Past Recessions - what were your experiences?

gfplux

1973-4 I worked in an office and during the 3 day week (Electricity only on for 3 days) we still worked for 5 days as the two "dark" days we worked while there was enough daylight to see to write.
1981-2 I had just started a new Job in 1980 and did not notice this recession.
1990-91 If you say there was a recession I believe you but I never noticed.
I believe there are two VERY big differences today compared to the past.
1) communication, 24 hour news channels that have to have 24 hours of news and Internet forums and chat rooms.
2) Credit card Debt. I am pretty sure that anyone who has lived through the other recessions will agree that in general the only debt they had in the past was their mortgage. Today the mortgage is only one of many debts.

baileysbattlebus

fc123 wrote: »

I am worrying now...my old dad stored loads of tins in our cellar during the 70's. He was asking me about my ''stores'' recently. I don't have any 'stores'...well a bag of chick peas and brown rice and processed cereal...that's it really.
He's old now, so I ignored him....that sounds terrible but sometimes old people can go on and on and you are never sure what are the gems in what they are saying and what is the paranoid, old person information that is no longer relevant to our time.

He said we had tins in case of nuclear war...I never knew when I was a kid that that was the reason for tins in the cellar...and bottled fruit in kilner jars that my mother made.

He told me Xmas day he has stocked up the cellar again......

Hey, it could be scary during the 1970's - there appeared to be an ever present threat of nuclear strikes from USSR - we didn't store food - I hoped we would be lucky enough to be in ground zero and be killed straight away.

The government even produced a leaflet in the mid 1970's telling people what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. They took a lot of flak because of it - it was pretty pathetic.
It was originally produced in 1976 and reprinted in 1980.

http://www.cybertrn.demon.co.uk/atomic/book.htm

There were also countless documentaries made during the same time.

But on a more serious note - I read somewhere that the US is setting up some kind of missile defence system in Poland and that Russia has just tested a new ICBM called Bulava - I think.
So maybe your dad knows somethng we don't!!!

So your dad was doing what he was told - bless!!!!!

Trollfever

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Menwith Hill spy base near Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England, is the largest electronic monitoring station in the world. Run by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States, it is one of a global network of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) bases, which monitors the world's communications and relays information to NSA HQ at Fort Meade in Maryland, USA. [/FONT]

fc123

baileysbattlebus wrote: »

But on a more serious note - I read somewhere that the US is setting up some kind of missile defence system in Poland and that Russia has just tested a new ICBM called Bulava - I think.
So maybe your dad knows somethng we don't!!!

So your dad was doing what he was told - bless!!!!!

He does do secret stuff..academic work....but I'm sure he would tell us if he thought it was serious.
Or perhaps, it's best not to know too much.

Davesnave

[quote=baileysbattlebus;17059251]Hey, it could be scary during the 1970's - there appeared to be an ever present threat of nuclear strikes from USSR - we didn't store food - I hoped we would be lucky enough to be in ground zero and be killed straight away.

The government even produced a leaflet in the mid 1970's telling people what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. They took a lot of flak because of it - it was pretty pathetic.
quote]

In the 60s one of my friends was a vicar's son. They had a telephone in the vicarage hallway that emitted a steady double bleep every two seconds or so. On my first visit, I asked why it was making that noise & was told it was the village's early warning system. As long as the steady bleeps were heard, we knew there was no danger of a nuclear attack, but if the tone changed.....

I was glad that my Dad wasn't a vicar. That was especially true when my mate's Dad, in a fit of righteous rage, burned all his Rolling Stones records the day Mick was busted!

Kez100

There was a film we watched at school in thelate 70's early 80's on nuclear war.I recall parents had to sign a letter to say we could watch it.I never asked them because I thought it would be too scary and didn't want to watch it anyway.

Worked well because I watched the sixth former boys playing basketball instead and found a new boyfriend

1echidna

Can remember in early seventies going to work in one black shoe and one brown shoe as a result of getting up with zero light in a power cut. I was not greatly effected economically by recessions as job and subsequently pension was secure.

UK seems to have escaped from 'sick man of Europe' label and gov't seems to think we are in a position to lecture everyone else. The latest fiasco is to propose getting the world to cooperate in assigning a rating for suitability for children to every website. I wonder what this one would get!? Wildy off topic I know but this gov't takes the biscuit for grandiose delusions.

treliac

1echidna wrote: »

The latest fiasco is to propose getting the world to cooperate in assigning a rating for suitability for children to every website. I wonder what this one would get!? Wildy off topic I know but this gov't takes the biscuit for grandiose delusions.

How would they propose enforcing it? I can imagine kids seeing it as a ratings guide to which sites to look at. :rolleyes:

themanbearpig

treliac wrote: »

How would they propose enforcing it? I can imagine kids seeing it as a ratings guide to which sites to look at. :rolleyes:

It's quite possibly the stupidest idea ever, for anyone that has a slightest idea of how the internet works. Its nothing more than more evidence that labour are complete morons.

neverdespairgirl

Generali wrote: »

'47 was horrible by all accounts I've seen. It sounds like your family had it tough.

I think 1947 was a low point. it was probably also psychological - although things were pretty grim during the War, there was a point, an aim, and an enemy. By late 1947, the war had been over for more than 2 years, and things were still terrible, without the national focus.