What do you miss?

[AshC]

Not feeling like I'm constantly on the clock, whether in work or not. Basically, time not being so aggressive.

[deathrey]

This thread has made me realise how much I miss having free time. I feel like I'm running around and on someone else's clock all the time. I feel like I rush from one thing to another and I'm always trying to squeeze things in - gym on my work lunch break, putting the washing machine on, trying to make dinner whilst playing with the kids as they've been at school/nursery all day, trying to juggle bits of housework between work/kids/everything else. After the kids have gone to bed at 8, I make food for me and by the time I'm sitting down to eat it's nearly 9 and then at 10.30 I intend to go to bed (usually ends up being a bit later because I don't want to move). I have no time for hobbies or anything that I like to do just for me and I miss that. 

I remember as a kid, my dad would get back from work and we would play cricket or football in the back garden till my mum called us in - I now appreciate just how much effort he put in, his job was fairly physical and he had bit of a commute too but no matter how shattered he was, he would make time to play with us. I don't manage that most days, I struggle to fit in time to play a bit of Lego with my boys on a week day. I have all these hobbies I want to take up but have no time to do it.

Edit: Apologies, that was a right moan!

Edited February 10 by deathrey

[DavidB6937]

Moan away @deathrey!

This has all made me realise I miss a lot more than I thought.

It's one of those 'don't know what you've got til it's gone' deals where you absolutely don't appreciate so many things in the moment as much as you should have.

[Jazzy G]

21 hours ago, Gus Mears said:

Fags.

I didn't realise you went to Public school. 

[SaitoRyo]

The thing I probably miss the most is being able to regularly see my friends and family. 

Myself, my wife and our two children live in the Czech Republic, while all of my family members and most of my mates live in the UK (mostly in my hometown of Newcastle). We get back to the UK once or, at best, twice a year, so I do get to see people, and we try to come over for two or three weeks at a time, but it's tough going months without having that time with them. I've had some mates come over for short trips, too, and my folks try and come over once or twice a year, but it never feels like enough.

Don't get me wrong, I know I'm fortunate to have the life I do and I think we, as a family, are much better off here than we would be in the UK (certainly financially and as far as things like having a decent house to live in etc.), but it's not always easy being away from home.

Especially since one of my mates decided to add me to the Newcastle friends Whatsapp groupchat, so I now get umpteen messages a week about potential trips to the pub, restaurants, cinema, football matches and so on. 

I'm glad I play for the local football team and thus have some camaraderie with the lads around here, but I'm approaching 35 and I'm not sure my hamstrings can last too many more seasons... 

Edited February 10 by SaitoRyo

[Wretch]

My attention span. 

At my near forty years of age, I'm just as bad as any teenager or child when it comes to having my head in my phone. I haven't watched a new film in well over a year, as I know I can't stop myself from picking the fucking thing up and doom scrolling or playing games. It's unfathomable to me now that as a teen and well into my early twenties, I'd spend a fair old chunk of my wages on VHS / DVDs and watch them all without interruption. I cannot even imagine doing that now. The only benefit in this regard is that I work in a prison, which phones are a prohibited item obviously, so it sits in a locker off site for nine hours a day. But as soon as I'm home, it's switched back on and I'm not off it until bed time. I genuinely think I have an issue with it. 

Like a sad sack, I'm away with Forest down to Brighton on my own in a couple of weeks time. Because of reasons (mostly having kids), it's not as easy to tap up a mate and see if he wants to go with you. A couple of pints on a Friday requires a month's notice. So yeah, I also miss just knocking on your pal's door and seeing if he'll come the pub or the footy with you. 

Edited February 10 by Wretch

[waters44]

Apparently there was a rubbish one at the Superbowl but I miss the good ol fashioned British streaker.

Nothing better hearing the “weyyyyyyyyyy” bellowing from the living room and running in to see the old man cackling at a pair of balls bouncing along across the football pitch 

I feel like it happened all the time when I was kid but I’m sure that’s just my mind playing tricks

Football, rugby, tennis, snooker - nowhere was safe from the risk of a bare arse interrupting the action. Even Fred Talbot’s floating weather map on This Morning got done

Also want to give a special mention to that bloke who infiltrated the Man United squad photo during a champions league game and also got himself on the podium for the British Grand Prix. More hijinks in sport please 

NSFW

Spoiler

 

[air_raid]

4 hours ago, waters44 said:

I miss the good ol fashioned British streaker.

Erica Roe, row row the boat gently to the shore…

.. anyone who gets that reference will impress me greatly.

[Arch Stanton]

I'm sure you'll all agree that I've won the thread with this suggestion...

Free gifts in cereal boxes.

[SuperBacon]

5 hours ago, waters44 said:

Also want to give a special mention to that bloke who infiltrated the Man United squad photo during a champions league game and also got himself on the podium for the British Grand Prix. More hijinks in sport please

Karl Power! One of those useless football things I'll never forget like how the twat Cantona karate kicked was called Matthew Simmons.

[Carbomb]

53 minutes ago, air_raid said:

Erica Roe, row row the boat gently to the shore…

.. anyone who gets that reference will impress me greatly.

Still would, as well.

[FLips]

My time in Uni where I completely fell off any sort of routine and had very little responsibilities, it was fantastic. I completely stopped following a clock and just went to bed when I was tired and woke up when I felt like it. I'd have no plans for the day, no financial responsibilities other than food and would spent all my time watching the newly launched WWE Network, playing Xbox 360 with my mate across the hall and socialising with my flatmates or going out into town. It was the most peaceful I've ever been, probably the most social too. 
Some nights I'd be up watching NXT and my mate would text me asking if I wanted to play Minecraft or Civilization Revolution and we'd be on that from like 1am to 6am and then I'd go to bed til noon and not feel guilty about it.

When I finished my course and had to move back home and all my flatmates still had a final year, I remember it being really sad. Everyone kind of spread their seperate ways and moved into their own smaller houseshares and then eventually back home. I stayed in touch for a little while but everyone just kinda goes their own way. The final week in the flat it was just me left as I was packing and ready to get back home but everyone else had either went home to their family before the new terms or moved to their new place.  The only person I fully kept in touch with is the lad that lived across the hall who I played Xbox with all the time; I'm the best man at his wedding later this year.

It feels like a lifetime apart but not long after I had moved home for a few months while I worked an evening shift, but then I got onto the dayshift and flat-shared near to work with a lad I worked with. He was canny but a neurotic weed addict with OCD so within a couple of months there I moved into my own flat downstairs in the same building and then not long after that met my now wife.
All in all within roughly a year I went from watching the World Cup with all my flatmates and partying to living alone, working full time and being in the start of dating the woman I would eventually marry and next week will be completing on our own home finally.

I'm thrilled with my life now but god I miss that couple of years with no responsibility or plans. Completely carefree, no financial responsibilities and just all the time in the world to do what I wanted. Shy of winning the lottery I'll never have that again.

[hallicks]

4 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

I'm sure you'll all agree that I've won the thread with this suggestion...

Free gifts in cereal boxes.

Also, cereal box exclusive stuff that you had to collect tokens and then send off for. This fella came out of a loft box the other day:

We used to have the Weetabix World Atlas as well, which I loved and used to pore over the maps. Not sure why I’ve ended up with this as I’m not really into history.

There was also a silver and orange tiger themed mini toy car we had from a Frosties box, it was a beaut. 

[simonworden]

I think I miss having "adventures". Not Bear Grylls island hoping drinking piss etc but just the stupid random activities we used to do that were such a part of the reason my group were all single. Things like getting in the car and driving 50 miles to a pub we'd heard a rumor about it deciding to go on an all night ghost hunt and freaking ourselves out in a countryside churchyard. Random wrestling shows, gigs and all the tomfoolery, sleeping on floors, kebabs that went with it. 

I still see my mates when I'm back home and we planned to have a night doing something at Christmas but two of us were two tired and one had gout. 

Like others have said, I miss those times in my life where I really felt low pressure and free. They came and went for most of my 20s from the first two years of uni, just milling about going with the flow to different times I took a career break to do bar work and then my very first 6 to 8 months in Vietnam where I had the easiest classes and could spend most of each day exploring, meeting new peopme and doing what I wanted.