The record reminded me of a big old clunky mahogany radio/record player console we had when I was a kid. It had a short wave radio dial on it. I used to try to listen to SW on it. I don't think it would play 45 rpms.
My first record player was a big old table top wooden cabinet also. It just played 78 RPM records and also had the radio. It had a top cover that opened for access to the turntable.
My grandfather left me a Grafanola that looked something like this. It had a secret compartment in the back, the part that would be up against a wall.
Playing cricket with all my mates on the bomb-sites from WW2. Most streets that were bombed had big gaps in the terraced houses, and that's where we played. Our Mams used to give us a big 'glass' lemonade bottle with a screw top full of water .
drive-in movies flying kites glider airplanes you had to put together right or it would split yo-yos tiddlywinks
You remember the Slinky's, a wire coil that you could push off a step and it would bend over and walk down the steps.
Yes I loved the Slinky. But I could never get it to work perfectly like it did in the ad. It would go down 5 or 6 steps.
When I see an old typewriter like that, I can't help but remember James Caan & Kathy Bates in "Misery."
There were seven of us in our family, plus we always had guests for supper on Saturdays and Sundays, and sometimes during the week. I usually went along on the weekly shopping trips (which was the best way of getting treats), and the price was usually from $50-60. Of course, we grew or raised a lot of what we ate, too. My dad farmed, so he had about 250 acres in production. Other than a five-acre garden, he grew the same thing each year, although the crop would change from year to year, cow corn or potatoes being the most common, I think.