it used to be posh but now it ain't

filigree_2

I grew up in the 70s and I can remember the following being a huge treat:

Colour TV
Telephone
Stereo record player
Going to a hotel instead of self catering
A proper dining table instead of eating in the kitchen
Getting my first watch as a present for starting secondary school
Any kind of restaurant - even a cafe was a once a month treat
"New" foods - I can still remember having courgettes and kiwi fruit for the first time (not on the same plate!)

We never had a washing machine, central heating, microwave, car or video player, my parents only had those after us kids left home and they had more money to spend

Rebob

When I was 5 my mum left her hubby. We moved to share a 2 bed terreaced house with her sister and daughter. The adjoining house had been demolished and when sat on the sofa you could see outside through the fire back!!!! We moved to a house of our own where mum bought me my own bucket so I did not have to use the outside loo at night. She bought the local weekly paper and cut in squares as this was cheaper than loo roll. She would copper up each say to see what she could afford for tea and the shop keeper would open packs of peas etc and sell us enough for two!

We had an imitaion leather sofa given that made a corner sofa. The parts were held together with giant clips which would ping off as you were getting comfy and we would drift appart. It was all great fun!!!

I am 31 now so this was not exactly in the dark ages.

inhotwater

I was a kid in the 70s. We were comfortably-off but didn't have a phone until 1979 - and that was probably only because we moved house and there was already one installed there!

John West Tinned salmon - there was always a tin in the cupboard, and we were never allowed to have it as my mum said that she was 'saving' it 'for best' in case anyone 'popped round' unexpectedly for tea (which they never did).

Frozen chips
Artic Roll
M+S food
Chocolate fingers (we had choc biscuits - kitkats, blue ribbands and viscounts, but for some reason choc fingers were 'posh' - maybe because
an auntie used to serve them on one of those three tier plates at Christmas)

Foreign holidays were becoming more popular, but only the really well off families went more than once every 3 or 4 years. One schoolfriend went to Florida/Disney with her family when we were 11 - it was talked about like it was the end of the earth - "they're going to A-mer-i-ca!"

New 'big' toys. At Christmas we got a 'big' toy (eg bike, pedal car, wendy house) - but these toys were bought second hand from the small ads in the paper, never new.

Ice Cream van - we were allowed a lolly (Fab, Orange), a cornet (with flake was a rare treat), or a plain choc ice. I remember nagging my mum for ages to let me have a 'posh' Rum'n'raisin choc ice, which was 12p, when plain was only 8p. It was a short-lived thrill though as it was pretty disgusting.

Sweet_Pea_2

I remember being really envious of my friends soda stream (fizzy drink maker) and nagging my mom to get one but she wouldnt because the refills were too expensive,

Anyone who had a mom that could drive, or an estate car,

Anyone who lived in a house that didnt belong to the council, (there was so much stigma about this, I remember a friends parents buying a posh new front door for their council semi so people would think they had bought it)

Anyone who wore a blazer to school as we didnt have to wear one (actually I can only think of one boy who had one)

I badly wanted a pleated PE skirt, mine was A line, my mom bought it when I was 11 and kept saying I could have a pleated one when I grew out of the A line one. Unfortunately the A line one was still too big when I left at 16. I resorted to rolling the waistband over on my school skirt or saying I had forgot my PE kit on PE days.

inhotwater

Sometimes for our summer holiday, my parents would take time off work and we'd have a succession of days out - seaside, country parks etc and as a real treat, maybe a trip to a theme park (this was in the days when they all had about three rides!)

We always had a picnic, no matter how long the journey - egg or ham sandwiches, crisps, a tomato and an apple. Drinks were always tea in a flask or squash in a tupperware cup - only 'posh' folk had cans or cartons. The egg sandwiches always stank - we didn't have a cool bag, just an old picnic hamper. Ice creams were the only item ever bought whilst out. We NEVER ate in motorway services - they were definitely regarded as posh - for some reason I always thought those ones with the restaurants on the bridge with views over the motorway, were the ultimate in 'poshness'. And Little Chefs - perhaps because it was waitress service and everything was so shiny and plastic. Funny how things change. I now see them as rubbish and feel too sophisticated/posh to want to eat there!

moggins

We always had two weeks in Porthcawl for our summer holidays, huge great caravan site that seemed to go on for miles when I was a kid. I think that was where my love affair with Wales began. I always had such happy times there.

gravitytolls

We had a black and white TV till about 1980, video player about '84, after much pleading. The phone was late 70's, but we lost it for a couple of years while we lived ina flat whilst modernisation was done to our row of council houses. This took 18 mths; shows how out of date they were.

That was when we got an inside loo (yes 1984) and non rattly single glazed wooden windows.

My step father always had a car, albeit an old banger.

I was an only child, so I was rather spoilt in that I had nice new clothes each year, and shoes, and a nice bike, roller skates etc. for bdays or christmas. I got a black and white portable when I was about 13 - now that was sophisticated.
But we only had 4 holidays in all my childhood, 2 in England and 2 in Spain.

My nanny though was Irish with amnay brothers and sisters. It was she that gave me my love of jumble sales, home baking etc.

How things have changed, kids look down their noses at those without sky tv, dvd machines in the bedrooms and the latest consoles and games.

Parents are often just as bad, who goes where for hols, drives what car.

BWZN93

Im an 80's kid so I have some odd memories of things that I dont know if anyone else will remember!!

Xmas tree decorations were free from petrol stations when you filled up, and were made of metallic paper cone shapes stuck together to make a ball

Vienetta Ice Cream (that posh looking vanilla and chocolate thing) on exceptionally rare occasions

Buying mugs was posh - we got them free from various offers, and were cream and had either blue or red 'v's on them that were supposed to be birds

Free 'glasses' from Little Chef's - the straw was attached to the outside

Free Orange lollies from Little Chef

Going on holiday to Germany in the car - and staying with friends there

Liver and Onions for tea (yuck - I used to throw bits under the table hoping the cat would eat it, and even she turned her nose up at it)

Things I thought were posh:

Flying on Holiday

Buying Mugs and Cups

Not eating Liver!

Also, a freind of mine had a 'beauty set' for her birthday and had fragrance oils and unscented body lotions etc, and you could create your own signature fragrance!

I loved being a kid though - shame it had to end!!

And I agree that todays 'posh' isnt 'posh' anymore - people can just get credit to buy all this junk, So I prefer to think of myself as posh, as I can cook properly (freinds love it and think its wonderful, if a little 'quaint') and find good value - as opposed to being a walking advertisment for whatever company happens to be in vogue right now. In fact, I hate obviously 'branded' clothing, its so tacky!! The only items I own that have any design whatsoever are my surfer style t-shirts I got for $7.50 each in the US, and its really hard to see who made them - I just liked the print, not the company name (American Eagle - Bargains Galore!).

My favourite piece of clothing when I was growing up was a velvet single breasted suit type jacket, and I loved it so much I bought another one, an original 1970's St Michael velvet Jacket off Ebay, for the grand total of £2.00. I saw one a month later in a magazine showing recent designers collections on the catwalk (in WHSmith - I didnt pay) - So im a trendsetter too!

Jo xx

greenlogo

TM - Maybe today's "posh" is different. Maybe I'm seen as "posh" because we eat proper meals at a dinner table every night, we don't really do takeaways and never buy nuggets. Maybe "posh" is an attitude or a state of mind nowadays - it could be about manners and upbringing as opposed to being the kids who have everything.

I know I'm considered "posh" because I can cook a whole meal and sit up at a table (or breakfast bar) to eat it rather than eating off my lap infront of the TV (I can still SEE the telly from the table, if I'm in myself, but I've a habit of spilling if I'm not sitting up )


I think it's about a willingness to spend money on the important things (decent shoes, coat etc) because I've not spent it on rubbish (ready meals, credit debt, etc).

In an age where everyone is expected to have everything, an ability to decide what is actually important seems to be posh..

LearningToSave.

before i start i was born in 1978 and brought up in a council house on huge council estate.

i can remember my dad bringing home a spectrum computer about mid eighties and it was an absolutely huge thing to have!! he had saved for ages and i thought we were the bees kness for having it!! nowadays everyone has at least one games system.

we didnt get a car until the mid eighties either and it was only an 88th hand old banger then.

i remember my dad making me a skateboard so i could play with the other kids and their 'proper' ones.

also remember him making me stilts for the same reason!!

clothes were quite often home made by my mum or nan or from jumble/car boot sales.

toys were from car boot sales.

we went for a weeks holiday to a small holiday camp in the uk,self catering......at the time i was jealous of other people going abroad for two weeks and eating out....but even though we later did these holidays ourselves guess where my memories are from!!!

strangely i was jealous then of the other kids who had all these things but i now realise that their parents were probably in debt to get them these things whereas my parents lived by if there was no cash then they didnt buy it.