Crisps, nuts and seriously ill children blowing up power stations.

I was talking to my good friend Rusty the other day. Despite the fact he has the memory of a goldfish he can remember stuff from the 1980s, which is good. Anything from the last week, no chance. But 20 years ago? Yep. Anyway, it got us talking about 'how things were different' and we clearly felt old.

As a result it set me thinking about times past and stuff you just don't see these days. I'm not going to go into all the usual Channel 4's The 100 best things from the 1980's (Del Boy falling through the bar etc.) but just a few examples that stick in my mind.

Seriously ill children blowing up power stations

This used to happen a lot. Always one of the last items on the news where some child with a life-threatening illness was allowed to push down the plunger that set off explosives that blew up chimneys, decommissioned power stations, blocks of flats, Coventry, that sort of thing. Seriously, this used to happen every other week back in the 1980s', and now you just don't hear about it.

I doubt we ran out of sick children, so was it the buildings we ran out of? Did the kids go too far and start blowing up stuff they shouldn't have been? Or was it when the traditional explosive plunger got replaced with a button. It just didn't look the same so wasn't worth covering? It needs bringing back. Get Justin Lee Collins working on a show called "Bring Back Sick Kids Blowing Up Powerstations" and put him in the first one they blow up. I'd watch.

I'll conclude by saying 1980's - knife crime non existent, 2000's - hoodie stabbers everywhere. It must be the lack of controlled demolition by the ill youth.

Peanut Pornography

That phrase seems just wrong. But it's legitimate I promise you. Basicially if you went in a pub and wanted peanuts, specifically 'Big D' peanuts they would be on display high up on a wall. Why on such high display? Because the peanuts were secured on a card background with a topless lady pictured. The more nuts you bought, the more the lady was revealed. Normally she was topless in a place like a barn or a garage or Coventry.

It would take about 32 packets to reveal the full image and most pubs uncovered it from top to bottom so half way through you would unveil the main nakedness. Rarely did any landlord put up a new pack and remove the two packs that were over the breasts, else it would have left a picture of two breasts surrounded by 30 packets of peanuts.

Anyway, this was the 1980's so it was fine. I just tried explaining this to someone born in 1984 and he swore I was making it up. When I said "Big D" he believed me even less.

Oh, apparantly some little pubs still do this and the more modern ones are tasteful. The picture, not the nuts - Big D taste horrid.

Cheese and Onion crisps

You're thinking I've gone mad. Of course Cheese and Onion still exist Tim, you clearly haven't been looking out enough.

Oh they exist. In packets. In blue packets. Blue.

For some of you that won't mean a thing, but for me and my generation we always knew that Cheese and Onion crisps were in green packets - always were. Golden Wonder made them and the packet was green. Then, at some point, Walkers came along with blue packaging and before we knew it the traditional crisp packet for Cheese and Onion became blue. And we can never pinpoint the moment it happened, the tipping point. But it must have happened. Even in Coventry.

I know that these days smaller crisps still hold onto green for Cheese and Onion, but the biggest selling crisps are Walkers Cheese and Onion and they are blue.

But here's the thing. Neither Cheese nor Onion were green anyway were they? Onions tend to be red or white and cheese is mainly yellow or white or sometimes red. But sometimes Cheese is blue. So perhaps Walkers have corrected a mistake?

Anyway, I miss having crisps in a green packet. And I'd like them back please.