The "In Days Of Olde" Story

'54 Vette rolling off the assembly line.

It was an ordinary day.  Talking with friends about the many things they remember from the good old days.  Days when we were carefree, had very little to worry about and had no aches and pains.  We started passing the stories around and it was as if we were back in another era.  My friends and I have been around a long time and you probably have been also if you can remember:

• The first night-time World Series game which was in 1971 and featured the Orioles and Pirates.  It was played in Pittsburgh.  

• Going to see the Corvette when it first came out.  The Vette was introduced in 1954 and the Thunderbird came along the next year.  Both were American products with the Corvette still being produced to this day.

• Shoveling snow before the introduction of the snow-blower in 1951.  

• Calling the long piece of furniture in your living room a couch instead of a sofa, calling the living room the parlour, and calling your Thanksgiving stuffing the filling.

• Having a gas station on just about every-other corner where they pumped the gas for you as well as cleaned your windshield and checked your oil.

• Sticking your arm out the window to signal a turn.  On cold days I tried to go straight at every intersection.

• The sound of studded snow tires or even chains against the dry pavement.

• Watching "Covered Wagon Theatre", Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid and Tonto and Roy Rogers on Saturday morning.

• When there were 2 professional football leagues.

• When you got your first transistor radio.  The more transistors the radio had the better it was.

• You watched your first show on a colored TV.  I can remember watching Bonanza for the first time on my aunt's colored TV. 

• Not being able to use you landline telephone (the only kind available) during a thunderstorm.

• Not being able to eat ice cream if you had fish for supper.

• Watching Bandstand in the afternoon.

• When the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, the Giants were in New York, the Colts were in Baltimore, the Rams were in St. Louis, the Senators were in Washington and the Braves were in Boston.  Still tough for me to call the team in nearby Baltimore the Ravens!

• Barney Fife.

• Watching Richie Ashburn playing in Philadelphia in the '50s, listening to him on radio and watching him on TV and then hearing of his death on my birthday in 1997.

• Your first car with rear speakers and intermittent wipers.

• American Flyer trains.  Always seemed to be Lionel in our area.

• Your first white Christmas.

• When football players wore leather helmets and baseball players didn't wear a helmet.

• The first time Elvis sang "Blue Suede Shoes."

• When snow fences lined all the roads in the county.

• Twice-A-Year car inspections in PA that didn't include the emissions check.

• Curt Gowdy doing football and baseball games and Howard Cossell being his blustery, cocksure self.

• And, I can remember when The World Series was over and I had to wait all winter until baseball would be on back on TV again in the Spring. 

Oh well, how times fly.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.