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Welcome back to the 70s boys and girls!
Sky high inflation, rising interest rates, strikes, fuel crisis (cost), summer (and probably winter) of discontent and the threat of nuclear war.....
Get your flares out and get yourself a Ford Cortina - ITV4 replay the Sweeney and the Professionals too!
History doesnt repeat, but it rhymes.
And don’t forget Kate Bush at no1.
yeah more politics and doom and gloom, just what the forum needs.
And don’t forget Kate Bush at no1.
That was 1985 😉
Yay! Cheaper housing, beer and we’ll be joking the EU soon.
My dad made a shit-ton of money in the 70s! "Yeah, it's gone up mate. Don't blame me it's inflation". 🙂
Although 'Running Up That Hill' was 1985, Kate Bush and 'Wuthering Heights' was 1978.
Ah, those were the days... 😀
Bugger!
James Hunt's coming back? Great! And the summer of 1976 already seems to be here.
Other than that, no thanks.
I had a Kate Bush poster on my bedroom wall,( I was but a lad) the one we’re she’s wearing the blue lycra type skin suit.
My dad made a shit-ton of money in the 70s!
same here, inflation wiped out his mortgage almost overnight*
*I may be over egging the pudding though you get the idea.
Hopefully punk will be along soon to shake things up
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Great isn’t it? 🙁
'They' keep saying it'll be over by Spring 2023, which, considering a lot of it has been caused by a war that could last years is odd.
I get the impression that we're collectively somewhere near the bargaining stage of grief for our former lifestyles. The RMT are striking over pay and conditions, but they won’t be the only ones, perhaps more worryingly, I read the other day that 50% of households in the UK, 50%! are borrowing money every month to make ends meet. I sure for some, that's borrowing to eat, but for those in the middle who are going to be a large part of that, it's borrowing to maintain their normal lifestyle they can no longer afford and this will have to end and it’s when the middle cut back, we get recessions.
I think the depression will hit in Autumn, when everyone’s summer tan starts to fade and days get shorter and home energy prices jump another 50%.
We'll all have to accept that things have changed and it's permanent. Things will always change, but for now, this is the 'new normal' there's no going back to normal next week, or the week after. Perhaps it’ll be the end of the “two new German cars on every drive” PCP boom, or the “£5 a cup coffee shop on every corner” boom, I certainly think it will be the end of the weird Covid fuelled housing boom. I re-mortgaged 4 months ago at 1.3%, my Mate with a similar LTV got offered 3.4% last week. I wish I’d fixed for longer!
The Good news, well if you’re not a Tory voter is that no government survives a recession, and certainly not this government.
The Good news, well if you’re not a Tory voter is that no government survives a recession, and certainly not this government.
not with out a war. 😉
The price of our ballons has just gone up.
It's due to inflation.
Forget Kate Bush in Blue Lycra.
Sarah Brightman with Hot Gossip - 'I lost my heart to a starship trooper'... The video was ace, especially for a young lad
Cant find the original video, except this dance edited version, but the video content is there.
w">Hot Gossip - Starship Trooper
I had a Debbie Harry poster. 😀
Don't worry mate, pens, pencils, paper and envelopes will remain stationery.
Gotta love a 70's joke 🤣🤣🤣
Are we allowed to be racist, sexist and make Mother in Law jokes again?
I saw six men kicking and punching the mother-in-law. My neighbour said 'Are you going to help?' I said 'No, Six should be enough.
source: http://jokes4us.com/peoplejokes/comedianjokes/lesdawsonjokes.html
Just been to take my 80 year old mum to do her shopping - she removed all the leaves of the head of cauliflower she bought to try and save a few pence when the lady on the till weighed it.
You know the commentariat go on about the Winter of discontent - which was a short period really in the grand scheme of things.
How about decades of discontent for the ****ing Tories?
THIS SITUATION IS WORSE.
Kate Bush and ‘Wuthering Heights’ was 1978.
Ah, those were the days… 😀
Yeh, but, Slade...
But cauliflower leaves are delicious and nutritious. Chop and fry with butter and garlic. Yum!
I bought some Oakley Prizm Road lenses now everything looks like the summer of 1976.
‘They’ keep saying it’ll be over by Spring 2023, which, considering a lot of it has been caused by a war that could last years is odd.
Well, that could be the time it takes to make other arrangements. I don't think anyone wants to go back to lots of Russian oil and gas any time soon. Unless Putin goes.
Yay! Will we be in the Common Market or was it called something else back then?
Are we allowed to be racist, sexist and make Mother in Law jokes again?
How do you think we got to this point in the first place?
Are we allowed to be racist, sexist and make Mother in Law jokes again?
How do you think we got to this point in the first place?
Ah yes, it had escaped my mind.
But cauliflower leaves are delicious and nutritious. Chop and fry with butter and garlic. Yum!
Butter and garlic is far more delicious without the cauliflower leaves, though. Preferably smeared on some crusty bread.
We had better bread in the 70s! Although garlic hadn't been invented.
Can we expect a good star Wars film soon then?
Just been to take my 80 year old mum to do her shopping – she removed all the leaves of the head of cauliflower she bought to try and save a few pence when the lady on the till weighed it.
I eat them, in a stir fry or chucked in the soup maker* with the stalks. Broccoli stalks go in as well.
*Before I get flamed for buying a soup maker I didn't, I found it thrown out, brand new in it's box while working on the bins. 🙂
My wife makes great soup with broccoli stems and cheese. My mate's Chinese partner also stir fries cauliflower leaves, although I was never able to get that to come out well.
Waiting for the 1970’s housing crash. Pick up a nice six bedroom villa for £200?
I don’t think the RMT are winning the PR war. It’s hard to justify a pay raise when you’re getting sixty grand for driving a train!
Not representative of the whole workforce, but the media keep trotting it out.
I think the rail workers are for the chop because of the national labour shortage.
I don’t think the RMT are winning the PR war. It’s hard to justify a pay raise when you’re getting sixty grand for driving a train!
Not representative of the whole workforce, but the media keep trotting it out.
As far as im aware the RMT don't represent train drivers, and i don't think they are striking, they're mostly represented by ASLEF i believe.
We had better bread in the 70s!
I disagree! 🙂
Thin sliced bread seemed to be the go-to in my area. You were some sort of god if you could actually spread anything on it with it breaking up!
And Nimble anyone...
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...bread is so much better now.
It would be even worse under Labour though, have no illusions.
Joanna Lumley as Purdey right posh babe when the hormones kicked in
Remember watching football played on unplayable pitches due to the mud especially around the box,players fighting, each team had a real hard bast and poor Tommy Docherty got sacked for adultery
Lovely decade for British cars 😀
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SSS funny you should mention Sarah Brightman as I turned the tv on the other night and that video was playing!
She certainly was rather nice!
No 'elf and safety!
This thread is like a episode of Life On Mars!
The Princess was originally going to be a hatchback but BL changed it to have a boot so it wouldn't compete with the Maxi or SD1
My dad had a Vauxhall Viva..... i know british cars got a bad rep, but i dont remember much slagging off of the Viva.
Biggest disappointment of my 70s childhood life was i wanted a Raleigh Chopper, and on my birthday, my mum went to go buy me one from Halfords. They didnt have any, shortage!!
Ended up with a Raleigh Meteor road bike instead.
Maybe we should start a STW Raleigh Chopper race team....
@Murray incredibly ugly cars. I'd see these relics in the 80s when I was a kid; they were normally driven by retired folk. Also, Allegros and Maxis as you say.
Surely cauliflowers are sold each not per llb (adjusted to imperial for 70s realism)

The Princess was originally going to be a hatchback but BL changed it to have a boot so it wouldn’t compete with the Maxi or SD1
Was that not the Allegro?
The Princess was originally going to be a hatchback
Anyone remember the Austin Ambassador - basically a posh Princess and had voice assistance. However it was utterly shit an unreliable and you'd generally have to drive along with the thing constantly telling you that you needed to refuel and put your seatbelt on.

And don't nobody diss the Maxi - the 1750 engine was one of the first circa. 100bhp engines in such a family car – it was actually relatively swift with a 0-60 of just over 11 seconds.
We had better bread in the 70s!
I disagree! 🙂
Thin sliced bread seemed to be the go-to in my area.
There were bakeries everywhere that sold good crusty bread, not the plasticky, bouncy stuff you get in supermarkets these days. Sliced bread was just one option, although baguettes were another thing yet to be invented, and as for croissants, well that's just foreign muck!
@ johndoh
I thought voice assistance was on the Montego/ Maesto not the Ambassador?
And don’t nobody diss the Maxi – the 1750 engine was one of the first circa. 100bhp engines in such a family car – it was actually relatively swift with a 0-60 of just over 11 seconds.
I don't recollect mine or my mate's father's Maxis being 'relatively swift'. We both drove them after passing our tests. Steady, loud and tank-like was how they felt.
although baguettes were another thing yet to be invented
And yoghurt. I remember when my mum brought home a pot for the first time, we sort of sat round looking at it, as though we were expecting it to speak.
johndoh
If you half close your eyes,it almost looks like a Delorean 🤣🙃🤣

American cream soda - no connection to either america or cream...
American cream soda – no connection to either america or cream…
But drop a scoop of cheap vanilla ice-cream in there and suddenly you had something so sophisticated. 😀
And playgrounds with concrete or tarmac bases, none of this rubber nonsense

We had a 3.5ltr Rover SD1 and a Range Rover - good job petrol was cheap.
You'd also run up a tab at your village petrol station and pay it off 'whenever'! 🙂
The Dad of a friend of mine drove a black Ital.
@SSS I distinctly remember one of those old roundabouts on my local park had those timber side panels all kicked it. Kids could get their legs trapped on the inside. 😀 I think it was burned down eventually.
Kids used to piss down the slide too.
I don’t recollect mine or my mate’s father’s Maxis being ‘relatively swift’. We both drove them after passing our tests. Steady, loud and tank-like was how they felt.
I am talking about the 1750HL version (not the more common 1500). It had twin SU carbs and was quite quick for its time.
I thought voice assistance was on the Montego/ Maesto not the Ambassador?
I stand corrected - I never even sat in one but my brother used to work at the local BL garage (Nidd Vale Motors in Harrogate) and used to drive brand new ones around and he'd come home and tell us all about the useless voice assistance.
And playgrounds with concrete or tarmac bases, none of this rubber nonsense
And everyone knew somebody who'd broke their arm or fractured their skull falling off the top of the slide onto solid concrete
At which point they were given a plaster and told to stop being so soft
Frozen half a baguette boat shaped pizza that removed the roof off your mouth first bite then walls ice-cream wrapped in cardboard
Corned beef or spam tins with the key that could give your first finger a deep slash
There were bakeries everywhere that sold good crusty bread
Living in the sticks & baker used to deliver, mum used to get upset coz we'd bite the corners off the loaves.
Double Diamond beer & party 7 tins.
At which point they were given a plaster and told to stop being so soft
BIL sent my neice to school with a broken arm once - stop yer bloody whining...
Dolomite Sprint - great car for the times. 70p a gallon and 27p for a pint of Guiness. Loads of fit birds not the bloaters I see around here these days 🤣
Those certainly were the days 👍
I am talking about the 1750HL version (not the more common 1500). It had twin SU carbs and was quite quick for its time.
We both had 1750s, but not twin carb versions. As I said, the standard versions were definitely not quick. The Cortina which followed it felt sportier - I can't remember which version that was.
That John Noakes video gets me every time. Thats just a bit too much exposure for me
Cortina/Allegro/Viva - ticks
We both had 1750s, but not twin carb versions. As I said, the standard versions were definitely not quick. The Cortina which followed it felt sportier – I can’t remember which version that was.
I *THINK* there were two versions of the 1750 and the one in the HL had the Twin SU. We also had a Cortina - a Mk 4 2.0 Ghia and that was quick - my brother could make it wheelspin in second (and it could also get to 60 in that gear). Unfortunately my dad sold it before I passed my test so I had to make do with his 1.6GL Sierra.
Watney's Red Barrel - and Babycham for the ladies...
i dont remember much slagging off of the Viva
I think you miss-remember... it was the butt of jokes, and deservedly so. My first car. Didn't even keep it long enough to take my test. Awful thing in every way.
We got married in 1977 , Jaws was playing in the cinema over the road ? 🤔 £600 deposit for our first house 😳 only able to buy because Wimpey had an arrangement with a company that could lend us what the building society couldn't . They would only lend us £7,500 we needed £9K !
Might sound heavenly but it's all relevant me and the Mrs were earning £60 a week each . We experienced 15% mortgage rates for a while . Always lived by the mantra if we couldn't afford it we didn't have it , hand me down furniture my old 14" black and white TV not the latest and greatest on tick , that's just how life was back then . But we were happy, try telling the young 'uns today and they won't believe you! 😁
Was I the only one on here who had a Keegan perm?
If it really is the 70s, I'm going to buy a load of sporty fords and stick them in a barn
Cortina spinning a wheel in second gear it either must have been snowing or a diesel spill at a wet roundabout, they handled like a barge in stormy sea
Vinyl roof was an extra or even go faster stripes
Girls in nudie books had this big triangle of hair
I stand corrected – I never even sat in one but my brother used to work at the local BL garage (Nidd Vale Motors in Harrogate) and used to drive brand new ones around and he’d come home and tell us all about the useless voice assistance.
Wasn't it the Vanden Plas that got the turd version of Kitt, rather than the specific model? My Grandma had a VD Allegro followed by a VD Metro. Think it was the Metro that spoke so I reckon the later VP Ambassador could well have too.....
Girls in nudie books had this big triangle of hair
clearly visible through white knickers in the underwear pages of the Grattan catalogue too......
i loved the way BL downgraded the princess’ social status to ambassador as time went on. reminds me of how The Black Adder fell down the social structure through the generations. (sorry for 80’s reference)
Sorry, I just had to go answer the door. It was the bloke collecting the little charity envelope with pennies in.
I was 99% sure the talking car was the selling point of the Maestro, but after reading comments I'm second-guessing.