h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was a latchkey kid

Summer holidays were LOOONG and boring.

We didn't have a TV, there was no internet, we had no computer.


NO ADVERTS!

Which is probably why I hate them all so much now!

Br, we had the first TV in our block, because my granddad was an electrowizard and built his own. Football games meant all the neighbourhood in our livingroom, the men shouting and the mothers knitting. Sister and I were allowed to stay up late because we couldn´t have slept trough that noise anyway.

"through", sorry.

I had a TV when I was very young but from the age of about 5 I didn't have one until I moved out at about 17...

I dont think it did m any harm except that I'm sadly lacking in a few pop references and strong TV memories. I'll live!

Pop references, or oldish music in general...many a young girl (their fathers are ~my age and most of them are blondes) give my music dirty looks "whassat, never heard of them" - and then they raid the LP shelf like a swarm of locusts.

school holidays

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQHB1zd1f5M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5SxC1azbjY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR6z8GUywyc

Why Don't You

children got all of it on TV - and now wife and offspring get rid of you because it´s your job?

Another not so stupid

Shopping, the other day (I just love shopping - don't you?) and visited a recommended butcher-cum-deli (v good it is, too)

Metre-high tubs with trees outside, with placards:

"There are 5 months to go before your summer diet & exercise regime - make the most of them!"

"You mustn't hibernate before you fill up" - its tub overflowing with crushed ice.

Luckily I was never a housekey kid. Mum always made sure that even if she was working and wouldn't be at home when school finished our granny was However, parenting woes should be discussed somewhere else methinks!

Bugger, missed the last page before posting that

The best adverts were definitely from the 80s

I saw quite a funny Fosters advert the other day, and it reminded me how many really good adverts there are for (often terrible) beers.

is my wife going to end up like her mum???

ya never know wate, she might be a vordaman

Believe it or not, I DO like a GOOD advert. They are just few and far between.

As an example, while it irritates me, the whole make up thing where this brand have created a trend through their marketing (how much it's taken hold, I dont know, but it feels good!) which is the 'London Look'. Using very 'british' imagery, remnants of punk, a bit of bling... It's furthering the vague inferrence that London(ers)can be wild, rebellious, stylish and revolutionary. And that you can buy into this young, cool image wherever you live, however much you earn, whatever you look and dress like. It's genius really.

Br Robyn - stupid adverts cost as much to make and air as good ones, so this thread has an indefinite future.

I know! Great isn't it?

How come that the cars in some adverts are driving on the wrong side
of the road?
Are they trying to send a subliminal message causing people to start
driving on the right?
I think thelaw should be bought in.

Driving on the right is planned to become law in the UK - for the first three years this will only apply to buses and lorries who do it anyway.

Re cars on the wrong side of the road- have you ever wondered why the numberplates on cars in adverts are always shown as MOM181, OR 101XVM?

It is so the ad can be shot once, then reversed for countries where they drive on the other side of the road, and the number plate still makes sense. Palindromic number plates, in effect (though not in reality, but that doesn't appear to hinder ad agencies!!)

We had a palindromic car in Germany! The Zündapp Janus (named after that two-faced Greek deity) had the doors not on the sides but back and front. Making that even more of a problem, the seats were back to back. Have one too many, climb into the wrong end of your transport and find the steering wheel gone AWOL.