You know you are getting old when:

[2jakes]

When you visit places from long ago.
How tiny they look now as if they
somehow have shrunken with the
passing of time.

Not until I kneeled down to tie
my shoe lace.

Then everything was the same size once again as when I was
a kid.

 

[Edward]

My school never had a reunion event. Aside from the big anniversary carol concert, I suppose, where past pupils were invited to go along and join in, but I couldn't make rehearsals with living abroad. AFAIK, we're a pretty even split between those of us who left the old country and now live all over doing a range of things, and those who bought a house five minutes' walk from their parents and were married with three kids by the time they were twenty-three.

And, as a kid, the anxiety of wondering when the TV would come back when it went to the repair shop? We had the same TV for over 25 years - it got fixed not replace when something happened to it. In the interim, we lived without it.

That's a tihng that really bugs me - as Herself would tell you. I can't bear to throw away stuff that I just know has a simple fix.... yet consumerism means replacing is the only option. It's just so darn wasteful.

You know you are getting old when:

There were no smartphones and selfies was not in your vocabulary.

You took the roll of film to the nearest photo lab.
It took a day or so to develop with the hope that you
got some good shots. I was lucky to get one!

I have fond nostalgia for taking selfies - we called 'em self-takies - that you'd have no idea how they'd turn out til weeks later. Or opening the photos from holidays to find one of your pals had snapped an unflattering shot of you asleep...

It amazes me how quickly people adopt new technologies. Smartphones are now considered almost a necessity. It wasn't but a few years ago that most of us wondered why we might ever need for such a thing.

Tablets is the big one. Not something I had any use for, until I was given one at work....

Smart crooks (yes, there are such people) calculate their chances of getting away with their illicit deeds. And smart crooks know that their smartphones can destroy an alibi.

Here in London, the old Nokia 8210 is now the ool phone to have in some circles after it was reported that the drug dealers all use 'em because it has no trackable GPS...

 

[Fading Fast]

...that's a tihng that really bugs me - as Herself would tell you. I can't bear to throw away stuff that I just know has a simple fix.... yet consumerism means replacing is the only option. It's just so darn wasteful....

Drives me nuts as well - growing up, we repaired everything and rarely replace something until it was truly done - but I think part of the change today is "consumerism" and part of it is economics in that having repair shops, staffing them, paying for real-estate, inventory, etc., might not make sense when a TV costs - in inflation adjusted dollars - maybe a tenth today of what it did back in the '60s.

Also, I've been told by some people who should know that solid state and component construction make it harder to repair things in the old way (not sure I really get that). But the upshot is that it is cheaper to buy new than repair and, at a level, I can see that.

I remember taking our toaster to a repair shop when I was a kid. Now, a new toaster costs $20-$60 buck - if it broke, by the time the repair guy "put it on the bench," he would have to charge you the price of a new one. Since repair shops only make sense if the item is expensive enough relative to the cost of repairing it - it is only expensive items, like cars or refrigerators, that get repaired today (and maybe "back in the day" it was the same, as things like toasters were, relative to the repair cost, much more expensive).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Most modern electronics are specifically designed *not* to be repairable -- the manufacturers will not supply replacement parts for equipment more than a couple of years old. You might be able to scrounge replacement modules on eBay or from junked gear, and if it's something simple like failed capacitors on a power supply board you might be able to solder in new ones yourself, but otherwise, the stuff is made not to be fixed.

This isn't just consumer-grade stuff, either. We had an old sound mixing board -- old as in "mid-2000s" -- at the theatre, which is no longer supported by the manufacturer. It cost us over $7000 less than ten years ago. We gave it away earlier this week for nothing, because it wasn't even worth paying to dispose of at the dump.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Are there still facilities for repairing tube-TV's, storing enough repair-parts, in the US?

I don't know, if my german tube-TV could be repaired in the future. He's sweet 16, now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Not unless you know somebody who does it as a hobby. I learned to do my own repairs because there was nobody else around who could do it.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I think, my tube-TV is just still living, because used very less in the last six years. I think, it's the thing like on a lightbulb?

 

[MisterCairo]

They tried to retire characters on Sesame Street that I started watching in 1972, when we moved from Toronto to Burlington, Ontario, and got Buffalo's PBS station WNED channel 17.

The good news - I was 4 then. Bob, Gordon (joined 1974) and Louis, were much older.

Still are...

 

[2jakes]

Yesterday at a store, I bumped into a mannequin and said “Sorry”.

Then said ... “oh I thought you were a person”.

Then realized I was still speaking to a
mannequin.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Yesterday at a store, I bumped into a mannequin and said “Sorry”.

Then said ... “oh I thought you were a person”.

Then realized I was still speaking to a
mannequin.

 

[Trenchfriend]

And 80's-hair, OMG...

 

[Zombie_61]

...I think it would mildly interesting to see how your classmates - who you knew for several years - grew into adults...

You would think so, but...no. Not in my experience, anyway.

My wife talked me into going to my 10-year high school reunion back in 1989 (class of '79 here). For various reasons (deaths, lack of interest, whatever) they had already begun combining classes so it was really a "Class of 1978-79" reunion. What I observed, for the most part, was my former classmates immediately falling back into their little cliques and reverting 10 years to behave very much like they did in school. Beyond that, except for one or two people, I really didn't speak with anyone I hadn't kept in contact with over the years, so for me the night was almost a waste of time.

Another phenomenon I found interesting was how the passage of time had apparently affected the memories of some of my former classmates. A number of people whom I rarely associated with in school greeted me as if we'd been the best of friends back then, and seemed to express a sincere interest in how my life had been during the intervening years. And I wasn't the only person who experienced this. One of my classmates was a guy named Doug, who almost immediately attained the nickname "Drug" in school because it was the 70s and why wouldn't he? In school he was well known because he was tall, good looking in a "Mickey Rourke before the boxing and plastic surgery" way, had long hair, and wore a long black overcoat every day regardless of the weather, so he stood out in a crowd. He was (and to my knowledge still is) very intelligent, but not many people knew this because they all assumed he was "just a stoner" because of his appearance. So, while most of the student body knew of him, they wouldn't have given him the time of day back then. Doug arrived at the reunion fashionably late, took a position at the bar at the back of the room and, being something of a school celebrity, waited for people to "discover" he was there. Now, I didn't know Doug while we were in school, but I did get to know him after we'd graduated so I approached him to say hello, and we struck up a conversation. While we were talking a number of people approached him in the same way they had approached me--as if they were long lost buddies--and after every one of these encounters he'd look at me and shake his head as if to say, "What was that all about?" People are funny.

 

[Fading Fast]

Zombie_61 - that's an interesting story. I wonder if more time had passed, if the clique-i-ness would have been less pronounced. Ten years of life might not have been enough time to change outlooks, but after, say, 25 years, would jocks, cheerleaders, stoners, et al., still feel a strong identity with their cliques or would the realities of life - jobs, job loss, health issues, kids, divorce, etc. - have broken a lot of that down?

 

[Zombie_61]

Zombie_61 - that's an interesting story. I wonder if more time had passed, if the clique-i-ness would have been less pronounced. Ten years of life might not have been enough time to change outlooks, but after, say, 25 years, would jocks, cheerleaders, stoners, et al., still feel a strong identity with their cliques or would the realities of life - jobs, job loss, health issues, kids, divorce, etc. - have broken a lot of that down?

Oh, definitely. My wife also talked me into going to my/our 20-year reunion (she was class of '78). By then they had combined five graduating classes, and the attendance was still less than half of the previous reunion. Whatever the reason(s), that "clique-i-ness" was noticeably absent. We were no longer jocks, cheerleaders, stoners, nerds, outcasts, or whichever social group we had previously been relegated to--we were simply a gathering of middle-aged people who'd had a shared four- to five-year experience 20-something years earlier.

 

[Edward]

Also, I've been told by some people who should know that solid state and component construction make it harder to repair things in the old way (not sure I really get that). But the upshot is that it is cheaper to buy new than repair and, at a level, I can see that.

I think you're right. A lot of things that were all point to point handwired at a time are now build around pre-printed circuit boards and other sealed components; eventually, you're paying more for the labour than the parts, and that's where it starts to work out too expensive to repair.

I remember taking our toaster to a repair shop when I was a kid. Now, a new toaster costs $20-$60 buck - if it broke, by the time the repair guy "put it on the bench," he would have to charge you the price of a new one. Since repair shops only make sense if the item is expensive enough relative to the cost of repairing it - it is only expensive items, like cars or refrigerators, that get repaired today (and maybe "back in the day" it was the same, as things like toasters were, relative to the repair cost, much more expensive).

That is the flipside, year. My toaster died a coupel of years ago after well over a decade's hard use. Due to a mix of cutting way back on bread (therefore it's not something we use so often now) and not wanting to spend much at the time, we bought a supermarket own-brand toaster for £5. It's far from the most attractive or the most solid build, but it's given excellent service for two years now....

Most modern electronics are specifically designed *not* to be repairable -- the manufacturers will not supply replacement parts for equipment more than a couple of years old. You might be able to scrounge replacement modules on eBay or from junked gear, and if it's something simple like failed capacitors on a power supply board you might be able to solder in new ones yourself, but otherwise, the stuff is made not to be fixed.

This isn't just consumer-grade stuff, either. We had an old sound mixing board -- old as in "mid-2000s" -- at the theatre, which is no longer supported by the manufacturer. It cost us over $7000 less than ten years ago. We gave it away earlier this week for nothing, because it wasn't even worth paying to dispose of at the dump.

Jinkies, yes. I've always been glad I got into guitars rather than synths. What synth guys pay for a new instrument can be very scary..... especially when it's automatically worth less than half of that a year later when they come to resell!

Are there still facilities for repairing tube-TV's, storing enough repair-parts, in the US?

I don't know, if my german tube-TV could be repaired in the future. He's sweet 16, now.

As in a CRT? I don't know about TVs.... I don't see valve radios being a problem anytime soon, though. Electric guitar players are inherently incredibly conservative as a rule, many, if not most, still using tube amp designs that were first marketed in the late forties / early fifties. Long as this remains the case, most competent amp repairmen should also be able to deal with valve radios!

Another phenomenon I found interesting was how the passage of time had apparently affected the memories of some of my former classmates. A number of people whom I rarely associated with in school greeted me as if we'd been the best of friends back then, and seemed to express a sincere interest in how my life had been during the intervening years.

This doesn't surprise me. I remember a girl I was at school with saying during our last few weeks that the people we'd all miss wouldn't be our best pals - because we'd always keep in touch - but the folks we were kinda friendly with just at school, but weren't in touch with outside. I've found that to be true to a fair extent twenty-three years later. Often wonder what became of a lot of them. I'm sure I'd probably be more pleased to see what some of them were up to now than you'd think if we weren't that close back when. Doug sounds like he was something of a celebrity, so there probably were way more folks that remember him than he remembers!

 

[2jakes]

One guy I would love to meet again would be Joe A. from Connecticut.
He was my pal during the Vietnam conflict.
We went to see “The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly” at the base theater.

I’ve mentioned before why this movie has special meaning.
I was shipped to Guam. Joe went to England.
Lucky guy.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Most modern electronics are specifically designed *not* to be repairable -- the manufacturers will not supply replacement parts for equipment more than a couple of years old. You might be able to scrounge replacement modules on eBay or from junked gear, and if it's something simple like failed capacitors on a power supply board you might be able to solder in new ones yourself, but otherwise, the stuff is made not to be fixed.

This isn't just consumer-grade stuff, either. We had an old sound mixing board -- old as in "mid-2000s" -- at the theatre, which is no longer supported by the manufacturer. It cost us over $7000 less than ten years ago. We gave it away earlier this week for nothing, because it wasn't even worth paying to dispose of at the dump.

Nowadays this even extends to batteries which are now designed for specific models. Once that particular model is out of production so are the batteries.

 

[2jakes]

^^^^
I cannot pass a table without buying one.
They are inexpensive & use them on my bikes
and around the house.

I’m lucky that the “C & D” batteries are still available.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The thing with tube televisions is that there are no longer any companies -- anywhere in the world -- that rebuild old cathode-ray tubes. The last one in the US shut down several years ago, and the last one in the world, in France, closed shortly after that. The equipment from both of these rebuilders has been salvaged by a non-profit group called the Early Television Foundation, which is working on training people on how to do the rebuild work -- but even then there's only a finite number of unused electron guns that can be used for rebuilding, and some less-common types of tubes may never be able to be rebuilt.

There are people who own certain early TV sets who have had to substitute with military surplus radar tubes because replacement CRTs for those sets simply aren't available at any price.

Tube radios are no problem and will never be a problem -- many of the most common tube types are still being manufactured in Russia and China, and even the less common ones were made in such quantities that a few minutes on eBay will locate NOS examples at a reasonable price. But if you have a new-in-box 7JP4 cathode-ray tube in your attic, you've got an item worth several hundred dollars and plenty of people willing to buy it.

 

[Stearmen]

Yesterday at a store, I bumped into a mannequin and said “Sorry”.

Then said ... “oh I thought you were a person”.

Then realized I was still speaking to a
mannequin.

Your just darn lucky she didn't turn around and slap you!