Nostalgia of the Sixties

 

 DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN ...??

(Sit Back and Enjoy!!!!!! - new...Sri Lankan version)

When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms,
flunk a test, chew gum or get caught to the "cops" taking off at 2:10 interval to hit the 3:30 Majestic matinee.

And the banquets were in the tuckshop, and we danced to a juke box later, and all the girls wore fluffy pastel gowns and the boys wore 'longs' for the first time and we were allowed to stay out and watch a 9.30 show at the Liberty and the Majestic and the Savoy....!

and

the biggest thrill of them all was simply holding hands...!

When a Sunbeam Alpine or an MG was everyone's dream car. . . to cruise,
peel out, lay rubber and watch the road races and people went steady and it was the greatest weekend to go to the 'Coconut Grove' with the JETLINERS or to Ceylinco with the SPITFIRES or to LITTLE HUT and the AMAZING GRACE......!

And no one ever asked where the car keys were 'cause they were always in
the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked.

And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key.

Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying
things like "That cloud looks like a..."

And playing cricket with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game. Back then, cricket was not a psychological group learning experience ~ it was a game !

Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic
seals 'cause no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And...with all our progress...don't you just wish...just once...you
could slip back in time and savor the slower pace...

and share it with the new generation kids of the 80's and 90's... ?

So, share this with someone who can still remember

Bill Haley and the Comets (at the Savoy gallery),

The Hardy Boys, Laurel & Hardy, Roy Rogers and 'Trigger', The Galle Face Green, The Lone Ranger, Kinross ....

The Piccadilly at Wellawatte, 'house-dances',

Sunday Choice, The Hit Parade, 'Take it or Leave it' on the Commercial Service of Radio Ceylon that even the Indians in Bombay. etc still talk about, Shirley, Jimmy Barucha and Chris Greet, & Donavan Andree,

'The Blue Leopard'... Bill Forbes and the Jay Cee Shows at Mount Lavinia Hotel and evenings filled with bike rides, playing in cowboy land, and visits to the pool...and the 'Bambalapitiya Flats'.....'Jumpin Jesus'....... eating hot dogs with that special sauce at 'The Fountain Cafe' and then there was Buriyani at Pilawoos, not forgetting Thosai and Masala Vadai at Saraswathi...!

And how about those footboard rides on the overladen red double decker buses that gave us that gorgeous view of the neatly ironed uniform clad lassies from St. Lawrence's, SPC, HFC, Ladies, Bishops, SBC, and Musaeus standing at the bus stops... ?

When, being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the
fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Even forging an excuse letter for cutting school the previous day was a piece of cake knowing full well that the class teacher was dead sure it was not Daddy who had signed it.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of
terrorism'....drive by shootings, drugs, gangs, alcohol and road rage...etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat ! But we survived.... because their love was greater than their threat

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, 'Yeah, I remember that!'


...... And was it really that long ago?

What do you say, Machan?