Hi Alex,
It seems I'm a touch older than the other posters, so I'll try to tell what I remeber of the old days.
Born in '49, I am able to rememebr, just, the ending of sweet rationing from after the second world war, and seeing the miriad of colours in the sweetshop window as they advertised smarties and the like. Yes, there were liquoris sticks, Barley sugar twists, and toffee twist. I would be given six pence on a Saturday to go with my brother and buy sweeties for Sunday afternoon (the only day I was allowed to eat sweets (and still my teeth have given me trouble), and being told not to chomp, oir eat them all at once.
Afternoons before starting school I would be put down for a sleep on the sofa, with mothers fur coat over me, and can still re-call the warmth of it, and the tickle it gave me when it touched my face. Mother would have fifteen minutes peace to listen to Mrs Dale's Diary on the Light Program. Sunday would be church in the morning, and we would all dress in our Sunday best. As I got older, I was expected to walk to the side of the church during the second hymn and follow the lady who would take all us little ones for Sunday school.
Sunday raost was left to cook slowly in the oven, with just the veg to boil when we got back. A modern concession was to have the radio on during dinner (lunch is a fairly new word for a meal at mid-day), and you tuned in to Two way family favourites, with Jean Metcalf, and a chap who I can't re-call.
Other popular radio programs were, Billy Cotton band Show, The Navy Lark, Sing Something Simple, with Cliff Adams and his singers. the goons, who my father hated with a passion, Workers Playtime, The Sunday Half Hour, Hancocks Half Hour, and of course, The Archers.
Well that's a blast from the past, and I could re-call so much more, but I'm sure it is most boring to all but those like me who are old enough to have lived through those days, but, as has been asked, were they the good old days?
Yes, they were good, because we knew no different, and yes, they are the old days, but to put the three words together in one sentence is madness. After-all, who wants to go back to having only an outside lavatory, shops that were half empty, telephones that only existed for the majority in red boxes a mile away from your home, men who had to labour and toil until they were half dead to scrape a living, and could be fired on the whim of the boss simply because he wanted to save a couple of bob by setting on a younger man to do the same job for half a crown a week less. Yes, they are the old days, and yes, it's good we can remember them, because I doubt if we could cope with living like it today.