• ℹ️ Heads up...

    This is a popular topic that is fast moving Guest - before posting, please ensure that you check out the first post in the topic for a quick reminder of guidelines, and importantly a summary of the known facts and information so far. Thanks.

  • ⚠️ Online Safety Act Changes

    We've made some changes to the forum as a result of the Online Safety Act. Please check the post in guest services for further information.

You know you're getting old when...

Yep I see a lot of people moaning about the AAA first-party games being £60, yet they always were expensive, Nintendo 64 games were £50 in the 90s, Playstation weren't much cheaper.
 
Forty five for top new PS1 games.
Just paid 90 for a ps4, 70 for the cheap flat telly, and fifteen for GTA3.
Very good value compared to yesteryear.
See you in a few months!
 
On the Mega Drive, Sonic 3 and Virtua Racing were both released in 1994 at £60 and £100 respectively. That's double in today's prices so approximately £120 and £200 respectively. Sonic 3 had a save function built in to the cartridge and Virtua Racing had a VR chip in it.

Sonic 3 development was split in to two games so you had to buy Sonic & Knuckles as well, with it's unique "lock-on" cartridge, to get the full, real Sonic 3. Kind of like a 90's version of DLC. S3K combined would cost £200 new now in today's prices. That's what we paid for luxuries like gaming back in the day.

All seemed revolutionary when a few years beforehand you were playing with big blocky pixels on a BBC computer screen at school, or waiting for the cassette tape game on your Commodore 64 (I think the first game I played on it was a bond game based on The Living Daylights).

If it's from the PlayStation/Saturn era onwards, has 3d graphics, and can be downloaded or come from a disc (remember when CD-ROMS were the new thing?) then it's modern gaming in my eyes.
 
Let's not stop there with the dear old mega drive. The 32x add on. The mega cd. Sega loved flogging a dead horse.

Every generation complains about the next one. The phrase "kids these days" will always be said. No kid ever knows the true value of money. I never did. When you think of the thousands of pounds spent on action figures, matchbox cars, Lego, etc etc that my parents spent when I was young. And for what, sat various storage boxes most of the time.

Seemingly, parents never allow kids to know because some are happy to throw money at the little brats, to keep up with some sort status. Keep up with Joneses? Got a ps5 but can't fill the fridge. Kids need a phone. Cheap one won't do, it needs an iPhone.

Times change. Same old moans. Although you don't hear the "thought a war for like of you" from old blokes anymore.
 
Last edited:
That would be "Fought a war..."
I knew the value of money, had to work in the family shop or no pocket money.
It was **** child labour, permitted under the law.
Put me off retail for life.
 
Last edited:
Slugjc said:
Let's not stop there with the dear old mega drive. The 32x add on. The mega cd. Sega loved flogging a dead horse.

Every generation complains about the next one. The phrase "kids these days" will always be said. No kid ever knows the true value of money. I never did. When you think of the thousands of pounds spent on action figures, matchbox cars, Lego, etc etc that my parents spent when I was young. And for what, sat various storage boxes most of the time.

Seemingly, parents never allow kids to know because some are happy to throw money at the little brats, to keep up with some sort status. Keep up with Joneses? Got a ps5 but can't fill the fridge. Kids need a phone. Cheap one won't do, it needs an iPhone.

Times change. Same old moans. Although you don't hear the "thought a war for like of you" from old blokes anymore.
Click to expand...
Excellent way of looking at it. You can look at all the technological advancements and think "I never had that" but then that's exactly what generations before us felt. If I take the gaming price analogy again, I got my Mega Drive for Christmas (had a Master System three Christmas' before that) and at the time, 1992, they cost £300. That's £633 now, more than a PS5 costs. From parents that didn't have a lot of money, that's loads to shell out.

I bought my Mega CD and 32x with my paper round money when they flopped. Second hand for cheap. My grandparents used to tell us how lucky we were, and we really were. The only thing I feel sad about my kids now is that a game used to take about an hour to complete rather than weeks, 4 TV channels and no internet so most of the time out of school was spent out with my mates. They seems to never want to do that now. They say they're happy but I struggle to understand how you can be unless you're out playing football, climbing trees and adventuring places.

But there was something on the local news last night that made me think about this thread. I remember watching a documentary about the first world war in the late 80's that ended on a sad note. They were interviewing very elderly men talking about their experiences in the trenches and it was mentioned that time was running out to talk to them about their experiences as they were dying out and there would be hardly any first hand accounts by the turn of the century. Last night, the local news did a piece on a bloke who turned 100 yesterday and was shot at Normandy. It dawned on me that we're now at that point with those that experienced the second world war as well.

For the last couple of years of her life before she passed last February, my grandmother talked a lot about her experiences during the war and growing up. I could sit there for hours, mesmerised, hearing first hand accounts. Sadly, she's probably the last person I'll ever meet who can do this. From now on, it'll mainly be told by historians. Not the same as hearing it from the horse's mouth.
 
Agree with the war stuff. For too long it was seen as "don't ask em about it" obviously. PTSD was not really spoken about with that generation.
 
Always felt like most people who fought in the wars never really spoke about it to their direct relatives. My grandad went over the day after D-day and was at Arnhem (a bridge too far) and never spoke to my dad about it. I know he discussed stuff with my brother but that was because he joined the army.

Learnt more about what he did in a day with my Dutch Aunty a couple of years ago as he talked to her about what he did, and they spent one of his visits to the country been taken to places he'd gone through in 1944.
 
Discussion elsewhere (x sector topic) about the actual point of "getting old".
For me, mid fifties, old injuries start to come back to haunt you...sporting ones and old accidents turn to osteoarthritis.
New injuries take longer to heal, and energy levels overall started to drop.
Coaster queues longer than a half hour became an issue, if my knees/ankles/hips last...will my bladder?
Started throwing up after full (gentle) days on the coasters at precisely 61...gave up spinny **** around forty, but still love spinball.
I suppose the specific date for me...as a male...sitting down naked on a hard dining chair and sitting on my own balls...around fifty five.
A clear sign of old age apparently!
Amusing but quite painful.
I work with the real elderly, and a lot of my recent work has been very sad...more care than gardening.
Old age is ****, enjoy stuff to the full while you can.
I know I'm old, a thirty year old Volvo estate in metal green just formed around me when I was having my afternoon nap.
And I love it.
 
rob666 said:
That would be "Fought a war..."
I knew the value of money, had to work in the family shop or no pocket money.
It was **** child labour, permitted under the law.
Put me off retail for life.
Click to expand...

It’s defo a generational thing. At 15 I had two jobs. Tesco checkouts and making pizza boxes at the local takeaway.

The horror from my 15 year old upon suggesting he should maybe start paying for himself by getting some work…..

I class myself as a hard parent but good lord we have a generation (or two?) of entitled children now.

It alls seems to stem from the cost of living. In the early 80’s house prices were cheap comparatively. I remember my old man earning a steady but not substantial wage and running two cars (not new or near new), a three bed house and plenty of food on the table for a third of what it costs me now.
 
Yup.
Totally unfair now.
We had to save up three grand for our first home...(still in it).
1k on deposit.
1k on fees and paperwork.
1k on moving costs and essential furniture bits.
Took us two years to save that up, no family assistance...running one beautiful Ford Capri.
Just coming up to the end of the extended mortgage, never bred, so never moved, family all around us.
In comparison, kids today don't have a chance, unless there is a family leg up.
 
I grew up in a village that thatcher had just ripped it's main source of employment out of. It's only just really started to recover now, mainly because of the god awful housing estate on what was the pit. Once upon a time, you would gain a trade in the pit. Not just digging, or if you passed a few exams. A clerical job or a job at Hickson's. A very large local chemical plant. All now gone. Not to mention the other mills and factory's. My school was really a mess when it came to careers advice, because the NCB van no longer picked up recruits on exams days.

You look at how much the job market has moved now. Good local jobs are just non existent for a teenager. No paper/milk rounds to speak off. You are forced to stay in some sort of education till your 18. The retail industry is collapsing. To get any sort of decent employment. You are heavily dependant on shocking public transport links to industrial estates, to work in warehouses that are soul destroying, (speaking from experience) Local tradesman aren't talking on apprentice's because they can barely keep the lights on themselves. Even if they did, the working environment has changed so much, they would rather use their own experience to get the job done quickly.

What chance do they have when Tory wools like Kirsty Allsopp think that saving £10k plus for a house is easy, just don't watch netflix or eat avocados. Cheers Kirsty. (Don't make anymore property programmes)
 
Last edited:
Slugjc said:
Went to Durham on Friday for a catch up with some mates. Slept in a premier inn bed. Crippled with back pain ever since.

Plus, nobody mentioned to me that with great age come great acid reflux.
Click to expand...
You're shitting me, I thought it was just me!

The crippling of the back when I sleep on a different bed has been bothering me for years, even if said bed seemed perfectly comfortable the night before. But I thought the acid reflux I've been suffering from badly for the last few years was just me. It used to just happen if I ate tomato based stuff. Now if it's I eat or drink almost anything at all. It's like my whole chest and back of my throat is on fire. Like bubbling green acid is rising up, destroying everything in its path. A Renie or 2 sorts it out, but a glass of coke and it's back again, especially if I recline my arm chair.
 
Matt.GC said:
You're shitting me, I thought it was just me!

The crippling of the back when I sleep on a different bed has been bothering me for years, even if said bed seemed perfectly comfortable the night before. But I thought the acid reflux I've been suffering from badly for the last few years was just me. It used to just happen if I ate tomato based stuff. Now if it's I eat or drink almost anything at all. It's like my whole chest and back of my throat is on fire. Like bubbling green acid is rising up, destroying everything in its path. A Renie or 2 sorts it out, but a glass of coke and it's back again, especially if I recline my arm chair.
Click to expand...

Get to doctors and see if they will put you on lansoprasol.
 
Slugjc said:
You look at how much the job market has moved now. Good local jobs are just non existent for a teenager. No paper/milk rounds to speak off. You are forced to stay in some sort of education till your 18. The retail industry is collapsing. To get any sort of decent employment. You are heavily dependant on shocking public transport links to industrial estates, to work in warehouses that are soul destroying, (speaking from experience) Local tradesman aren't talking on apprentice's because they can barely keep the lights on themselves. Even if they did, the working environment has changed so much, they would rather use their own experience to get the job done quickly.
Click to expand...

I think changes in legislation in general over the last 25 years has made it so its not worth employing under 16s. But I think many places still will take 16-18 for part time work, although I think supermarkets don't want them for tills anymore as needing to get supervisor for alcohol sales makes it harder as stores are working with fewer staff and more self-checkouts. McDonalds is probably an option though.

In the late 90s age 17 I had a Saturday job filling the chilled cabinets at Somerfield, thats now a Co-Op of course. Did try a paperround before I was 16 but the route I got was terrible so only lasted a week. Those jobs are gone of course.
 
Slugjc said:
What chance do they have when Tory wools like Kirsty Allsopp think that saving £10k plus for a house is easy, just don't watch netflix or eat avocados. Cheers Kirsty. (Don't make anymore property programmes)
Click to expand...

I have a deposit (earnt it by gaining permanent back and knee injuries in a car accident, 0/10 do not recommend) but wages aren't good enough or keeping up so can't afford to buy a house and renting would just **** the money away
 
Poisson said:
I have a deposit (earnt it by gaining permanent back and knee injuries in a car accident, 0/10 do not recommend) but wages aren't good enough or keeping up so can't afford to buy a house and renting would just **** the money away
Click to expand...

Having lived in both, I wouldn't want to ever go back to rental market. One of my old rentals was recently back on, for £300 more than when I rented it back in 2014. It's just money grabbing beyond belief.

I have an idea for a TV programme. "Living in a home that was under the hammer." The title needs work, but the premise is, some sort of presenter goes to the houses featured in homes under hammer and sees if the landlord is keeping up the job. Charging a fair rate etc. we have had rough traders now we have a rouge landlords. Clearly, this can't be the BBC, as we know, their daytime TV audience is the middle class.

I have another idea. Escape to the country, but they HAVE to buy one of the houses shown to them. No compliance = all their budget they have being sent to someone living in a rented house. "Oh well the gardens to big/small" tough. "There isn't enough room for people to stay over." Don't live so far away from friends and family then. " I can hear the road." We all can sweetpea it will fade into the background. "The kitchen only has room for a table and I don't like the washing machine in there." Here's a number for a builder.

That's why I know I'm getting old..I can watch property programmes, not just to see the nice houses in Suffolk, but to judge the twats who seemingly can't find a house when they have £750,000 to spend on it and are trying so very hard to convince themselves that the comforts of London will be missed if they live so far into the country.
 
Just taken one of my punters to see a private consultant about chest pains...
They came on suddenly last summer, once, while out walking, not had them since, but it worried him recently as he came off his electric mountain bike off roading in the rain.
He is ninety two mind.
Keep on keeping on Jim.
Very positive appointment, keep cycling!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top