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trainman
12-02-2010, 20:43
Spooky! That website's a time portal. Open it up and you travel back to 1999. Either that or nothing much has changed in 2999. By the way if anyone is interested in joining the PuG Time Travellers Club, the next meeting will be last Tuesday.

Pinched a&h's comment from another thread in order to ask; if y'all had the facility to travel through time, what moment or period in history (or your perception of the future) would you like to visit? And, if you remained for an extended stay, what would you miss most about our current era?

For myself, I'll have to nip forward a few days to see what my choices were.

Oggwyn Trench
12-02-2010, 20:57
I must admit a fasination with the Iron Age and early Medevial periods , big kid really Hill Forts and Castles , then again i also like Steam Trains so maybe the 30s or for enginering Victorian era , then again for fashion and music the late 60s , but more realistically the early 80s so i could give my teenage self a bit of guidance leading to alot more money/sex :p
From today the Laptop would be a big miss and the huge amount of real ales easilly available , the days of finding a pub selling draught Bass and thinking you`d found heaven are thankfully over

hopwas
12-02-2010, 20:57
Very good question, trainman.

Personally I would go for Victorian era because I simply love Victorian pubs. I would like to see what pub is like in Victorian times and I know it is far more rowdier than now but I would happily join in! :cheers::drinkup::drinkup:

Maldenman
12-02-2010, 21:19
Ta trainman for opening up one of my angst ridden self exploring questions.

As regards life.....yep, I've made mistakes, so change those.

My interests include local history, and I'd love to revisit my local area in snapshots through time, even now digging in the garden and finding a shard of pottery makes me think of people and times gone. My job also reveals stuff from the past......I check out building work, once I dealt with an extension to a shop in Kingston upon Thames, the foundation dig revealed over 20 human skeletons, they were dated back to the 14th century. I love Time Team, and if I could do a job, no pressure etc, it would be along those lines.

As regards revisiting, Victorian London Yes, but I'd go further back in perhaps 30 year slots. I'd need a minder though.

Beyond that, primeval time. Scary but fascinating. I'd need a Star Trek style beam up "Scottie".

hopwas
12-02-2010, 21:24
I'd need a Star Trek style beam up "Scottie".

Interesting about that famous quote "Beat me up, Scotty" is never spoken in any Series or Films..

Finally it was first spoken in the Novel: The Ashes of Eden in 1995..

Sorry but being Star Trek boffin I can't help it!

Maldenman
12-02-2010, 21:34
Hopwas, so not only are you are Tammie fan but a Trekkie too?

hopwas
12-02-2010, 21:40
Hopwas, so not only are you are Tammie fan but a Trekkie too?

Guilty as charged!

Ever since that Star Trek III film, I got hooked... so I can say I am Trekkie

oldboots
12-02-2010, 21:44
Pinched a&h's comment from another thread in order to ask; if y'all had the facility to travel through time, what moment or period in history (or your perception of the future) would you like to visit? And, if you remained for an extended stay, what would you miss most about our current era?

Anytime is good IF you were rich and powerful, mostly the past was shite if you weren't (although if you were born into it you wouldn't mind 'cos you didn't know any better).

My favourite period is the 18th century, great clothes and drunkeness as far as the eye can see, lots of debauchery, red meat and life lived to the full, after the puritanism of the 16/17th century and before the Victorian primness of the mid to late 19th Century. A time when porter at 7% ABV was the drink of the day for 2d a gallon and it was 3d a tumble with a comely wench. A time when Government didn't interfere in the lives of free born Englishmen and tax was a passing inconvenience avoidable if you were rich enough.

What would I miss? drinkable water, cheap health care based on science not an imbalance of your "humours", liberty, equality (sort of) and democracy (sort of), food you can eat and get all the time, policing and an open, more impartial legal system, mass free education, a free(ish) press, life expectancy of more 40 years, need I say more?

Gann
12-02-2010, 21:51
Avoiding the obvious that I'd like to pop forward to next Saturday, get the lottery numbers and then pop back again, it would be Dickensian London for me...

Maldenman
12-02-2010, 22:01
Precisely why the time machine will never exist, otherwise such future lucrative issues would have dealt with it. It would be good though if it got invented and perhaps governments didn't spot it for a while....

trainman
12-02-2010, 22:28
opening up one of my angst ridden self exploring questions.


Wow! How do you sleep Mm?

I was thinking along the lines of City at Newcastle in '68, winning 4-3 to take the title, witnessed, allegedly, by 26000 away fans.
Would miss, as Oggywn pointed out before me, today's wonderful variety of beers, largely available or attainable, including the relatively recent explosion of deliciously hopped golden ales.

I see now, though, that my initial instincts were far too frivolous and that I need to apply myself more correctly to matters of history. Be careful what you wish for though; Victorian times have been mentioned but one might not like the look of things if ditched into the wrong end of some of their skirmishes. Anyone else read GMF's Flashman series? Most un-pc these days, but splendidly researched and jolly good japes. Maybe take them on again in written (vaguely chronological) order.

Tilly-Miss
12-02-2010, 22:48
Very interesting reading thanks guys.

Soup Dragon
12-02-2010, 22:50
I love Time Team



I have been involved in a few of their programmes regarding background documentation and have been to watch them make a programme. They made me laugh once when 'they' contacted one place i used to work, asking if the cathedral was still there

RogerB
12-02-2010, 23:01
I'd just go back a week or so taking the recent newspapers with me. I would then pop out to buy a winning Euro numbers ticket before parking myself in William Hills to make the appropriate correct score bets and watch my winnings start to pile up.

aleandhearty
12-02-2010, 23:56
if y'all had the facility to travel through time, what moment or period in history (or your perception of the future) would you like to visit?

When I was younger (around 12-13) I found out that my grandfather had lost his arm in WW1 and that he'd ninety operations to remove all the shrapnel from his body. However, he died before I had the maturity to ask him about it. On reading Sebastian Faulks' 'Birdsong' it really brought home the horrors he must have seen on a daily basis. I'd like to travel back and see what he actually went through.



My favourite period is the 18th century, great clothes and drunkeness as far as the eye can see, lots of debauchery, red meat and life lived to the full
I'm with you there 'ob'. Have you ever come across 'Squire Haggard's Journal' by Michael Green? It's a parody of a late C18 gentleman's diary. Quite easily one of the funniest things I've ever read. People are dying everywhere from such conditions as 'putrefaction of the tripes' and 'the windy spasms'!

Conrad
13-02-2010, 00:02
I'd like to travel back and see what he actually went through.
:eek:
I think I'd just want to hear his stories, some things I just don't want to see.

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 00:08
I have been involved in a few of their programmes regarding background documentation and have been to watch them make a programme. They made me laugh once when 'they' contacted one place i used to work, asking if the cathedral was still there

I was at one of their digs , strangely it was at a pub , the Kynersley Arms at Leighton near Ironbridge where they found an old iron workings and a waterwheel under the pub , the pub turned them into a visitors attraction , though the pub is now sadly closed

Soup Dragon
13-02-2010, 00:10
Who needs a parody when the original records are so bizarre - i read a policeman's account from 1915, of his fishing out a drowned woman from a canal; he wrote in his report that she was bloated from being in the water for sometime, and that she was fully dressed, except for a hat!

Soup Dragon
13-02-2010, 00:13
I was at one of their digs , strangely it was at a pub , the Kynersley Arms at Leighton near Ironbridge where they found an old iron workings and a waterwheel under the pub , the pub turned them into a visitors attraction , though the pub is now sadly closed

Yes, i remember the programme Oggy. They used us for some of the Staffordshire and the Coventry Cathedral digs. I have been involved in a number of TV things - the funniest was a programme about a haunting of a cottage in Derbyshire. They used a tithe map at Lichfield, spent all day there and cut it all out, except for a passing shot of indexes on the shelves - what a waste

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 00:15
Yes, i remember the programme Oggy. They used us for some of the Staffordshire and the Coventry Cathedral digs. I have been involved in a number of TV things - the funniest was a programme about a haunting of a cottage in Derbyshire. They used a tithe map at Lichfield, spent all day there and cut it all out, except for a passing shot of indexes on the shelves - what a waste

Thats Showbuisness !!!!!!

aleandhearty
13-02-2010, 00:17
:eek:
I think I'd just want to hear his stories, some things I just don't want to see.

On one level you're absolutely right. For me, I think it's morbid fascination combined with a sense of duty. Moving swiftly on, maybe time to toast his health with an Old Pec nightcap.

Soup Dragon
13-02-2010, 00:20
We had Carl Chinn in a while back about how New Invention got it's name (near Willenhall) for a Midlands Today programme and we were used in that Portillo train journeys programme a few weeks back

Darlo Boy
13-02-2010, 00:32
I am in that Carl Chinn piece, working in the History centre. My wife didn't think my shirt look ironed. Price of fame eh!

Soup Dragon
13-02-2010, 00:33
typical - i do the work and you get on the box DB, a bit like Dave and Conrad here:p

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 00:34
On one level you're absolutely right. For me, I think it's morbid fascination combined with a sense of duty. Moving swiftly on, maybe time to toast his health with an Old Pec nightcap.

I was lucky my Grandad was in the RAF in Burma in WW2 and he was a great teller of stories , the wifes Grandad was in the Royal Marines he was attached to an American unit on D Day and would never talk about his experiences untill near his death and then it was only the odd glimpse about 100s of bodies floating on the water ....
On a slightly different tack i used to know an ex German POW who stayed here after the war , he had the index and middle finger missing off each hand , he had served on the eastern front and his fingers had frozen onto the trigger of his machine gun firing at wave after wave of Russian attacks , i used to think it was bollox untill i read a book about it

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 00:36
We had Carl Chinn in a while back about how New Invention got it's name (near Willenhall) for a Midlands Today programme and we were used in that Portillo train journeys programme a few weeks back

We got a New Invention in Shropshire , its Bishops Castle way

aleandhearty
13-02-2010, 00:52
i used to think it was bollox untill i read a book about it

The thing is Oggy, the vast majority of us are totally clueless about what major armed conflict is really like. I'm pleased how the Wootton Bassett tributes seem to have grown into a genuine national admiration and respect for those that serve. However part of me still suspects it's something fleeting and fashionable with elements of hysteria as per Princess Diana's funeral. If that were to be the case it would be truly appalling.

Darlo Boy
13-02-2010, 01:09
typical - i do the work and you get on the box DB, a bit like Dave and Conrad here:p

Looks dear boy, looks.

arwkrite
13-02-2010, 06:36
Would I wish to spend any extended time in the past ? No ,as O.B. put it life in the past was shite unless you were rich and that did not protect you from illness and medicines that rarely worked. There are a few personal things I would like to change if it was possible. The Future does not appear to be any better with a whole lot of global problems which seem to be insurmountable.I do not think it will be the meek who will inherit the Earth.
What does that leave ? Me ,Roger and Trainman milking The Lotteries and bankrupting William Hills. I will settle for that. Enough to make the rest of my life comfortable.

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 09:10
The thing is Oggy, the vast majority of us are totally clueless about what major armed conflict is really like. I'm pleased how the Wootton Bassett tributes seem to have grown into a genuine national admiration and respect for those that serve. However part of me still suspects it's something fleeting and fashionable with elements of hysteria as per Princess Diana's funeral. If that were to be the case it would be truly appalling.

I think your right as soon as the media gets bored with the story it will be forgotten by most
As an intresting aside to this more people lined the streets of London for the Duke of Wellingtons funeral in the 1800s than did for Dianas , and this in the days before mass media and a much lower population

arwkrite
13-02-2010, 09:36
But they did not have the Telly either. We drove from Tring to Bicester on the morning of Diana's funeral and it was weird. The roads were virtually empty, I would say that we saw no more than a dozen vehicles on the entire journey and that may be an over estimamation. Bicester Village was closed and the town deserted so we carried on, finally stopping at a pub somewhere in a Cotswold town for a drink and a meal. I remember the TV showing the hearse stopping at the start of the M1 to remove the flowers from the bonnet and the driver gently placing them at the roadside.A really thoughtfull action. I imagine something similar may have happened when Winston Churchill died but things were much stiff upper lipped in those days.
I do not subscribe to the sainthood of Diana but do think she was in the wrong place at the wrong time .Her life would probably have been happier and longer had she not been picked out as a brood mare for the Royal Family.

Millay
13-02-2010, 13:04
I don’t think I’d go too far back, maybe about 60 years. The post war years seem much more simple than today’s world. People had a more positive outlook on life having come through the war, there was a community spirit, respect for others and people had values based upon a desire to be seen as a good citizen. Those growing up in the 50’s had a great deal to look forward to over the next twenty years, the excitement of colour TV, the expansion of air travel meaning new countries and adventures were open to them, major events like the conquest of Everest and the moon landings, plus of course the thrill of a World Cup winning team. Medical advances including penicillin, anti-biotics and organ transplants helped lead to a better quality of life.

On the other hand that same twenty years gave rise to some of the things that led to problems in today’s society. The proliferation of cars has led to gridlock on our roads, the invention of the microwave and appearance of McDonalds has meant the idea of a family meal has all but disappeared. Credit cards have contributed to debt problems, mobile phones mean we rarely get a moments peace and the World Wide Web, 24-hour television and computer games have resulted in whole generation being in danger of growing up without the social and communication skills to participate in society.

If we look at all of these things, both good and bad, they are things that someone born in 1950 will have embraced as new and exciting, but those born in 2000 take them for granted and see them as a right. I do rather fear for the future so in answer to the time machine question it would certainly be back and not forward.

Sorry, bit of a morose post, the first beer of the day should sort that out.

Conrad
13-02-2010, 15:09
I still haven't thought of a good answer to the actual time machine question, I think though I would go back to ancient Greece. Try and find one of the brief peaceful periods and enjoy the birth of Republic and what would eventually become modern Physics and Chemistry.

arwkrite
13-02-2010, 16:27
Millay I was born in 1950 and perhaps your summing up of the experinces of my generation explain my views. When I started out as a lad the future was an exciting place to look forward to. I should not imagine children of the same age today look to the future with the same excitement.
Now for the depressing bit !Looking back over my life I try to think of one childhood/ teenage dream that I have attained. What is that one thing that I have done to improve the lot of my fellow man ? Well, Nothing. Not one dream attained, not one lasting act for humanity. I have spent 30 years making industrial parts out of alloys that will, most probably,last till the end of time. The metals were designed to be indestructable.
Just as a I get to the point where I should be able to sit back and reap the rewards of my life times work the bottom drops out of the financial industry.Without doubt my generation has had the best to date regarding Health Care and Diet when properly applied. No world wide wars on the scale of WW1 & 2 mean I have had an easy life compared to that of the previous two/three generations. Its no wonder that I don't particularly want to go anywhere else.

runningdog
13-02-2010, 21:26
I'm of the school of thought that there is no way I'd like to live in the past for any extended period whether rich or poor, but I'd love to be a visitor. During my brief period of trying to write for a living I based the plot of my hoped for 'opus grande' on time travel so I've thought about this.
Going back to London during the 2nd WW, would be one target, just to see how my childhood memories stood up to adult life. I'd pay good money to be a witness at events such as the launching of the Queen Mary, to travel on her or any other of the great liners.How about joining the RAF in 1939, learning to fly a Spifire. I wonder, would I go through with it, or take a sickie.
My personal favourite, taking my uncle's Healey Silverstone for a blast round my local roads in the 1950s. Sheer magic.......:drinkup::drinkup:
Anyone know where I can book..........:cheers:

Oggwyn Trench
13-02-2010, 22:02
I still haven't thought of a good answer to the actual time machine question, I think though I would go back to ancient Greece. Try and find one of the brief peaceful periods and enjoy the birth of Republic and what would eventually become modern Physics and Chemistry.

If you need to know any Greek Swearwords , I`m your man

arwkrite
14-02-2010, 00:09
I would not go anywhere without flushing toilets and soft 3ply toilet paper so that would cut down the choice abit.

Pubsignman
14-02-2010, 00:25
If I could go back in time for a limited period, I'd want to be involved in the age of exploration...having a whole unmapped continent in front of you must have been a thrilling and somewhat terrifying experience. If I had to pick one, I'd join Burke and Wills' doomed attempt to get from one end of Australia to the other. With the benefit of my hindsight, it could become a successful mission (i.e. don't eat your camels, don't shoot the natives etc...). But as mentioned by others, it's not an era I'd want to live in for an extended period of time.

My other option would be to go back to 1978, the year I was born, so I could watch The Clash at the peak of their powers.

aleandhearty
14-02-2010, 00:38
My other option would be to go back to 1978, the year I was born, so I could watch The Clash at the peak of their powers.
No need to do that from my point of view. Saw The Clash and The Jam a fortnight apart at Leed University in 1978.(Both brilliant) Also, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs inbetween. Those were the days I used to give RogerB a run for his money! :D

ETA
15-02-2010, 06:56
Would I wish to spend any extended time in the past ? ...
What does that leave ? Me ,Roger and Trainman milking The Lotteries and bankrupting William Hills. I will settle for that. Enough to make the rest of my life comfortable.

Isn't that one of the tenets of "Time Traveller's Wife", used to explain how someone who doesn't have a well paid job lives a millionaire lifestyle?

arwkrite
15-02-2010, 07:42
Isn't that one of the tenets of "Time Traveller's Wife", used to explain how someone who doesn't have a well paid job lives a millionaire lifestyle?

That would bring another set of problems. How would I explain an income with no visible means of support ? An Antique Shop would probably be the best idea and contact in the past with a sort of Fagin type. All those pristine antiques would probably attract attention. What about if you return from the past carrying Bubonic Plague or the future with an unknown desease ? Would you like to be reponsible for the deaths of thousands, maybe millions of people.
This Time Travel lark is bringing more questions than answers, I think I will get on with the present.

Conrad
15-02-2010, 12:19
Not seen the movie yet, but certainly my memory of the book is that he does indeed take advantage of his time travel to advise himself of various sensible investments so that he can have a comfortable life. He can't actually carry anything through time with him though, so his investments are all vaguely legitimate on the surface. My memory is the time travel held together remarkably well, although it was a love story rather than a SF extravaganza (thank goodness, as a rule of thumb avoid Star Trek when it involves time travel, and by extension avoid Enterprise altogether.)

ETA
15-02-2010, 12:36
... avoid Enterprise altogether.)

...although some of the pubs they own are very good. It's the PUBCO that sucks the profits from these fine establishments.

runningdog
15-02-2010, 12:53
...although some of the pubs they own are very good.

Can we have a 'litte giggle' emoticon please, Conrad...:whistle:..........

RogerB
15-02-2010, 12:55
I wouldn't mind going back to yesterday and telling 'Arry not to let Huddlestone take the penalty. :mad:

Conrad
15-02-2010, 12:56
Don't encourage him, anyone would think we are supposed to talk about pubs on this forum. :p

RogerB
15-02-2010, 13:02
Don't encourage him, anyone would think we are supposed to talk about pubs on this forum. :p

I wouldn't mind going back to yesterday and telling 'Arry to send Huddlestone down the pub for the second half.

oldboots
15-02-2010, 16:22
Can we have a 'litte giggle' emoticon please, Conrad...:whistle:..........

one of the forums I sometimes frequent uses the single word "snork" on these occasions. I believe it denotes that snigger through the nose noise rather than a more giggly gee gee gee gee sound.

runningdog
15-02-2010, 19:06
..... "snork" on these occasions. I believe it denotes that snigger through the nose noise rather than a more giggly gee gee gee gee sound.

Works for me...:cheers:..........

ROBCamra
19-02-2010, 11:33
No need to do that from my point of view. Saw The Clash and The Jam a fortnight apart at Leed University in 1978.(Both brilliant) Also, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs inbetween. Those were the days I used to give RogerB a run for his money! :D

Mr County is somewhat changed these days as "he's" known as Jane County.

Saw him and almost every punk band going at the Electric Circus in Manchester.

Who could ever forget his excellent "If you don't want to f**k me, f**k off" or "You make me cream in my jeans"

They don't write 'em like that anymore.

RogerB
19-02-2010, 11:48
Those were the days I used to give RogerB a run for his money! :D

You can check for yourself...

http://www.dodgeworld.co.uk/page5.html

trainman
19-02-2010, 12:03
http://www.dodgeworld.co.uk/page5.html

That's mightily impressive and slightly scary Roger.
Mostly the former.

aleandhearty
19-02-2010, 16:21
You can check for yourself...

http://www.dodgeworld.co.uk/page5.html

Oh FFS! Having also seen your recent beer lists, I think it's fair to say you don't do' moderation' Roger. :notworthy: :notworthy:


That's mightily impressive and slightly scary Roger.Mostly the former.

Even stevens for me! :D