OT: Lucky to be alive.

Along this tack - what do you remember or miss from those halcyon days of youth that would not be appreciated by the youth (generalisation) of today?

I miss fried fish and chips wrapped in last week's newspaper that turned your fingers black

and real red and green cordials that you mixed with clear clean tap water in a glass

and spending at least two hours outside (basically unsupervised, walking to school or playing sport or whatever) every day no matter what the weather

and I remember learning to ride a bike without using training wheels and falling off and just getting back on again

and the joy of being given a book as a birthday or Christmas gift

and being proud to wear jumpers my mum had spent hours and hours knitting for me

If that makes me old so be it - but I don't think I'm old, and that's what counts!

At the moment the most topical thing I can think of is food!

Our national Womens Institute have issued guidelines on serving food. The only food our branch serves is at our Christmas and Birthday party which are for members only, and at our charity lunch in the summer - salad, cold meats/quiches and desserts.

So now people have to go on courses and get food hygiene certificates. Food has to be kept at the right temperature - number of degrees laid down, prepared in a sterile kitchen, etc, etc. Obviously you expect the food to be fresh and prepared and kept in clean hygienic conditions, refrigerated properly, etc. but this has gone so over-the-top that no one is prepared to cook, serve or donate anything (including those who have got the certificate) for fear of being liable for something. The days of 'bring a dish' have gone and our Christmas party was a lunch at a local hotel - very enjoyable but too formal and without the usual fun element.

So silly - our home-made food was always delicious and well prepared. No one ever got food poisoning. Just a case of bureaucracy gone mad.

Now I will get off my soap-box!

Interesting, Cheryl - I was thinking about this, and remembering all sorts of things that I (and usually my brother) used to do; but I came to the conclusion that today's young people would actually appreciate being able to do them! So, I don't think I can really answer your question. (my Mum didn't knit; and I never liked fish and chips >ggAlong this tack - what do you remember or miss from those

Good grief, sounds a bit nuts to me. Big Brother and Big Sister have definitely gone over the top!

Our potlucks at work involve everyone (up to 70 people) bringing a food item, and despite the variety of cooking conditions and traditions, nobody gets sick unless they are allergic to something. We've gotten good at letting everyone know if a dish contains milk products or nuts, which are sometimes not apparent to the hungry eye, or if a dish is extra spicy; but even before that we had no problems. My family always did potluck gatherings, and there again we had no bad reactions (except the occasional uncle or aunt who drank a little too much, LOL).

I buy tamales a couple of times a month from a man who stands outside the local Walgreen's drugstore with a shopping cart filled with delicious tamales. I never get sick from them. And we used to have what we called the Taco Truck (or Roach Coach :-D ) that came to work, and the ladies who ran it cooked to order the most delicious burritos, quesadillas and enchiladas. I cannot believe that their working conditions were properly sterile, but we lined up at break and eagerly ate every bite of that heavenly food without a single episode of illness. Indigestion, yes...the Taco Truck ladies cooked mainly for hungry construction workers and servings were huge. If I ate the whole thing in one sitting, I deserved to have indigestion. One serving fed me both breakfast and lunch most days.

Now it's someone else's turn on the soapbox.

Those odd little plastic discs that fit inside the hole of a 45 to make the 45 fit onto the smaller LP spindle.

Debra in VA See my quilts at