Ever consider that the person to whom you responded was just a tad older than you?

None of what you described may have happened during "their" childhood...

And did you ever think that the "context" they were using was what was on "regular TV", not the evening news? Did you ever see any of those things on the TV "shows" you watched?

I don't remember many of us "children" watching the Evening News...

The poster may be a bit older than me. Still, I do not believe ANY DECADE was clean and pure. Some just hid it better.

My favorite childhood memory was when my back didn't hurt.

Or, when you could stay up until the wee hours. Now, I go to bed early and get up when I need to wee.

Very true. Example; JFK/Marilyn Monroe. In today’s instant gratification, everybody’s a journalist with a cell phone...world we live in, there’s no place to hide a scandal.

Grew up in Central Connecticut (pop 50,000) 3 movie theaters, penny candy stores, every pharmacy had ice cream and soda fountains. I could roam all over town on Public Transit for 10 cents with transfers. Black and White antenna TV with 4 channels. Milk was delivered to your milk box along with butter and OJ. Everyone had a garden. Good Humor ice cream truck almost daily in summer and Root Beer floats at A&W. Sunday Blue laws…

Can you imagine cell phones back in the old days, oh my!!!!!!

Did anyone mention pay phones?
Calling collect
Or the original Cellular One bag phone for your car
First handheld cell phone with the telescoping GI Joe antenna

Being allowed to go back outside and play after dinner in the summertime.

We had a two party line. The "rich" kids had a separate children's line so the parents would not have to answer the phone for them. Even having an extension phone was rare.

Hotbox
 

Whoa! Hadn't thought of that phrase in many decades! But, that "Base" part was never uttered by our crowd. :-) Bet you played some hotbox, too. How about peggy (sp)? Unsuccessful googling of the latter *did* turn up this interesting site. Scrub baseball - Wikipedia

While baseball related activities were high on the list, it's hard to top digging the worms for bait and then pond and creek fishing with them with your Zebco.

Four feet??
 

Sounds like Kentucky but for those 4' snows. Those worms are indeed scary, yet beautiful and turn into cool, hummingbird-like moths. :-) And, even scarier when parasitized by wasp eggs!

Watermelons
 

Though I still much prefer my watermelons cold. :-) And, Jimmy *did* pay the Minimart back. . .

Bag phone? They came much later.

I had an RCC phone in my car, pre-cellular days ... '79-'80.

When CellOne started in Boston (office was in Waltham), I had a Cellular Phone installed in my car. It was an NEC Phone and everything other than the handset, was mounted in the trunk of my car. The "box" was about the size of 4 briefcases, stacked on top of one another. I think it was 1986-1987. The phone cost $1800, including installation. A princely sum in those days. The CellularOne operation was so small, the staff knew their customers by name.

The first "bag phone" I ever saw or used, was during the Weld-Cellucci campaign in 1990-1991. It looked like a huge pocket-book, with a shoulder strap. We had exactly TWO of them on the campaign. They were close to $3000 if I remember correctly.

Then came the Motorola StarTac and the world changed.

Four month vacation
 

Shoulda reviewed this before trying to tell it a few days ago. :-(
Blocked