What do you miss from long ago?

[Salar]

Being picked up by my uncle, jumping into the sidecar and going off fishing.

 

[rogerzilla]

Jazz mags in hedgerows in the 80s. I dont really miss them but they were memorable. Even archeologists are interested in their discovery.

https://newsthump.com/2013/01/23/archaeologists-discover-porn-mag-in-hedge/

Saw one last year on the riverside path* just by my house. Ah, the nostalgia.

*this makes it sound bucolic but the River Cole in Swindon is pretty much a drain for road run-off. I did see a little egret down there last month, probably wondering why the water tasted of rubber.

 

[Dogtrousers]

This is in the general cycling section, and the OP was broadly cycling related, so on a cycling topic I tried to give it a think.

I have nostalgia for going youth hostelling. Often used to do short solo trips. I'd get my hostel chores out of the way the night before and leave early in the morning. Bike groaning under the weight of Too Much Stuff, heading off into the (relatively) unknown with the morning sun on the dew. (All mornings were sunny back then).

On the bike, although my chain pretty much never comes off these days, I miss being able to use the friction lever on the front mech to coax it back on without stopping. Indexed mechs might be efficient and ergonomic and all that, but a friction one is like having an extension to your hand.

I miss cotter pins too. I used to really enjoy ... just kidding. Good riddance to the buggers.

 

[Gravity Aided]

colly is clearly older than I thought.
I'm no spring chicken but was totally unaware of those - never seen one - that wiki article seems to show that they effectively disappeared in the UK long long ago. Will follow colly's childhood memories with more interest.

Had them in the States, in every Buster Brown Shoe store. My mom always said that if a shoe salesman can't fit you, why is he a shoe salesman? Also, she read it was bad for you in Colliers' magazine.

 

[JPBoothy]

Public Information Films on TV.

Did 'Charlie Says' count as one of those

 

[taximan]

Something I do not miss, twice round the block and they were cream crackered

 

[Lozz360]

It was Trolley Buses going past our house and one night, the overhead cable must have shorted out as it was going past and lit up the road like Blackpool illuminations.

Trolley buses in London were de-commissioned in London in 1962. I have a vivid memory of watching the overhead lines being dismantled along the Greenford Road where my Grandparents lived. I must have been three years old. I now understand that trolley buses never ran along the Greenford Road. So it must be a false memory. I still don't understand it though.

 

[Lozz360]

The only thing I missed from before was tax relief on mortgages (in the 80's).

 

[Sharky]

Trolley buses in London were de-commissioned in London in 1962. I have a vivid memory of watching the overhead lines being dismantled along the Greenford Road where my Grandparents lived. I must have been three years old. I now understand that trolley buses never ran along the Greenford Road. So it must be a false memory. I still don't understand it though.

The one which went past our house was on the Prescot to St Helens route. Maybe from Liverpool. I would have been 10 in 1960.

 

[wafter]

Hope.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The lack of cars during lockdown makes me nostalgic for when it was perfectly safe for kids to rides bikes long ways down main roads. Plus nostalgia for when parents let their kids go out and explore and ever minute of their activities didn’t need to be planned.

 

[JPBoothy]

I miss being able to go to work and just being left alone to do your job without there being a training course or new procedure being introduced every other day

 

[Dogtrousers]

Rather than 'On the buses' I miss the buses themselves. Those wonderful open rear platform RTs and Routemasters. You could jump on and off when you wanted.

Mr Grumpy here. I bloody hated Routemasters. They outlived their usefulness by several decades in London. Hideously uncomfortable with minature seats. Terribly unreliable, you'd see them at the side of the road broken down all the time. And as I once discovered, almost impossible to board if you're on crutches. I was glad to see the back of the buggers.

Wanders off muttering.

 

[Captain Sensible]

Summer holiday editions of kids comics such as Victor and Beano. Being read whilst munching on a 9d Cornish mivi ice cream.

 

[Blue Hills]

Public Information Films on TV.

Talking Pictures TV sometimes shows old ones.
Including one about washing and returning milk bottles.