Robert Poste's Child

Car seatbelts optional and seats with no headrests.

The Olympics coverage reminded me of three gymnasts who were hugely inspirational to little girls in the 70s: Olga Korbut, Nadia Comaneci and Nellie Kim. A lot of girls still go through a phase around the age of 10 or 11 when they do endless cartwheels and handstands but not sure they have the same kind of reference point. Easy to forget how opportunities and role models for women were much more limited then. For much of the 70s companies could refuse to give married women permanent employee status and I can remember school debates up till the early 80s on whether women should have careers.

Yes, but there was a progression to it - I meant it implies they were all happening at the same time, like the impression you get listening to Absolute 80s. Or maybe it just seemed like that to me given how your mind works at that age.

You have a good point there. The nature of fashion used to be that it changed: by the time it got to the high street the hip people had moved on to something else. Maybe this is the logical result of two decades of endless rehashing/reinventing/mashing-up of past fashions - you eventually reach a point of stagnation.

Sorry to hear that. I understand you probably don't want to go into details here so sending you a virtual cup of tea and a hug.

Vaping doesn't cause me rage but I do think they look silly. It just has that attention-seeking look to it - oh get me in my hipster beard and skinny shorts, I can even smoke digitally. Surely only a matter of time till someone invents a digital alternative to drink.

Can't help noticing two threads from you on the same topic in one day, Elphinestone. What's up? Seems to be on your mind.

Cornettos. Seemed outrageously exciting and dominated the ice cream market till Magnums came along. Viennetta. Plain boiled potatoes and boiled cabbage. Years since I had those.

????, you've just reminded me of girls (who in those days could sew) customising all their flares into drainpipes in 1977. Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Clogs (with flares). Home-crocheted ponchos. Macram?. Women with aspirations learned flower-arranging and cordon bleu cookery. (...which in turn can only lead to) Abigail's Party. I realise the chronology of the above is all wrong. Someone should put this thread in chronological order or the under 40s will think the 70s was a time of variety, which, let's face it, couldn't be further from the truth.

Prawn cocktail, steak Diane (or another sauce) and Black Forest Gateau. Mateus Rose. Wine bars. People going on holiday to Spain. Salt & Shake crisps. Vosene shampoo. Girls rinsing their hair with lemon, eggs or beer. Hairwashing separate from bathing. Those plastic shower hoses you attached to the taps.

Duvets.

You never forget the clothes you loved when you were first old enough to have a say in them (I never agreed to the hotpants, that was pure coercion). Sundresses, pinafore dresses (Laura Ashley, tiered skirts from Snob and Chelsea Girl, Fruit of the Loom tops, Indian dresses, cowboy boots. Fruit-flavoured lipgloss, blue eyeshadow and feeling very grown-up. Flicks in your hair.

Formica in the kitchen. Vinyl seats that the backs of your legs stuck to. Three TV channels and not on for much of the day (because who would want to watch television until after work and school?). Clear generation and class difference between BBC and ITV - Blue Peter vs Magpie. Doctor Who. Columbo, Kojak and Starsky & Hutch.

The late 70s tribes of music and fashion - particularly disco, then punk and two-tone, and how they overlapped and turned your friends into playground rivals. Some dreadful pop alongside them. The Beatles looking old and irrelevant, like music for parents.

On the darker side, a 70s childhood was overshadowed by the Cold War (spy films seemed relevant), the IRA starting terrorist attacks on the mainland, and the strangely intimidating mystery of the Iron Curtain.

The advent of video recorders was pretty exciting at the time.

I remember the summers of 75, 76 and 77 as being endlessly warm and sunny. We had a pool and pretty much lived in it, with people coming round all the time to enjoy it. Home haircuts, wide lapels, bell-bottoms, platforms and leather trench coats.

Just spotted another: 'A new documentary claims' (usually about someone who's dead and can no longer sue for libel).

But surely that would be sneaky and dishonest, not to mention defrauding the poor hard-working farmer of a few pence to put shoes on his children's feet this winter? Who would do such a thing?

Nice idea but suspect travel costs would outweigh the savings!

Price of cherries and raspberries.

Thanks, PGC; adding it to my reading list. Otta, 'did you arrive yourself' literally made me want to shout. If that were my doctor's I'd have to say something.

Yesterday, seeing a small boy walking along the road nonchalantly with what appeared to be two tennis balls stuffed up the front of his t-shirt.

'Fail' used as a noun. 'Hack' instead of hint or tip. 'Gifted', as in 'he gifted her a car'. Some online newspaper content wouldn't pass GCSE English.

Oh God, 'curated'. Now a synonym for 'chosen'. John Lewis, please stop it.