Who remembers the 80's recession

fishy fishy · 14-03-2012 12:16PM

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 · 14-03-2012 12:51PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:13PM

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

SEPT 23 1989 · 14-03-2012 01:17PM

I will compare the two recessions in 2016

the next four years will be devastating in this country

Kurz · 14-03-2012 01:21PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:24PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:37PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:39PM

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..."

14-03-2012 01:40PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:41PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:43PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:45PM

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

amacachi · 14-03-2012 01:46PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:51PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:54PM

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 · 14-03-2012 01:59PM

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

Cú Giobach · 14-03-2012 02:00PM

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 · 14-03-2012 02:10PM

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 · 14-03-2012 02:15PM

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 · 14-03-2012 02:18PM

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.

bbam · 14-03-2012 02:48PM

Smuggling along the border. My da did a fair bit of it, anything that was in demand, I remember him bringing in VHS and Betamax players and flogging them on.
There was a nice few bob to be made if you had the contacts and a way of getting stuff across.
Really it was the difference in getting bye or having a few extra quid for a day out now and then.

WoollyRedHat · 14-03-2012 02:50PM

Who remembers what they had for dinner the other day? I can't

14-03-2012 02:55PM

ongarboy wrote: »

.............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.

Neither did we, with hindsight many of the lads I went to school with at the time who had them at home had ones that fell off the back of a lorry so to speak.

flanders1979 · 14-03-2012 03:00PM

People wore jumpers that you would only see today on an Eastern European driving licence.
Families used to sit together to watch the television instead of having one in every room.
No pizza, no pasta. Fcukin spuds every day. We had half an acre of them.

Carter P Fly · 14-03-2012 03:08PM

I remember My Auld lad darning our socks when they had holes in them and shoes lasting until they literally fell apart. I dont think very manuy peopel re-sole shoes anymore. The only person who got new clothes was the oldest, Every one else got hand me down and it wasnt uncommon for peoples Ma to get out teh sewing machine and remake and re-size clothes.

Our only heating was the fireplace in the living room and the wooden framed windows are mad draughty.

We fixed broken things including the tubed tyres on cars!!

A-Trak · 14-03-2012 03:09PM

My parents emptying out the 1p and 2p coin jar so us kids got easter eggs. (3 of us including a pair of twins.)

That will live me forever and make sure my Dad never wants for anything.

who the fug · 14-03-2012 03:25PM

Still an all, it was way better than what out parents went through

Nothingbetter2d · 14-03-2012 03:40PM

Guill wrote: »

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...

nowaday kids expect ps3 or xbox games and phone credit for pocket money.

fishy fishy · 14-03-2012 03:48PM

Yakult wrote: »

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

it was fianna fails charlie haughty eating out at the coq hardy in his charvet shirts while telling the people of ireland that they had to tighten their belts. (and people still want to vote for these shower)

fishy fishy · 14-03-2012 03:52PM

raiding the trocaire box when nobody was looking, to buy sweeties during lent.

Who remembers the 80's recession

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