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Friday, June 15, 2012

Do I remember when ....?

Mybabyjohn/Delores wrote Remember when



Well let's consider some of the changes we have witnessed:

We were born before television, before penicillin, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic, contact lenses, frisbees and "the pill". Before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens, pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and long before man walked on the moon.

In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits, or dust balls under the bed, not Volkswagens, or Playboy girls. Designer Jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne, and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins.

We were before house-husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers, and commuter marriages, day-care centres, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters, artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt, and guys wearing earrings.

For us, time-sharing meant togetherness -- not computers or condominiums, a "chip" meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.

In our time, "Made in Japan" meant junk, pizzas, MacDonalds and instant coffee were unheard of.

We hit the scene when there were 5¢ and 10¢ stores, where you bought things for 5¢ and 10¢.

Ice cream cones sold for a few pence for a single or a bit more for a double. For another few pence you could ride a bus, make a phone call, buy a soft drink, or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Holden for £250 (but who could afford one?)..and gas was 12 pence a gallon for regular.

We could recognize the "make and year" of a car from a distance but mostly they are makes long gone and replaced by a whole host of news, some whose names we have trouble pronouncing. Back them we could sit on the running boards, fenders or the bumpers. The bumpers could really withstand a bump.

You could get a FULL breakfast of coffee, juice, 2 eggs, 2 rashers of bacon or 2 sausages, toast and marmalade for the price of coin that you’d probably not even bother picking up off the footpath today.

In our day, cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mowed, coke was a cold drink and pot was something you cooked in. Rock music was a lullaby and aids were helpers.

We certainly were not before the difference between the sexes was discovered, but we surely were before the sex change, we made do with what we had. And we were probably the last generation that thought you needed a husband to have a baby... We got married first, then lived together! How quaint can you be??

It is no wonder the younger generations are so confused and there is such a generation gap today!!

But WE HAVE SURVIVED !!!!  What Better Reason To Celebrate???

8 comments:

joeh said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
JohnD said...

Sorry Joeh - I accidently deleted your comment :) - From memory it was something akin to:
Well pirates did have earrings. It boggles the mind when you list everything.

Actually, I looked at an old post I made on another forum and had deleted a whole lot of content, especially about the different makes,models and useful functions of motor vehicle. lol!

Cro Magnon said...

Ay-Men. Much to be celebrated there!

John Going Gently said...

Jonno!
you are living through a time of huge change!
thats why you are so learned!

JohnD said...

Sitting on the floor with the ear glued to the old HMV radio, jostling my brothers and sisters for the best spot to catch the broadcast through the crackling ethernet -

"... Astride his mighty steed Thunder, rode Red Ryder, a tough cowpoke who lived on Painted Valley Ranch in the Blanco Basin of the San Juan Mountain Range with his aunt, the Duchess, and his juvenile sidekick, Little Beaver, who rode his horse, Papoose, when they took off to deal with the bad guys. ...."

JohnD said...

Ahhh! Days of wine and Roses - drive-in movies, fancy clothes, spiffy lasses! sighhhhhhh!

momto8 said...

considered the greatest generation.

JohnD said...

Well, it was a pretty interesting time and a great period in my life!

"...My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. ...."
Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 - 1965), Speech in Detroit, 7 Oct. 1952