WHAT WERE THE "GOOD OLD DAYS" ?

 I'm serious! 

I've heard some people say this when they're referring to last year's sports team or the early "James Bond" movies. Back in the mid 1960s there was a song about them good ol' days...

https://www.google.com/search?q=RA-RA+RUMBLE+SEATS+AND+RUNNING+BOARDS

I can't speak with authority on dime-a-dance girls, but running boards? Oh yeah! If you don't understand you can go to that bottomless pit of knowledge https://www.google.com/search?q=pre-war+running+boards 

Whenever I stayed on a family farm it was a squabble between us kids for the right to ride the board and jump off to open-and-shut gates. And a running board was the ideal tea-pot stand at picnics. I'd bet a sizeable chunk of the house-keeping money that kids don't even consider that these days.

Moving on from running boards...something else that became popular in the 50s/60s was record clubs. If you didn't have access to music shops you could sign-up to monthly selections from a club. Most outfits that hopped on this money-wagon were pretty good in that they offered modern music and well-known artists.

My father and I were members of the same club and, between us, we built quite a comprehensive collection, from classical to popular. 

Of course, this collection of 12" LPs required a fair bit of space. Dad built a writing desk with storage for LPs in a double-cupboard below the desk. It didn't take long to fill that!

So then Dad bought a radiogram. (stereo console or hi-fi cabinet in North America.) And that space didn't last long either! About the same time he extended the sitting room by about 10x12 '  and bought a newer, bigger radiogram; this one also featured a reel-to-reel tape recorder which could be disconnected from the main unit and taken elsewhere (eg. my bedroom!)

The next "Big Thing" to come was, wait for it, wait for it....

Television! We lived in a district that did NOT have good reception; images shuddered, there was more "snow" than image and when you did finally get a reasonable picture it was some god-awful soap opera, with more advertising than entertainment!

So, back to this post's title...were they really good days? I'd hazard a guess that most of us oldies would answer "sometimes."  

Oh, I've just remembered something else that has changed...back then, there was NO SUNDAY broadcast. 

And now, for a complete flip of the switch...newspapers, TV, radio broadcasts over-the-fence chit-chat is mostly taken up with politics. We have a General Election coming up...I'd better find something more cheerful...!