I still remember sitting around before we had television listening to the news on a big Hallicrafters radio in the parlor. When television arrived in St.Petersburg it was a black and white station that only broadcast a couple of hours at a time. There were two newspapers both independently owned. It the sun did not shine for a period of 24 hours the evening paper was free. Coke 6 packs were wooden; not cardboard. Softdrinks were in a continual bath of cold water in their machines. There was no air conditioning. When we finally did get some window units we found that we could not afford the utility bill. No cell phones; only landlines and there was one color option. Black! You could still gig Snook and dig Coquina clams to make soup and net bluecrabs with no one to gripe or call the authorities and "report" you. It was OK to drive on the beach and build a bonfire or spend the night. We still had indian mounds to dig in and woods to explore. Gas was less than 5 cents a gallon and it was fun to watch the little marbles in the glass window of the gas pump whirl around when the gas was pumped. We walked to school and back home. There was no schoolbus if you lived within 5 miles of your school. It was safe to walk in your neighborhood or leave the house unlocked. No one locked their car. Most cars still had clutches and manual transmissions. You could still find pictures of B17's making bombing runs on the wall of homes and gold star mothers plaques in the windows. On trash day you might find piles of Confederate money at curbside where someone had cleaned out the attic. It was accepted practise to hang your clothes on the line and have a vegetable garden or keep a couple of layers. Two large bags of groceries cost less than $10 and ground beef was usually less than 10 cents a pound because it was condered junk and no one would buy it. Same for oleo margarine; it was real butter or nothing. A double ice cream cone was ten cents. Singles were a nickel. My uncle who was a local mover and shaker introduced me to Joe E. Brown at a parade one time, and yes his mouth was "that" big! There was no bridge over Tampa bay from St.Pete to Sarasota so you took the Beeline ferry which cost a couple of dollars. Don't want to go to heaven when I die. Just recycle me to 1947........