Before things were dangerous

All my pictures today were things to go on Ebay or Gumtree as I continue to try to dispose of the contents of my parents' house.
This is the one of obvious interest to fellow blippers - my Dad's Yashica TL Electro and kit. When he bought this (3rd April 1976 - the receipt's still in there), I inherited his Yashica Lynx-2000 compact, which was a massive step up from my Kodak Instamatic. Of course, I coveted the TL Electro, and was allowed to use it. In time the Lynx packed in and I bought an Olympus OM-10 with manual adapter which I loved.
And now here I am putting the TL Electro up for sale. It still works in that it's not jammed, the lens blades still dilate to different apertures depending on the f-stop, but I can't check the metering as I can't get the mercury batteries. I wonder how we managed to stay alive in the days before everything became dangerous.