If you type e.g. 1970s Camping into your search bar its mostly small ridge tents or the bigger family ones (frame pole and canvas) in bright colours, I remember staying in a static caravan of the isle of wight and having to get water from a standpipe outside - now even a 2 bed towing has a microwave.
I live in West Wiltshire and lunchtime walks are interesting - some people will always smile and say "Hi" and some people simply won't. Its rural but not completely rural with the housing sprawl.
There's a video of a party at the hall in the village I grew up in from age 9 - it was my Mum & Dads wedding anniversary - so many people from the village were there and all ages - from kids, teenagers, families, older people, all together, apart from my Uncle there can't have been anyone there who travelled more than 10 miles. It was 1988, which doesnt seem that long ago.
If we were to have a party for our wedding anniversary most of the people there would need to be staying overnight somewhere.
If we were going somewhere I seem to remember once Dad popping into a pub and we'd wait in the car outside and eventually he brought us out a packet of crisps then went back in again. The only time we ate out was at weddings and funerals, we'd get fish and chips from the chippy on a Friday night (I usually had fishcakes) after doing the weekly shopping at International/Gateway/Somerfield. Nowadays, theres a brilliantly good Italian restaurant just down the road and lots of other places to eat - and if you dont want to go out everywhere delivers. Our version of a corner store is a Tesco express that sells avocados and nice wine and is open til 1130 at night.
Until I was 9 I lived in tied cottage with rising damp - it was one side of a pair, really quite run down. Since then it was turned into one house and sold five years ago for £850k. I can't afford to live in the village where I grew up. Sadly the large open front garden has now got massive tall evergreen "hedging" which, combined with being right in the middle of the village and opposite other houses who have done the same, makes the whole place look rather oppressive and unfriendly. When I was 9 we moved from tied to council.
Not quite sure what my point is - I don't think the "old" days were particularly good old days once I take off my rose coloured backwards looking spectacles and remember that when I was a kid I didnt have to pay bills, and that whether I am happy now or not is in ME - as for society, some things are better and some things are worse - it'll always be like that. I'm really struck by how much things have changed in such a short time.
Oh...but......I do miss bright coloured tents though!!!!
On the tents, you have a point. They are predominantly green, assumedly to 'blend in'. Ive always thought caravans should be green. Because as fancy as they may be, they are blots on the landscape.
As for childhoods; i think they seemed better because there was less to go wrong, or 'miss'. Most peoples lives were very basic with limited possessions or opportunities. Now 8 year olds have smart phones and go to tai chi classes. Mental.
Yes miss the colours, but have a flag pole As for have things improved, well we leave that for the historians. As for choice of corner shop selling local product or multinational superstore your money.
Same with eating out seaside fish + chips on the prom will always get my vote not over priced pretty dishes in a restaurant.
But then I camp so food cooked outside and eaten in a field is my idea of heaven
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Its funny that the younger generation will look back on today as the good old days in future :-)
....and they may even be able to type "colour" rather than "color" and not be annoyed by the red line that says you've spelt it wrong !!!
Our local shop selling local produce is a very, very good farm shop just down the road. It's brilliant. It sells its own pork from its own pigs, its own veg, local milk (although we refill bottles from Tytherington Milk Station at the Farm College), and also sells oranges, bananas, fish, etc etc, which arent particularly local but well sourced. It falls down in two areas 1) it is blisteringly, blisteringly expensive so is only a regular shopping option if you can afford it and 2) it's not a lot of use if you want loo roll or bleach.
In our little town we have a very good butchers - I dont think the shop itself is enough to keep him going but he does well out of local hotels etc.
Our favourite campsite has no shop at all (I remember when campshops had bacon, eggs, bread, butter, and milk and thats about it).
What's great is you can have nice fish and chips on the beach or a nice meal in a restaurant at the beach (I'm not sure if theres a correlation between the cost of fish and having fishcakes when I was a kid...). Couple of years ago it was absolutely lashing it down and force whatever winds on my birthday and sitting in a nice warm pub with a pint and a plate of scampi was heaven, in 2021/2 we spent New Year in Dorset and fish and chips on a sunny freezing cold beach in West Bay was equally fantastic.
I wonder if the lack of colourful tents nowadays is as much to do with colour stability of polyester fabrics, and simple bulk buying of materials, as it is to do with conservative choices made by purchasers.
I'm not sure how many people would buy a purple tent nowadays (a ford capri in purple I remember), or a yellow tent (renault my uncle had), or a brown one (our reliant robin).
Maybe an increase in choice conversely drives more sensible/boring/safe choices by consumers as they get bewildered by the choice available and run to a safe looking option?
I was too young to understand the camping market in the 1970s but I guess there were fewer brands and less choice?
Back in the day khaki ex Army tent, Green you were in the scouts. Colourful you were on holiday.
Bell tent you were with the grandparents
------------- Yesterday is already a dream and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
I remember back in the 70's the National Trust tried to ban orange tents from their camp sites in the Lake District, preferring green tents that blended into the surroundings.
We still have OH’s Vango Force 10, bright orange canvas, one small tear. If you’re hill walking (he trained with a mountain rescue team), you’re doing proper wild camping after several hours walk in. You need to be visible: it’s harder for the rescue team to find a camouflaged tent. Couldn’t get orange proofing for it, so it’s more subdued colour now, with clear proofing.
You can’t change the past, it is what it is.
Quote: Originally posted by Mitchamitri on 22/2/2022
I wonder if the lack of colourful tents nowadays is as much to do with colour stability of polyester fabrics, and simple bulk buying of materials, as it is to do with conservative choices made by purchasers.
I'm not sure how many people would buy a purple tent nowadays (a ford capri in purple I remember), or a yellow tent (renault my uncle had), or a brown one (our reliant robin).
Maybe an increase in choice conversely drives more sensible/boring/safe choices by consumers as they get bewildered by the choice available and run to a safe looking option?
Definitely! You have only to look back at the once popular colours and busy patterns in clothing and home furnishings to realise that we were all colour blind and confused!
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Missing Bright Coloured Tents!!!!
via mobile 21/2/2022 at 2:11pm
As for have things improved, well we leave that for the historians. As for choice of corner shop selling local product or multinational superstore your money. 
