old days

In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days, and he felt a genuine thrill of pleasure when he recognized the red bandana turban of old Aunt Lyddy, the ancient negro woman who had sold him gingerbread and fried fish, and told him weird tales of witchcraft and conjuration, in the old days when, as an idle boy, he had loafed about the market-house.

1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter 1, in The House Behind the Cedars

Nevertheless, there were many passengers on the recent special trains to whom the immaculate little 80-year-old "Terrier," No. 32636, formerly Fenchurch, and its two L.B.S.C.R. coaches, recalled nostalgic memories of the old days on the line, when the trains were always spick and span; and days when the Kemp Town branch train was packed to capacity.

1952 December, R. C. Riley, “By Rail to Kemp Town”, in Railway Magazine, page 836

In the old days, hopping onto the platform from a not-yet-stopped train was a commonplace stunt for daily commuters in a hurry.

2025 July 9, Frank Mueller, “Protecting the railway from new and existing dangers”, in RAIL, number 1039, page 62