Remember These?

I bet some of you younger bloggers don’t know what this is. Mine were red.

How about this ice cube tray? Mom had two of these, and in the summer, with four kids, the ice went pretty fast, especially when nobody in the house had the decency to refill the tray when they cranked the ice loose and used it. An interesting point, though, is that back then, a cold drink usually meant straight from the refrigerator; ice in a drink was a restaurant thing. Knowing that then, and remembering it now, still doesn’t make me hate people who put a partially-filled ice cube tray back in the freezer any less.

I still have my gum-wrapper chain from high school. It’s almost fifteen feet long, and it’s hanging from a hook on the laundry room wall. We used to sit in the gym during basketball games and add links to our chains.

That’s a lot of gum, people. Big Red and Juicy Fruit were much sought-after because the bright red and bright yellow made for a classy-lookin’ gum-wrapper chain. What were they for? I don’t remember. But they were fun!

Finally, how many of you remember the tv test pattern? That’s right, young ones, there used to be a time – and there are people still living who remember it – when all television stations “signed off” at midnight, and there was NOTHING on tv until 6 a.m. or so when they all signed back on. There were no VCR’s or DVD players, either. If you had insomnia or a newborn child, your only options were a VERY few radio stations (most of them signed off, too!) or some records, in which case you probably had to use that first picture up there at the top of this post so you could play your 45’s.

But all night long, if you turned on your TV, all you’d get was one of these test patterns, and a shrill siren. The siren was what woke you up after you fell asleep in your chair, watching tv.

Were those the good old days? For some people, sure. The same way today will be one of the good old days to some of you some day.