Author Topic: You know you're middle aged when  (Read 186414 times)

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #625 on: 02 April, 2018, 04:37:28 pm »
Canonically, it's turning the radio on, getting Radio 2 and thinking it's Radio 1.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #626 on: 02 April, 2018, 05:29:05 pm »
Looking around the crowded Friday evening trendy hipster taproom and realising you just might be oldest two people in the place. Fortunately we did eventually spot a couple of people who might have been older. We decided they were anyway.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #627 on: 02 April, 2018, 05:46:53 pm »
In other thoughts.  When you wake up and the first thought that flits through your mind is that you can't remember the last time you saw a television set with horizontal and vertical hold controls.

There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission. If we wish to make it louder, we will bring up the volume. If we wish to make it softer, we will tune it to a whisper. We will control the horizontal. We will control the vertical. We can roll the image, make it flutter. We can change the focus to a soft blur or sharpen it to crystal clarity. For the next hour sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear. We repeat: there is nothing wrong with your television set.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #628 on: 02 April, 2018, 05:59:44 pm »
Adjusting the tracking on a VHS. Ah, happy evenings.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #629 on: 02 April, 2018, 06:06:30 pm »
Adjusting the tracking on a VHS. Ah, happy evenings.

The one generation who knew how to work the timer on a VCR are now middle-aged.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #630 on: 02 April, 2018, 06:14:01 pm »
It was the splendid vintage era where you rented the video from the shop that featured a rotating rack of the current selections (even Blockbuster hadn't appeared). Each of the twenty cassettes on offer had been played so many times that it required 'dynamic tracking control' a feature supplied on my parent's VHS model by their small son lying on the floor and twiddling with the tracking dial for the entire length of the movie.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #631 on: 02 April, 2018, 06:20:29 pm »
Blimey:
Tracking.

Blimey II:
VHS

Azimuth:
Bless me.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #632 on: 02 April, 2018, 06:54:51 pm »
For added awesomes, top loading.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #633 on: 02 April, 2018, 07:09:39 pm »
Adjusting the tracking on a VHS. Ah, happy evenings.

The one generation who knew how to work the timer on a VCR are now middle-aged.

I certainly am

And I am also one of that generation who still has a casette player in their car, courtesy of LandRover's speed of embracement of newness.  I get to play all those scratchy tapes from my late teens and early twenties all over again.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #634 on: 02 April, 2018, 07:10:41 pm »
Advanced VHS skill:  Knowing to reject tapes with an obviously creased lower edge before they cause excessive wear on your VCR's rollers[1].


[1] Worn rollers tending to cause the tape to slip downwards, causing tracking problems and creasing the lower edge of the tape.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #635 on: 02 April, 2018, 07:15:13 pm »
For added awesomes, top loading.
Oooooff!
That's just hauled me back to something like 1982 and Hitachi.

In other news....
Julie, with whom I shared a flat for ~ 8 years, is the only person I know who managed to insert  two VHS tapes into a machine only ever designed to accommodate one.
As a result, to this day, I treat her accordingly, with utmost respect.
(Some on here may've met her following a FNRTTC to widdersbel)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #636 on: 02 April, 2018, 07:29:22 pm »
You could only mistake Radio 2 for Radio 1 if you thought that somehow R1 had the exact same DJs playing the exact same music today as 20 or more years ago.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #637 on: 02 April, 2018, 07:37:35 pm »
What's this with numbered programmes? The Light Programme, Third Programme, and Home Service surely.  ???
 

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #638 on: 02 April, 2018, 08:23:27 pm »
What's this with numbered programmes? The Light Programme, Third Programme, and Home Service surely.  ???
2LO
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #639 on: 02 April, 2018, 08:30:59 pm »
...you saw Logan's Run on a LaserDisk player.
It is simpler than it looks.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #640 on: 02 April, 2018, 08:34:04 pm »
You could only mistake Radio 2 for Radio 1 if you thought that somehow R1 had the exact same DJs playing the exact same music today as 20 or more years ago.
That was certainly part of the problem yesterday morning. Steve Wright is still as much an annoying twunt as he was 35 years ago!
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #641 on: 02 April, 2018, 08:35:20 pm »
...you saw Logan's Run on a LaserDisk player.
Ah, JA. Sigh.
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #642 on: 02 April, 2018, 09:11:42 pm »
What's this with numbered programmes? The Light Programme, Third Programme, and Home Service surely.  ???
2LO

That's NOT MIDDLE-aged!

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #643 on: 02 April, 2018, 09:15:17 pm »
What's this with numbered programmes? The Light Programme, Third Programme, and Home Service surely.  ???
2LO

That's NOT MIDDLE-aged!

And Radio Caroline and those cheeky pirates for the young people.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #644 on: 03 April, 2018, 08:29:00 am »
You remember hearing that Simon Dee was down to his last £1000.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #645 on: 03 April, 2018, 09:06:36 am »
Adjusting the tracking on a VHS. Ah, happy evenings.

The one generation who knew how to work the timer on a VCR are now middle-aged.

I certainly am

And I am also one of that generation who still has a casette player in their car, courtesy of LandRover's speed of embracement of newness.  I get to play all those scratchy tapes from my late teens and early twenties all over again.

Our car has a cassette player, though given it's only about 11 or 12 years old (OK, ancient for a car*, but still, who used cassettes in 2006?), I can only assume it was a punishment gesture from Ford for buying the cheapest car they made. I think it worked out a £1000 more if you wanted a CD player and locks on the inside of the doors.

*now 100 miles off the big 10k. We have a suspicion that when the meter clicks over from 9999 that the entire thing will come apart like a clown car leaving us sitting in the middle of the road.

Guy

  • Retired
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #646 on: 03 April, 2018, 03:24:22 pm »
You could only mistake Radio 2 for Radio 1 if you thought that somehow R1 had the exact same DJs playing the exact same music today as 20 or more years ago.

Did somebody just mention Steve Wright in the afternoo-hoo-hoon?
"The Opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject"  Marcus Aurelius

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #647 on: 03 April, 2018, 03:43:28 pm »

Our car has a cassette player, though given it's only about 11 or 12 years old (OK, ancient for a car*, but still, who used cassettes in 2006?), I can only assume it was a punishment gesture from Ford for buying the cheapest car they made. I think it worked out a £1000 more if you wanted a CD player and locks on the inside of the doors.

*now 100 miles off the big 10k. We have a suspicion that when the meter clicks over from 9999 that the entire thing will come apart like a clown car leaving us sitting in the middle of the road.

Cassette players are more useful than a CD player in a car.  At least you can stick a tape-adapter in and plug it into your MP3 player.  Much better than an FM transmitter.
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #648 on: 03 April, 2018, 05:00:02 pm »
Frank Muir's infant found that a small bar of Kit-Kat fitted perfectly into his car cassette player.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #649 on: 06 April, 2018, 08:03:52 am »
.... you check this topic every few days to see if you are there yet