One of my Facebook peeps registered a “like” and commented on a random post that included a photo of an old-timey gas station. It had a couple of fire engine-red gas pumps. So adorable. The lettering layered over the photo read “Can you remember as a kid, stomping on the hose that makes the bell ring?” Made me smile.
Now the purpose of the “ding” was to alert the gas station attendant that a customer had arrived. The dude pumped your gas, cleaned the windshield, and even … wait for it … checked the oil, all for around 25 cents a gallon. And no, I didn’t grow up in a foreign country. I can still hear that distinctive “ding” in my head. Especially when … I rode over the hose five or six times on my bike before getting chased off with a tire iron and a smile from the gas station attendant. I deserved it.
Don’t you know the social site is just trying to figure out how ancient their customers are. I pretty much try not to react to their posts and casually shuffle on by … but not before registering a ginormous grin. Gotta admit the ploys are kinda clever. Like the ones with a picture of something kinda weird-looking with the question, “Do you know what this is?” I never react to those either.
One of my personal favorite “What is this?” posts is an enlarged shot of a small flat plastic disc. I knew instantly what I was looking at. Yeah … I’m borderline old. If you were a teenager back in the ‘60s when 45 records ruled the teenage planet, you had bunches of these little weird-lookin’ discs. They were used to magically transform the large hole in the center of the 45 into a teeny hole. This allowed the little 45 to be played on the narrow spindle of a record player meant for long-playing records. Now I realize some of you might not know what a record player is. How sad for you. I LOVED my record player. It reminds me of the Dr. Suess’ book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” … only an audio version.
Back in the late ‘60s, I had quite a collection of 45s. There was a billboard chart that came out every Tuesday ranking the top-selling songs. Oh, did I mention the small vinyl record logically had the billboard-busting song on the front … and a lesser-known tune that never was played on the back? It was always a race after school to purchase a new single or two before they sold out. Of course, my dad forbade me from purchasing any Beatles tunes. I had several. He didn’t like The Rolling Stones either. “Get Off of my Cloud” was my favorite Stones 45 back during the Stone Age. I think my dad didn’t like the long hair. He was a “folk song” kind of guy.
And last but certainly not least, Popeye the Sailor Man popped into my newsfeed the other day, expecting a response. I recalled it as just one in a long lineup of Saturday morning cartoon fests for the kiddies in the early ‘60s. I always imagined it being a time that mothers everywhere could catch up on their ironing. I liked how Popeye’s adventures always reminded us how eating spinach was so important way back then … and is today, although I prefer it in salad form rather than straight out of the can.
Facebook … the social media site with lots of blasts from the past. Still makin’ us smile after all these years.
