Time to remember the '˜good old days'

Although I like the ones that are all grainy and really look like ‘the olden days’, the recent ones featuring Falkirk town centre have been much more interesting.

The scary thing is, they may be from the 1970s and 1980s but it doesn’t seem that long ago.

It’s the Falkirk where I grew up and it almost feels like yesterday, although in some cases, these photos are from more than 40 years ago.

Surely I can’t be that old!

More worrying, did I really wear trousers with flares that wide and jumpers so skinny?

But they are certainly a talking point. I got into a conversation with one colleague who said that it had to be the 1960s because there were buses going down the High Street.

However, I was able to put him right because I clearly remember trying to cross the road from Marks and Spencer to get to Smith’s wool shop opposite while pushing a pram and negotiating buses. So that had to be the early 1980s because it was Emma in the pram and I would no doubt be on the hunt for pink wool.

I had a quick peek at the ones in this week’s edition and there was the Lint Riggs with the Wimpy – place where I had my first knickerbocker glory!

It was a real treat in those days to get a burger, now it seems like the staple diet for some youngsters.

A recent gathering of my girlfriends rapidly descended into an edition of All Our Yesterdays – and even remembering that TV programme gave our ages away!

We spoke about the places where we used to shop and are no longer there – Chelsea Girl, Wrygges and Klaze were favourites, but we all remembered being dragged round Bishops for what seemed like hours by our mothers!

Shoes came from Timpsons and Watsons, while school uniform was bought from Dillons.

And all those who think ‘pound shops’ are a new phenomena – what about Price Invaders?

The Co-op has also vanished from the town centre when it used to have such a huge presence.

Yes, things certainly change and not always for the better but it’s good to look back and remember the ‘good old days’ – so long as I’m not in the photographs to prove it!