I remember there was actually a bar in UCD Belfield.:)

There were three there back in the early noughties!

The SU bar, the Forum, and the Sports Bar.

Think there's only the one remaining, and it's shite.

freddie1970 · 15-09-2018 3:46pm

Star Bingo wrote: »

Just put it in a pot and boil it. Boil it all!

Scummy cabbage mmmm....

Fcukin cabbage i detest the stuff

Dakota Dan · 15-09-2018 4:10pm

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

They're all the rage again. Just for water mind you, no one in their right mind would use those disgusting syrups, even though they're still available and with new "organic" flavours now.
Had a few over the last few years. The amount of fücking rubbish from plastic water bottles is one thing I absolutely don't miss.

On topic:
Bottles of water, soft drinks and beer in crates that where reusable and you paid a deposit on.
Why the absolute fcuk does everything have to be throwaway plastic bottles these days?

Sometimes we seem to be going backward, very little plastic back then either meat was straight from the butcher and wrapped in brown paper. I never saw bottles of water back then, that craze didn’t start until the late 80’s.

Dakota Dan · 15-09-2018 4:18pm

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote: »

By central heating are you excluding radiators?plenty of people had those.

As for the op and toilets and wheelie bins. Of course there were toilets and wheelie bins are hardly a great advance. We should be having wheelie bins on the moon at this stage

Yeah we had oil central heating in our school in 1969, very few new houses would have central heating back then. No need for wheelie bins as there wasn’t as much plastic back then and bottles had a bounty on them for reuse.

The 70's and 80's in Ireland

Comments