When the power goes out here (twice this winter) our phone quits working but if i plug our old rotary phone in i can call out. I don't think i can receive a call though.
Feels weird dialing a phone again.

We do the same here and can receive and call out.

Mercury - rubbing coins and other metal things with liquid mercury using our fingers to make them a shiny silver.

Rides to the dump in the back of "uncle Leonard's" new 1950 chevy pickup looking over the cab while he barreled along. He was an old man in the neighborhood who had some apartments and an extensive workshop. When he had to make a trash run to the dump, he'd invite us kids to go. We would poke through the stuff at the dump for a while.

The Helm's bakery truck & the ice cream truck were our favorites, although our mother would never let us get anything. We were always hopeful when we heard the whistle and chimes.

Drinking age of 18.. ( which meant you could buy it at 16-17 if you looked old enough !

Now stop that! I took my Alfa in for service and was given a Corsair loaner last year. I sat there for several minutes looking for the shifter. Finally saw the push buttons and was on my way. I was almost going in to ask how to get it in gear.

Tupperware still makes those. My sister was one of the top TW directors in the US when she pass a year and a half ago. Cleaning up her stuff..er stock, she had a lot of those.

17.9 cent per gallon gas

The Mosquito Man! Of course we rode our spider bikes behind him. A summer ritual!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680834722.jpg

Smelling the fresh ink on paper from mimeograph machine. Mmmmm…

Speaking of trucks in the neighborhood,
Ice cream man
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680835382.jpg
Milk man
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680835400.jpg

^^^ Good Humor ice cream truck.

When the good humor man was distracted, we used to climb up on the roof of the truck and ride along as long as possible without him noticing.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680835903.jpg

Remember when gas was sold by the liter in the US?

I bet you could talk a "modern" kid into licking one fresh outta the freezer too :D!

Early 70's.....

My late step-father owned a coin operated ice vending hut in Oak Hill. Offered ice in block or cube form.

We'd take his Chevy Apache pickup down to Titusville to load up large ice walls - just slide them into the wood floor bed - then back to his ice hut - slide them in - and the machinery inside did the rest.

Kinda like this:

https://unusualinvestments.com/wp-co...ng-machine.jpg

My very first encounter with criminality was when a kid in the neighborhood jumped into the cab, swiped some coin and paid for our push-ups with it.

Genius!

Speaking of the Good Humor man...

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/12...g?v=1571438929

When I was a little kid, I thought those things were so cool, practically magic.

Having to defrost the freezer once in a while.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680889071.jpg

I had one of those when I rode this.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1680889262.jpg

As far as I know, kids today don't deliver papers anymore. But i guess there is a "Paperboy" video game, so they may understand "how" to deliver newspapers!

The thrill of outrunning the police on a 2 stroke dirt bike