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Seattle landmark Archie McPhee to close!?! |
sweetpea
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 14, 2003
Posts: 883
From: Seattle
|  Posted: 2008-03-26 4:52 pm Permalink
those of us that grew up...
Children of the 60's and 70's
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived because:
Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.
We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers and no Internet chat rooms. We had friends we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no lawsuits.
We had full on fistfights but no prosecution followed from other parents.
We played knock-down-ginger and were afraid of the owners catching us.
We walked to friend's homes.
We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner. (I'd like to add if they did drive a car it wasn't a huge off roader)
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law.
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all
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Sophista-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: 1892
From: Seattle WA
| Posted: 2008-03-26 5:02 pm Permalink
AMEN!
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tikiyaki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 18, 2004
Posts: 2721
From: The Exotic Port of REDONDO BEACH, CA
| Posted: 2008-03-26 5:09 pm Permalink
double AMEN !
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bigbrotiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 25, 2002
Posts: 11581
From: Tiki Island, above the Silverlake
| Posted: 2008-03-26 5:31 pm Permalink
Politicians nowadays invent causes to rally support for, to justify their position and pay, and of course they pick the easy winners. Rally for more gun control? NO, even after a string of college massacres (for which some of the perpetrators got their guns from the same internet gun store) it is viewed as an "unpopular" and difficult undertaking, and too risky to fail. Sure fire success?: Do something that supports "child safety", that'll get everyone cheering, and get the politician a home run.
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Unkle John
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Oct 22, 2003
Posts: 1217
From: Middle-of-the-Ocean, TX
| Posted: 2008-03-26 6:29 pm Permalink
Why don't they just move to Oregon or Texas?
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Sophista-tiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: 1892
From: Seattle WA
| Posted: 2008-03-26 6:43 pm Permalink
Im sitting here watching the local evening news. and they just had the toxic toy story on. The Governor has until April 6 to make a decision about passing the new law. Archies says that if the law passes they will close the Ballard store and not be able to sell online to Washington customers. But the rest of you will still have access to Accoutrement's products.
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beadtiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Aug 24, 2007
Posts: 929
From: Bothell, Washington
| Posted: 2008-03-26 6:48 pm Permalink
Nicely put SweetPea - oh, and I HATE nettles! Slipped on a muddy trail while taking a short cut through the woods to school one morning and landed with the back of my hand in a huge patch of those devil plants. By the time I got to school my hand looked like a basketball and itched soooooo bad! I can STILL feel it! LOL
You did forget to add the following:
Going to the playground and hanging off monkeybars with nothing but cement below; riding on see-saws (I saw a sign next to a park the other day that used the image of children on a see-saw as a way of warning drivers there could be children near-by - won't be long before people look at that sign and wonder what that contraption is); riding on the whirl-o-puke (you know, that round-about thingy that you would try to spin as fast as possible to dislodge the riders); putting your coat on the level bar, flinging your leg over the coat and clasping your ankle with your hands and then spinning around and around that bar - THAT was fun but sure hurt the back of the knee if that dang coat slipped!
I really miss childhood right now 
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tiki-riviera
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 11, 2003
Posts: 677
From: Long Beach
| Posted: 2008-03-27 07:51 am Permalink
PEA,
Amen to everything you said!! Plus a few more
-a bunch of kids riding in the back of a pickup with the wind in their face
-hide and seek that covered the whole neighborhood
-pop rocks and coke at the same time!
-spending all day at the city pool with your friends, then walking home
-my favorite memory- climbing in dumpsters at the city park to recycle
bottles and cans. good money for a 6 yr old, even if I did smell like
beer afterwards.
All these things and we lived to be adults (sort of):)
Thanks again Pea for the post and the memories!
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atomictonytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: May 14, 2002
Posts: 1290
From: Bangkok
| Posted: 2008-03-28 05:56 am Permalink
i used to love the taste of lead based paints, when i was little it was the second most enjoyable food after sweets.
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thefuzz
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 14, 2007
Posts: 196
From: Mukilteo, WA
| Posted: 2008-03-28 1:21 pm Permalink
First this "toxic toy ban" and now its snowing! Seems like things are already looking like Stalingrad meets Seattle!
_________________
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thefuzz
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 14, 2007
Posts: 196
From: Mukilteo, WA
| Posted: 2008-03-28 1:29 pm Permalink
I should also post the two news articles that came out in the last two days about McPhee, toys, and the ban.
From 3/28/08 Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004311695_toys28m.html
From 3/27/08 Seattle PI
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/356636_toys27.html
Thanks again for all the support. Archie Thanks you too.
_________________
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dogbytes
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 24, 2002
Posts: 2244
From: seattle, wa
| Posted: 2008-04-01 6:05 pm Permalink
stupid Gov. Gregoire signed the nanny legislation ~ *sigh* it takes effect in the summer of 09. hopefully someone overturns this "save us from ourselves" law.
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bamalamalu
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 20, 2006
Posts: 859 | Posted: 2008-04-01 8:51 pm Permalink
Great. Now I'll never get my remote controlled zombie (and now, when I know where to dispatch an army of them!!)
This stinks.
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thefuzz
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Nov 14, 2007
Posts: 196
From: Mukilteo, WA
| Posted: 2008-04-02 12:06 pm Permalink
First they add a larger tax to the already over exuberant gas tax, then they will be starting tolls for most major "freeways", Then they pass a bill that may lead to my unemployment. I mean, It will be a great state once everyone has a government sanctioned job. Anyway this is not the place for politics, just Tiki, so this will be my last post on this topic. If anyone wants to start a thread of McPhee Tiki memories, I say go for it. But, it looks like all you McPhee fans have until the summer of 2009 to get your fill.
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