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It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
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I’m so old that I remember phones without dials. “Hello operator. Give me Pennsylvania 6-5000.”
seriously?
Yes, but Pennsylvania 6-5000 is a Glenn Miller song. Our number was 1817J. We did not have a party line, as my Dad was an electrical lineman and needed to be accessed after hours for power problems. All my friends were on party lines.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmZrJhC4KbQ
thats before my time but i did still _know_ the old-skool name of the exchange my line was on.
When we moved to my Dads Fathers farm after my grand mother died, we had a 3 party line.
Before that, I remember our phone number at the previous house.
RA8-1810 RA stands for Randolph
I walked to school as many others did in 1st grade.
We had milk delivered in glass bottles.
JFK had a political rally at the Hotel Duluth.
My younger sisters and I were at my mothers parents home along Mesabi Ave and saw JFK returning to the airport.
I have an outboard 5.5hp Johnson that is older than me.
I’m so old that I have to shave the bridge of my nose…..
My beloved beat-to-shit farm truck often required the screwdriver/solenoid trick to get it started. I used to have a small portable black and white tv that also had a radio. You could run it with batteries and I’d take that marvelous object camping.
Every so often I’d have to push start my VW Beetle 4-speed when the battery died to get it going. Push it down the street while steering it with the door open, jump in, pop the clutch in first gear, and away we go….worked every time.
I remember the rotary phone and party lines. 2719 was our number. used a scrwdriver ro start cars ,too. 1949 Mercury was to hard to push start by yourself on level ground but I parked it on a slight hill most of the time. Just in case!
nicky,
not a pleasant thing to imagine–
Have you tried selling it to some hillbilly whippersnapper?
My old man was working on our car wearing a metal banded wrist watch. He managed to arc across the solenoid with the band, and it instantly turned red hot, leaving a blistered burn all around his wrist. I was howling with laughter, and he was chasing me around and around the car. Lucky he didn’t catch me. He never wore a metal banded watch again.
Never work on a hot system while leaning on the fender…
a boy i went to school with did the same thing except that it was his class ring across a jumper cable that was connected all around–
his right ring finger was cut very deeply & i doubt the scar ever completely healed–
My dad was able to flick the watch off as it was one of those springy types. The burn was bad, but I can only imagine if it had been a type that was solid and hard to remove. Good thing he didn’t catch me. He was really not happy. He would even get fired up years later when I retold the story “good thing I didn’t get my hands on you!”. Still funny after all these years. It is always funny if it is the other guy – one of the quirks of being human. Just so long as it is not really serious.
Speidel Men’s Twist-O-Flex Stainless Steel Stretch Metal Expansion Watch Band
Sounds like the one!
I’m so old I’ve both had mountain rental with a 4-party line, and a former used car office turned rental with a payphone in the living room.
I can remember setting points with a matchbook cover because the newbie lost my feeler gauges.
I charged up a spare condenser and tossed it to him.
He caught it, it discharged, and he screamed like a girl.
He turned out being the guy I gave the shop to when I left for Bosnia.
Ah, motorhead days.
I had a boss hand me a condenser and asked me if I could figure out what was wrong with it. I learned a painful and valuable lesson that day.
Should have bit your lip, handed it back and said,
“It won’t hold a charge.”
That’s how I learned it.
I had no idea what it was and dutifully checked it out until the fateful moment. Over the two years I worked for him, he taught me a lot about cars and he taught me to keep on my toes, because he loved a good practical joke.
Party lines with clicking biddies wanting to use the phone was a thing. A carburetor could be cleaned without tuning. Boxes were toys. So much more
It really was better then.
Get ready for the barrage of “I remember when”
What’s bizarre is I remember listening to my grandparents saying “I remember when” when I was a kid.
And I remember thinking how long ago those memories must have been.
Now that I’m here, I’m there.
But the memories were like 6 months ago.
And there are so many that were just 6 months ago.
And now I understand when my grandfather said, “Where did the time go?”
I’m so old, I remember when people were civil and respectful no matter what color your skin or generation. Divorce was rare and the pledge of allegiance was said every day in school. We have NOT improved as a people nor our society.
Yes, I remember that too.. Only knew one kid while I was growing up whose parents were divorced.. And I only missed out on the Bellamy Salute by a few years.. Stick a fork in us…
Methinks so too
The Pledge was followed by the Lord’s prayer.
I remember when every adult on the city block went to work five days a week to produce something.
And all the kids were out mowing grass, shining shoes, selling papers, and soft pretzels.
The ice truck would stop at the end of the block to sell ice blocks in the summer time, a station wagon would show up on Fridays to sell fish, another station wagon to sell fruits and vegetables.
My dad yelling up to me on the second floor stop, when I turned the antenna to the right position.
I could walk down through the city when I was seven with a arrow knocked on my bow, heading out to the countryside, and no one batted an eye.
the iceman would drive up to the house and holler one block or two.
In the North, they cut the ice out of lakes in winter and saved it in insulated warehouses into the summer. Honest question: Did they have the “ice man” in the South?
Did they have the ice man in the south? Of course. My grandparents had an ice box that used block ice. They had a place in town that made the ice. Same man who owned the ice plant also owned the movie theatre and a large turkey farm. Got all this info from my Dad, he’s 94.
Right. It was packed in sawdust.
same in tampa,my dad was born in 1932 & he used to have to get up early to get the ice–
even in the early 20th century in a lot of northeastern cities the ice was produced by machine refrigeration. I remember the ice factory, which was still in operation, probably made a bunch of money renting space to a pretty big regional fish distribution operation.. big ass ammonia refrigeration plant.
Our little group would head off with all manner of rifles, shotguns, knives, etc.
Mom: “If you shoot a toe off don’t come crying to me! Be back before supper!”
No toes were ever lost. My brother’s idiot friend did however manage to split his foot open from big toe webbing almost to his ankle screwing around with a homemade potato launcher, holding the pipe down with his foot when they loaded the launcher to attempt the world’s longest potato launch and had seriously overloaded the pipe with propellant, far beyond the design specs of the dads that showed us how to do it. The concussion when they lit the thing split his foot open like a ripe watermelon dropped on concrete.
who’s walter malone?
As a teenager in Kansas City Kansas I remember walking 3 or 4 miles through town with a rifle or shotgun to go hunting .
If it rang twice it was our call. Our number was export 3- two thousand. Forget the tin foil. Taking turns holding the horizontal steady. Funny that it never acted up during commercials.
Us kids walked a half mile to the neighbors house who had a TV to watch Disney before we got ours in 57. In exchange we drove their kids to church on Sunday’s.
I remember when…….
ah forgit it, I don’t remember nuthn…
No matter who you visited, the well was 1/4 mile from the barn. A good dairy cow took 10 gallons most days.
Now “farmer’s carries” are an exercise done by middle-aged accountants.
I remember when there were no plastic bags.
Do I win something?
I’m so old we used Aladdin kero lamps for lighting and we kids could take the battery out of dad’s car, only on Wednesdays, to hook up to our valve radio so we could hear the radio serial “Hop Harrigan.” I used to get asthma quite bad as a kid and mum would give me honey and lemon because there was nothing else.
I still remember gapping the points with a matchbook cover on the side of the road to get ‘er started again.
We used a dime to set the gap.
a bunch of you guys are so old that you’re at or past your expiration date according to my 21 yo daughter’s friends–
a few weeks ago she & a couple of her girlfriends went to the beach & the subject turned to the elderly–
my daughter mentioned how she did not want to live so long that she became helpless b4 she died like 3 of her 4 grandparents did,all in their late 80 s–
the other girls chimed in & both of them stated that they did not want to live past 60 since that is so old–my daughter laughed & reminded them them that her dad was about to turn 63–
they then upped it 65,maybe 70 but definitely not past 70–
it’s been good knowing you guys–
And just think, they are the ones that may well make the decision as to if the plug should be pulled.
Shoot, I remember when 40 was ancient…according to the kids anyone past thirty was the enemy. Today the kids are still kids late into their thirties. My nephew is 27, still going to college and finally got a tutoring job. He lives with his very liberal mother. The plumber who came to my house is 22, married, a master plumber who started at 18 years of age. He makes about a hundred dollars an hour. The eternal student nephew makes fourteen dollars an hour. He’s going for his masters degree. Who is smarter?
1, hell yeah, i still had a rotary phone until i moved to europe! and for bonus points i’d rewired that phone sometime in the mid 90s because until then we were on a party line with a house down the street!
2, never owned a teevee or an 8 track player, but did have a cassette player. must have finally tossed the big box of tapes only a few years ago for another move.
3, for the one time i needed to jump the car at the starter motor, ive roll-started it fifty times.
Memories. Ice box not a fridge. Milk delivered in a horse drawn four wheeled rubber tired wagon. Coal delivered in half ton loads in a two wheeled horse drawn cart. Summers at our farm where there was a hand pump in the kitchen for water. Outhouses, two if I remember correctly. Bathing was done in the river. Clear, cold drinking water from the spring close to the house.
Holy shit! You ARE old!!!!
Did Tevye deliver your milk?
Sometimes I feel as old as I am.