You Know You Are Old When

[newbury]

The neighborhoods where people sat out on porches were the best places to sell.

For me (in northern Vermont) that meant going out on the front porch in the summer, eating watermelon, spitting seeds, and plinking with my .22.
We had a 100 yard range (on 30 acres) across the dam of a 1 acre pond. And no neighbors within sight or about 500 yards.
At the time (60's) I felt I was living the opulent life of the rich Romans on a peasant budget.
Now I know we were.

 

[chiefcook]

I remember a man in a old panel truck that came around about once a month. He sharpened scissors. Knives and reel mower blades.

 

[MossRoad]

During WWII we used to go around hunting up scrap iron and selling it to the local junk man, 1 cent per pound. You would be surprised what all you could buy for a few pennies back then.

A couple days ago I was telling a young guy we just hired about penny candy. We'd go walk the county road until we found 10 bottles, turn them in for $1.00 deposit, buy a bottle of pop for .25, an ice cream bar for .25, and 50 pieces of candy. Man, we'd be sick all afternoon!

 

[stompybritches]

I remember a man in a old panel truck that came around about once a month. He sharpened scissors. Knives and reel mower blades.

I think that was the 'Kirby vacuum man's' territory in my neck of the woods. Forgot about the knife sharpening portion. As a kid I was fascinated that something so repulsive (vacuum for house chores) could actually merit the attention of an adult who would bother to drive out to our orchard and fix it. That - and the fact he had an incredible wobbly triple chin pretty much like a pelican - kept me hanging around mom's house call with him. Otherwise, nope.

 

[Oaktree]

Most places later even today have an outdoor service box with a test jumper inside where you can plug in a phone.

ISTR those boxes came along in the 80s when Ma Bell was broken up. That box was the demarcation point between the phone company's responsibility and the customer's. The jack was so if you were having problems you could plug a phone in to test...if the phone didn't work on that jack, it was the telco's problem, if it did it was yours.

 

[Oaktree]

Never had a milkman. We had it warm straight from the Mooo.
Did have a breadman. If I had the coin I'd buy a box of Hostess cupcakes. Second choice was Twinkies. I think he disappeared around 71-72.
I remember people converting to oil from coal.

My parents' house had one of those old coal-converted-to-oil furnaces. Conversion had been done before they bought the place. Huge thing, took up half the cellar, and other than the cellar itself didn't really heat the house all that well. They replaced it when I was a teenager.

Growing up we had a milkman, breadman and the local drycleaner had a route. By the time I was in high school all those had gone away.

 

[Hay Dude]

I remember when you could hunt at daybreak, throw your gun in your gun rack and drive to school without a worry in the world. If you got one (a deer) naturally you’d skip and spend the day gutting & hanging.

Today, you’d be cuffed, perp walked, expelled, cancelled and maybe deported.

 

[ultrarunner]

What can you buy for a penny these days and get a receipt...?

1 cent postage stamp.

 

[Hay Dude]

What can you buy for a penny these days and get a receipt...?

1 cent postage stamp.

Speaking of postage stamps….
The price is going up again….

 

[masseyrider]

A couple days ago I was telling a young guy we just hired about penny candy. We'd go walk the county road until we found 10 bottles, turn them in for $1.00 deposit, buy a bottle of pop for .25, an ice cream bar for .25, and 50 pieces of candy. Man, we'd be sick all afternoon!

In my day if you had $.25 you had to buy things in the right order.
You started with an ice cream, then your pop. You bought the candy bar last because you needed the deposit money from your bottle. If you got a Popsicle you could have your pop a second Popsicle and a candy bar for later.
The penny candy had too many possible variations to list. But if you had a pop you always had to figure in what order to max your sugar high with the deposit.