I may have posted this before

[Elaine]

I must be getting old!

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who Were
kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and
fluorescent'spokey dokey's' on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags
riding in the passenger seat was a treat.We drank water from the
garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.We ate
chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar
in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside
playing.We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or
can and no-one actually died from this.


We would spend hours building
go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the
hill,only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into
stinging nettles a
few times, we learned to solve the problem.We
wouldleave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as
we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no
One minded.We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes,
no video games at all. No99 channels on TV, no
videotape
movies,
no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no
DVDs,
no
Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside
and
found
them.We played elastics and rounders, and
sometimes
that
ball really hurt!We fell out of trees, got cut,
and
broke
bones but there were no lawsuits.We had
full on
fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.

We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of
the owners catching us.We walked to friends'
homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we
didn'trely
on mummy ordaddy to drive us to school, which was just

round
the
corner.We made up games with sticks and tennis
balls.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.The

idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard
of...They actually sided with the law.
This
generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an
explosion ofinnovation and
new ideas. We had freedom,
failure,
success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it
all.

And you're one of them. Congratulations!
Pass
this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids,
before
lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might
like
to
read about us.This my friends,
is
surprisingly
frightening......and it might put a smile on your face

The majority of students in universities today were born in>
1986........They are called youth.They have never
heard
of
We are the World, We are the children, and the Uptown
Girl
they
know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard
of
Rick
Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle.
Forthem, there has
always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.
AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they
were born. Michael Jackson has always been
white.
To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they
can't Imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.


They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films
from last year.
They can never imagine life
before
computers.They'll never have pretended to be the A Team,
RedHand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll never
have
applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.
They
can't
believe a black and white television ever existed. And they

Will never understand how we could leave the house without a
mobile
phone.

Now let's check if we're
getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a
night
out.
3. Your friends are getting married/already married.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably
with computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your
head.
6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time
around.
7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the
good Old
days, repeating again all the funny things
you have experienced
together.
8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to
someother friends because you
think they will like it too...Yes, you're getting old!

[Animagus]

hehehe Oh how that hurts lol...... definately getting old