Kids these days will never know….

[NOLAGATOR]

Wasn't 565-1212 the number to call to get the time? (like in every area code)

I mentioned cinnamon toothpicks - I remember kids would make them using cinnamon oil and some were super strong, occasionally a kid would suck on one and have it resting on the corner of his mouth/lip area and they'd breakout into a heat rash and their whole face would be red and all f'cked up looking. The school would do a crackdown on people selling the toothpicks. It was like all scandalous.

Also - bussing. Who got bussed to the other side of town? You know - so the white kids could go to school with the black kids and the black kids could go to school in the white neighborhoods. I got bussed from literally the county line in Mandarin (Jax) to downtown Jacksonville to Matthew W. Gilbert 7th Grade Center. I'd catch the bus at 8am, school started a 9:30am, got out at 3:30pm and I got home around 5:30pm (8am-5:30pm as a 12 year old....classic liberalism).

Information 555-1212
Bussing was awful

 

[BMF]

Information 555-1212
Bussing was awful

I don't mean 'information', it was a number you'd call and it would say something like "First Federal time 5:23pm" and the call would end (the "First Federal was the sponsor, and the sponsor changed every few years).

 

[Back Alley Gator]

Wasn't 565-1212 the number to call to get the time? (like in every area code)

I mentioned cinnamon toothpicks - I remember kids would make them using cinnamon oil and some were super strong, occasionally a kid would suck on one and have it resting on the corner of his mouth/lip area and they'd breakout into a heat rash and their whole face would be red and all f'cked up looking. The school would do a crackdown on people selling the toothpicks. It was like all scandalous.

Also - bussing. Who got bussed to the other side of town? You know - so the white kids could go to school with the black kids and the black kids could go to school in the white neighborhoods. I got bussed from literally the county line in Mandarin (Jax) to downtown Jacksonville to Matthew W. Gilbert 7th Grade Center. I'd catch the bus at 8am, school started a 9:30am, got out at 3:30pm and I got home around 5:30pm (8am-5:30pm as a 12 year old....classic liberalism).

I remember the cinnamon toothpicks. I sold a round of them once, but parents wouldn't buy any more oil after I spilled it once. So my days as a drug pusher were short lived. Never got bussed anywhere...rode my bike to and from school from 4th grade until I got a car in high school.

 

[TLB]

How about party lines?

Not familiar with those. Or maybe just different terminology?

No, sofla, you're thinking of 'a train'. That's very, very different. Ask your mom.

 

[gingerlover]

Calling your parents collect and trying to get the message in instead of your name

 

[Altitude Gator]

Calling your parents collect and trying to get the message in instead of your name

 

[MJMGator]

Wasn't 565-1212 the number to call to get the time? (like in every area code)

I mentioned cinnamon toothpicks - I remember kids would make them using cinnamon oil and some were super strong, occasionally a kid would suck on one and have it resting on the corner of his mouth/lip area and they'd breakout into a heat rash and their whole face would be red and all f'cked up looking. The school would do a crackdown on people selling the toothpicks. It was like all scandalous.

Also - bussing. Who got bussed to the other side of town? You know - so the white kids could go to school with the black kids and the black kids could go to school in the white neighborhoods. I got bussed from literally the county line in Mandarin (Jax) to downtown Jacksonville to Matthew W. Gilbert 7th Grade Center. I'd catch the bus at 8am, school started a 9:30am, got out at 3:30pm and I got home around 5:30pm (8am-5:30pm as a 12 year old....classic liberalism).

I did the same. We caught a bus that took us to Loretto Elementary and then waited about 30 minutes for another one that took us to Gilbert. Several friends went to private schools for a few years because of being bussed in 6-7 grades. 6th grade was Pine Forest…another sh*thole.

 

[BMF]

I did the same. We caught a bus that took us to Loretto Elementary and then waited about 30 minutes for another one that took us to Gilbert. Several friends went to private schools for a few years because of being bussed in 6-7 grades. 6th grade was Pine Forest…another sh*thole.

Man, I went to Loretto, Pine Forest, Matthew Gilbert, DuPont, and Wolfson. My address growing up was on Julington Creek Road (the one closer to Clark's Fish Camp).

 

[MJMGator]

Man, I went to Loretto, Pine Forest, Matthew Gilbert, DuPont, and Wolfson. My address growing up was on Julington Creek Road (the one closer to Clark's Fish Camp).

Same schools. Graduated in 85. I lived off Julington Creek road near SR13.

 

[BMF]

Same schools. Graduated in 85. I lived off Julington Creek road near SR13.

I'm c/o 88 Wolfson, my sister (Natalie Brock) was '86. I lived between the two Wilderness Lane's on Julington Creek Road. I started Wolfson the year after you left, but I'm sure we know a lot of the same people!

 

[bradgator2]

Wasn't 565-1212 the number to call to get the time? (like in every area code)

I mentioned cinnamon toothpicks - I remember kids would make them using cinnamon oil and some were super strong, occasionally a kid would suck on one and have it resting on the corner of his mouth/lip area and they'd breakout into a heat rash and their whole face would be red and all f'cked up looking. The school would do a crackdown on people selling the toothpicks. It was like all scandalous.

Also - bussing. Who got bussed to the other side of town? You know - so the white kids could go to school with the black kids and the black kids could go to school in the white neighborhoods. I got bussed from literally the county line in Mandarin (Jax) to downtown Jacksonville to Matthew W. Gilbert 7th Grade Center. I'd catch the bus at 8am, school started a 9:30am, got out at 3:30pm and I got home around 5:30pm (8am-5:30pm as a 12 year old....classic liberalism).

Yup. I got caught in that Jacksonville bus crap. 6th grade was to Woodson. 7th was to Butler. An hour bus ride each way. Easily the worst 2 years of my life.

 

[bradgator2]

The tabletop football game with the vibrating metal surface

 

[NOLAGATOR]

Pong

 

[AugustaGator]

My rich relatives would let it ring twice and that meant they got home safely

 

[stephenPE]

I don't mean 'information', it was a number you'd call and it would say something like "First Federal time 5:23pm" and the call would end (the "First Federal was the sponsor, and the sponsor changed every few years).

Gainesville time was 372 1411

 

[NOLAGATOR]

Encyclopedias

 

[NOLAGATOR]

RABBIT EARS...with foil

 

[CDGator]

Missing a tv show and not being able to see it again until it hits reruns months or years later.

 

[NOLAGATOR]

No pauses.

 

[BNAG8R]

And to this day, I think the vacuum tube testing machine at K-Mart was probably the coolest looking contraption ever.

My dad retired from USAF as a radar and electronics Sr. Master Sgt., and then started a business repairing TVs for hotels in Daytona. Had more business than he could handle but never expanded.

My job was to test all of the tubes when we went to the electronics store - I’d have a paper bag full of tubes and felt like a badass knowing how to work the machine (and having tubes to test).