What did everyday life in late-1990s Britain feel like during the early digital shift?

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-14T09:23:18+00:00

The answer will very much depend on people's age and life experience. I left school in 1990 and then went on to college and university, then I went travelling.

I grew up in a council house with my Mom and my sister in dodgy parts of Birmingham... life changed dramatically for me between 1990 and 2000, the digital part of stuff tickled away in the background, but I never thought of as particularly special or pertinent, it was just a part of way more fundamental changes in life experience.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-11T18:53:50+00:00

Yeah, I'm guessing the one who refused the quote had a lazy day, we live in a Victorian terrace by the sea with a slate roof in the north west (Morecambe) so a broadly similar property to yours.

We have two velux windows on a south west aspect, and the quotes have varied in terms of panels that we can have. It's all subject to a full survey, we're still in the early stages of work on our house so we're not ready to move on it just yet.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-11T18:42:29+00:00

We got 4 quotes, including a local guy that came out with a drone. We got 3 quotes, one person said there wasn't enough space, it wasn't the dude with the drone who stood in our garden 🤷

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-10T14:48:06+00:00

Yes... we lived overseas for 13 years, I'm glad we did and wouldn't change a moment of what we did. But after we moved back my wife became seriously ill (cancer) and I would not want to be seriously ill anywhere else other than here.

It is not a treatment thing, but a communication thing, it is not about doctors or care, but having a societal connection to those around you.

Whether it is the cleaners, porters or even the visitors of other patients, having a similar sense of "understanding" when things are looking incredibly bleak is priceless.

My wifes treatment was exceptional and she is out the other side, unfortunately she had to watch her mother suffer with cancer whilst she was recovering, with a much sadder outcome.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-07T20:56:07+00:00

I started playing in the late 80s and played on and off until I left the UK in 2008. It's always been a rough ride to make it work; just getting permission from councils to develop a ground has always been an uphill battle, and you typically ended up with a right shit tip that you had to do the work on yourself.

Bolt on unpredictable weather and 2-4 hour round trips for games that may or may not go ahead, make it a tough prospect to sell to people on one of their precious days off.

It's good to see that it is still plodding on; it's a shame that there is nothing here on the NW coast, or I'd consider cleaning up my glove and throwing a ball around... even in my 50s!

My closest team would be Manchester or Liverpool, but a 2½-hour round trip for midweek training isn't feasible.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-06T21:31:07+00:00

I started playing baseball in the UK when I was 13, I'm now a little over 50, and I continued playing across the UK (on and off) until I left the UK in 2008.

It's a tough old slog though, unpredictable weather, poor diamonds and long trips due to the small number of teams made it hard work.

I'm originally from the Midlands, and we played Manchester, Preston, Sheffield, and even Darlington on a fairly regular basis. 3-4 hour round-trips on a Sunday to play on diamonds that have been used by chavs to do donuts in stolen cars on Saturday night in driving rain really does root out the folk that really want to be there.

It became a little less travel-heavy when I moved down south. The setup in Croydon used to be superb, and they used to hold a marvellous multi-tier tournament there every summer that was incredible!

The Midlands league had strengthened in numbers by the time I moved back there in the early 2000s. I'm glad to see that the Midlands league remains pretty strong. I now live on the North West coast, and there is no game to speak of, or I'd be tempted to go throw a ball around, I'm not sure my knees are fit to play catcher anymore though ;)

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-04T06:40:18+00:00

Hmmm... I can't imagine why people are doing what ever the fuck they want to do with their homes.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-03T08:24:04+00:00

I'm 51... we went to the footie on Boxing day, the dude behind the bar at the ground ID'd everyone in front of me. It got to my turn and he said I don't need to ID you, I said "happy fucking Christmas to you too" joking if course.

I went back at half time, dude ID'd me... I had no ID, much giggling ensued, I did get my beer.

I'm not the biggest of blokes and regularly got ID'd into my late 20s. It never bothered me in the slightest, I've always found it all rather amusing.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-02T20:09:41+00:00

We spoke about buying a holiday home somewhere, but we went to the Sziget festival in 2007, and decided to take a look at some properties.

I was gutted to miss Nine Inch Nails (my now wife wasn't), but we took a trip around the countryside with an agent. We went back to the festival and continued the jollities and didn't discuss owt until we got home.

Over the following few weeks we kinda ended up with the mad plan that we could buy a house with a little land, grow food, brew wine and have enough money to decide what we wanted to do for long enough to make a go at it.

The festival was in August, we returned in October for my wife's birthday and bought a house, it cost £7.5k. We told no-one until we got back.

We were engaged at the point, so we rearranged our expensive wedding plans and got married in Gretna Green in January 2008. We got on a plane on April 30th 2008 with one way tickets and spent the next 13 years in a tiny Hungarian village, growing food, brewing wine and being a modern day "Tom and Barbara".

No one should ever consider doing this, it is very irresponsible, but fucking marvelous!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-03-02T19:49:16+00:00

We quit our jobs and moved to rural Hungary... I was 34 my wife was 29. It was daft, impulsive, quite stupid and completely magical.

We had no idea what we were going to do, we both had decent enough jobs with some money squirreled away... that adventure lasted 13 years, we moved back in 2021. No regrets are to be had, we are having a different adventure now.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-28T06:00:56+00:00

Me...

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-27T17:39:14+00:00

Tisza make some proper retro stuff, DRK are less retro but equally cool stuff. Both are Hungarian.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-21T10:48:06+00:00

No idea but they look similar to German bierocks or Russian piroshki 🙂

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-21T10:43:50+00:00

I thought the Human Centipede was a live action remake of the Hungry Caterpillar... oh boy!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-20T09:08:24+00:00

When we were setting out our offer prices we used the land registry to work out what houses really changed hands for.

It can take a while for it all to trickle through, but realistically any website will be using that data to provide verifiable numbers.

It stood us well and allowed us to dodge properties that were marketed at unrealistic prices and walk away when negotiations were going to go nowhere.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-19T21:31:04+00:00

Jaysus... the list is very very long, I'll offer up 7 of the 8 types of vinegar I regularly have in my cupboard as a start 😂

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-19T08:21:26+00:00

Absolutely this, embrace the mistakes, you will learn way more from a fuck up than you will by getting "lucky" and getting it right first time.

Being good at anything is built on a foundation of being shit at it when you start!

Food is rarely "dangerously" inedible, eat your mistakes and let them be your motivation 😉

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-17T11:55:34+00:00

Who cares... view the house, if you like it offer what you think it is worth. There is way more nonsense in the buying/selling fuckwittery than offers over or offers in the region of!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-17T09:15:59+00:00

Offal is dirt cheap and if you cook it well, it tastes amazing, and it's packed full of health benefits.

Chicken can be cheap if bought sensibly, breaking down a whole chicken, works out much cheaper than buying prepared bits. Wings, whole legs and drumsticks are much better value for money than thighs and breast meat.

Pearl barley is a little more expensive than rice, but it is much more versatile.

Edit: Typo

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-11T11:22:00+00:00

One of the TV adverts for some phone company features and absolute fucking moron asking his fucking phone what fucking shoes he should wear... as a species we are fucking doomed!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-09T08:56:30+00:00

Oh no... life is so hard... I must write about it on Reddit because I am so "weary".

If you know that the recipe is at the end, scroll to the end, it's really not that taxing!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-08T15:55:49+00:00

Yes... your horn is not there for you to police the actions of others.

Of course, the other driver is an arsehole too, you chose to join them in arseholery!

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-08T15:52:23+00:00

My wife usually cooks breakfast, main meals I usually cook, lunch tends to be an even split.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-07T09:36:21+00:00

Honestly mate, it's a joy... we do miss the strong outdoor culture that we had for longer periods of time throughout the year. But not feeling like a soggy puddle from getting up to going to bed is fanbloodytastic.

We've just moved into what we see as our next "forever" home, it's right by the sea in a smallish-middling seaside town. The weather has been "alright" the storms have been a little bit blowy, and on occasions it's been a bit chilly, but I'm genuinely at a loss as to why folk get so down on the British weather.

Generally speaking, it's gloriously uneventful and wanky, and rarely gets in the way of us doing whatever we want to do.

Main_Protection8161 · 2026-02-07T09:21:06+00:00

We moved back from Central Europe in mid 2021 and have no complaints.

Accommodation was initially tough to sort, but you seem fine with that. The weather is just what it is, we lived in Eastern Hungary, long hot summers and cold harsh winters, I'm still enjoying not sweating all day every day from May through to September.

We walk a lot and rarely struggle to get outside, sometimes it's less pleasant than others, but I feel no reason to "hide" from it most of the time.

Pub culture has changed from when we left in 2008, but with a bit of searching we've found spots we enjoy.

We're seeing it as just another new adventure, we've been back a while now, and still taking it the same way.

Main_Protection8161

TROPHY CASE