General Chat

I was just watching the very interesting BBC2 programme about the 1970s, well worth alook if you missed it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2012/apr/16/the-70s-bbc2

For me although I remember the political events mentioned, as a teenager it was the music that I was most interested in.

Personally, I returned to work after time out from having two children.
I was a good deal younger than I am now! And fitter! And slimmer!
We had our first colour TV April 1973 in time for the grand National.
We moved from Essex to Gloucestershire.
Daughter's O and A levels


I haven't had time to look at the link but will tomorrow Rose.

I remember strikes more strikes even more strikes with power cuts and the streets looking and stinking terrible because of rubbish not being collected due to even more strikes and more power cuts and talk about the possible reintroduction of ration books also the big con when decimalisation came in and petrol doubling in price over night and inflation at 27% and did i mention about the strikes

And we had to borrow loads a cash from the IMF just as Greece are doing today

Roy

Hi Ann. I started work in 1973 :-D

I did remember the miners strike and tv going off early, to save power, and shops lit by candles ...when tills could be opened manually and shop assistants could still work out change without a calculator ;-) ( I'm sure lots still can )

I was married in 1972 and had our first child in 1974 and our second in 1977. We bought our home that year and we had little money but life was good :-D

Hi~~

It was an eventful decade indeed.

Personally ...
I did my O and A levels, then went to college .

Went abroad to various countries in Europe in 1971..quite a tour:)

Started dating my hubby in on my return from my travels.

Hubby had his first car in 1972..

Started work in Jan and got engaged in June1974 , married in 1976.
Flew in a plane for the first time ....to go on honeymoon

Bought our house in1977.

And yes I remember all the strikes and 3 day working weeks.

Decimalisation.. our local shopkeeper was well into his 70 and he took to it like a duck to water.:)

And the long hot summer of 1976 :)

the drought in 76 although I was out of the country in USA - for the whole summer - shocked when I saw the landscape as we touched down at Heathrow

we'd been living overseas since 1967, so we only heard about the events in the UK in letters from parents, and in newspaper reports.

I loved the 70s I was a teenager through most of it.

Strikes...yes I remember those but they did'nt seem to affect me as I was still at school

Power cuts were fun...we did'nt rely on electriciy as we do now, so we did'nt have the TV (all 3 channels) for a few hours....out came the board games by candle light infront of the paraffin heater

I remember having birthday party in Feb 1972 and my parents went out....think they worried about the chance there could be a power cut, candles all around the house....luckerly there was'nt one that night.

Cannot say I remember the rubbish everywhere...probably just oblivious to it.

Started work in july 1974 and I think the 3 day week had finished by then.

I started teaching in the 70s, got married and had my son as well. And we got a mortgage and bought our first house. It's probably my favourite decade because it was so exciting in so many ways.

I remember the end of the war in Vietnam, a wonderful feeling. I remember Ted Heath being ousted, another wonderful feeling. Sadly Thatcher snook in at the end of my favourite decade but nothing is perfect in this life.

I loved the big stadium rock music of the 1970s and went to lots of concerts.

I also remember the strikes but there weren't that many taking the decade as a whole.

Overall I loved the 70s.

Gwynne

I got married early 70s and within a few months went to live overseas, so I remember my first plane journey. We flew through a thunderstorm and hit many air pockets, but luckily I didn't know this wasn't the norm. to suddenly drop in height during the flight.
I became a Mum and enjoyed a carefree life with our son, often going to the beach.
Returned to UK, - had another baby and went everywhere by bus or train, as OH's work took him away from home.
No TV so the children and I listened to Radio Solent alot.... I remember son's favourite was Albert's Gang.
Abroad again in 1976, just as the weather was really hotting up.

Back to England in 1978 and I think maybe end of that decade was when we first bought a TV and got a house phone installed. Previously I had walked a few roads away to phone my Mum after 6 o'clock some evenings, when it was a bit cheaper.

So.......... Lots of packing cases and moving around is my major memory, after being married and having 2 children.

Gwyn

Bittersweet memories of the 70s. (Great programme, Rose, I agree). In no particular order, I fell in love, moved home three times, my beloved father died and then joy of joys...my son was born. <3

BC XX

Lots of memories for me, I had a baby and went to Australia for two years, moving to Gloucester when we came back, with a huge mortgage of £24 a month. It was a real struggle, though it doesn't sound much now. I remember the three day week and all the shops being in the gloom with only half of the lights on. In 76 we moved again and I remember when it rained, eventually, all the neighbours coming out into the street to stand out in it, it was so refreshing! At the end of the seventies, we had baby number three and husband got a better job too. So it was quite eventful! Can't believe it was forty years ago. . .

I remember the strikes, and like Porkie pie re-interated, I remember the strikes. My husband worked in the engineering industry.Never sure from one week to another whether there would be a shut down at either his factory or another in the town. I remember the Ambulance service on strike when the Army moved in. Remember the dustmen on strike, the greedy miners always wanting more than the rest of blue collar workers. I remember when the cost of a house was rising faster than it was possible to raise a good deposit.

Money definitely coloured my life as a newly wed in the early 70's....or the lack of it. I also remember paying some income tax at 40p in the pound as the personal allowance was based on the amount of money earned as a married couple and not two single allowances as they have nowadays. I don't know how much we would have had to pay if we had had 'good jobs'. Whether people liked or disliked Thatcher, something was needed to break the chain of events and I don't think a man wanted the job, otherwise she wouldn't have stood a chance at getting elected.-jl

Janet, Income tax for a single person was 33 and one third % for people on a low income it was devastating,

We had a labour administration from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson in 1967 he had to devalue the pound, then ted heath conservatives 1970 to1974 and the unions bringing workers out on strike to try and topple the government which let labour in again under James Callaghan from 1974 to 1979 and still old labour run the debts up that ted heath had tried to stop, and he Callaghan had to go cap in hand to borrow from the IMF, we where known as the dirty man of Europe and it took a woman to sort out the mess and what the men were to week to do,
labour had power for the vast majority of this time and it was their actions that caused the problems by bowing down to the unions,
They left us in massive debt and bankrupt (Ring any bells)

Miners striking
steel works striking,
railway workers striking,
ambulance workers striking
council workers striking the list goes on


Roy

I remember the heatwave of '76 it was so hot tarmac was melting on the pavements, we used to write our initials in it.Also the water drought

I remember the 3 day week - I was in my first job and it was really cold, so I wore lots of clothes!! In the office we had to move the drawing boards right up to the windows so we could see what we were doing, as candlelight just wasn't enough, and my fingers were so cold I could hardly hold a pencil so Grandma knitted me some fingerless gloves - had it been a decade later I'd have been REAL trendy because they became all the rage in the New Romantics era!
The boss brought in an oil heater and we would all huddle round it at lunch times drinking our flasks of soup and tea etc.
Grim days. Strikes, strikes and more strikes, I just remember that winter being grey, bleak and downright depressing :-(

However, that aside, I would say that overall the 70's was a fabulous and exciting decade...I was always off to some disco or party every Fri, Sat and Sun night, and the music was fantastic. I had left school, gone to art college and then started my first job...wow, I earned my own money whoop whoop, I could buy LP's and clothes! I learned to drive & bought a car, I went on my first package holiday, I went to my first Reading Rock Festival and lots of concerts, and in the latter part of the decade I left home and hitch hiked and worked through Europe ending up on a Kibbutz - yep, I had one heck of a fantastic time in the 70's :-D :-D

Oh, and we all managed perfectly well without mobile phones ;-) LOL

Like BC, mixed feelings.

Got married in 1973.

First baby in 1979.
6 weeks later, my lovely Dad died.

I lost my grandfather on the day of the Silver Jubilee( 1977?) from heart attack sad day :-( .Also remember pop groups glam rock!! :-)

Didn't the fireman and police also go on strike in the 70's. I remember the electricity strikes as one time the electric went off and I feel downstairs and broke my wrist. Remember the hot summer of 1976 as was off work for the 3 months as had again broken my wrist. I started work in 1974. Met my husband and married him in 1977 (all within 2 months) had first child 1978 and moved South away from family and friends. Still married 35 years later. :-)