I was six when the 70s started and 16 when it ended, so it pretty much encapsulates all of my childhood that I can still remember. Or think I can remember.
Kids, hold onto your smartphones as you hear about the primitive olden days:
- Having a single phone in the house, in the hallway. It had a long coiled cord and was rotary. In the first few years it was also a party line.
- One TV, in the living room. Maybe a 20 or 25-inch screen? It was colour, though! The guys watched Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday. I was not really into hockey. I was an artist! (See entry below on The Letterbox.)
- The neighbours at the end of the block had seven chestnut trees in their year. We would put chestnuts on shoestrings and have chestnut fights, one of many dumb things we did as kids.
- Speaking of dumb things: lawn darts! We played on the boulevard in front of the house.
- A less dumb activity was bouncing on inner tubes in the same spot, using them as somewhat inefficient trampolines.
- I would chop wood for our fireplace, because you were allowed fireplaces in the city back then. It was cozy in the winter.
- I remember the Saucy Dragon arcade in downtown Duncan, which went on to be one of multiple arcades. In 1984, I even got my first job working at one. I eventually learned all the moves in the laser disc game Space Ace and could complete it on a single quarter. I believe all the arcades are gone now.
- I’ve mentioned it before, but the stationery store, called The Letterbox, was a place I loved hanging out in. I was a writing nerd. I guess I still am. I’d buy fountain pens, refills, typewriter ribbons, art pencils and sketchpads there. And other stuff. It was my version of a candy store. It’s long gone. But there’s now a Staples.
- Riding my bike without a helmet. No one wore helmets, it wasn’t even a point of discussion. I did fall a few times, but never cracked my skull open.
- I got bit by every possible animal you can think of. I had probably 10x more tetanus shots than the average person.
- The McDonald’s opening in August 1978 (yes, I remember) was a major event. The day before, a friend and I rode our bikes through the parking lot and counted the stalls. It was 70 or so, as I recall. A Filet-o-Fish sandwich, my favourite at the time, cost 65 cents. Previously, to eat at a McDonald’s, we had to have our parents drive us to Victoria or Nanaimo. In 1978, Duncan arrived. The McDonald’s, of course, is still there.
- When I went to high school, literally just at the end of the street, I came home for lunch and got addicted to All My Children for a few years. Like the arcades, it, too, is gone.
- More random things as I think of them.
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