SO VERY TRUE

[Maggie1]

I HAD THIS SENT ME AND THOUGHT YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE IT.

Interesting read for those who think they are on the leading edge of “saving the environment”
In the queue at Tesco's, the young cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologised to her and explained, “Well, we didn’t have that 'green thingy' years ago.”

That’s right, we didn’t have the 'green thingy' years ago. Back then, we returned our milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over again. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the 'green thingy' back then!

A few years ago, we walked up stairs, because there wasn't a lift in every department store and office building. We walked to the grocery shop and didn’t climb into a 200-horsepower machine every time we had to 'pop up the shops'. But she’s right. We didn’t have that 'green thingy' years ago.

Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the disposable kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 240 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Children got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn’t have that 'green thingy' years ago.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of a shed. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used screwed up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn’t start up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working, so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have that 'green thingy' years ago.

We drank from a fountain or a glass when we were thirsty, instead of using a plastic cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade was blunt. But we didn’t have the 'green thingy' back then.

Back then, children walked, or rode their bikes to school, or caught the bus, instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest takeaway.

But that old lady is right. We didn’t have that 'green thingy' years ago.
..And we didn't have ugly, stinking, space-taking, maggot infested wheelie bins either, making our gardens look like a dumping ground on a council estate, or do-gooders turning the 'green thingy' into a religion and warning those that don't follow the rules that they will burn in hell!
Oh, I wish this country could go back to the 1960's when it had proper people in it, doing proper jobs.

[poppydog66]

So true

[Annie]

I recall the 60's quite well too and always say I wouldnt swap the era I grew up in for todays ways . BUT times have moved on and the majority of us have to move as well ,it would take a much stronger person than me to change the way things are done and go back as you say Maggie . I think it would take a catastrophe to happen before life was so simple again

[Maggie1]

Moving to Southern Ireland has taken me back a lot. It is so OLD SCHOOL here. People pass you in the street and say hello and don't mind talking. People here are all family oriantated. Its family first.
A typical example last week we were driving back from the ferry after having a week in UK. An old man waved us down and we could see a funeral was going on. (everything stops for a funeral)The hearse came out of the churchyard and the graveyard was a quarter mile down the road. Behind the hearse were 6 men carrying the coffin and they proceeded to walk to the graveyard. Then we couldn't believe our eyes when 3 to 500 people walked behind the coffin. There was no rush, no police directing the traffic and all done with complete dignity. No honking horns because they couldn't pass and we were stopped a good half hour.
So totally different

[Steve the Gas]

Bang on the money

[secret squirrel]

I think we were all much more contented in the 60`s. People had different expectations of life which were based on reality. When I was married in the 70`s and we set up home, the only thing apart from wedding presents which was new, was our bed. We didnt have items of furnitue on the list, just the things we would need to set up our lives. All our furnitue was second hand and given to us by various members of the family and we were very grateful for it.
My kids wont even consider having second hand stuff and always moan about having no money. I still loiter in charity shops for things. I wouldnt want to be a young adult in todays society, for anything.
You are right Maggie, we were in fact much greener, then, than we are now, and in many ways better for it.
lorna

[Maggie1]

As you say we had nothing. I got married 47 years ago. All we had was what I'd bought for my bottom drawer. As for furniture that was all second hand. When our son arrived we got a second hand pram and cot and his wardrobe was an orange box with a little curtain round the front. One thing was we were happy as we didn't owe anybody a penny and when the wages came in at the end of the week, the rent, electric, gas was taken out and then the rest went on food which wasn't much. One thing it taught me though was how to stretch the pennies knowing I couldn't overdraw in the bank etc like people seem to do nowadays. Cor don't I sound ancient. I remember my Mum talking like this.

[Stig]

A great post! If someone invented a time machine I'd go & live there, with occasional holidays to 1976 and 1985!

I grew up in the 70s and it was a golden time to be a kid in hindsight. We had proper TV & radio programmes for kids, the coolest new toy crazes (space hoppers, pogo sticks, the raleigh chopper) and still safe to roam around freely outdoors. Self sufficiency was a big thing as well - John Seymour's book - I was enthralled by Survivors and the Good Life in equal measure! Felicity Kendall, yum...

At the end of the decade, just in time for me to be a teenager, there was space invaders and punk.

None of the extravagent computers & games & phones my kids go mad about come close to this. I wouldn't like to be young today!

Just pull you up on one thing though - those 60s TVs used hollow state technology and valves are horrendously inefficient users of power. The pizza-sized screen set probably used three times more power than today's 42 inch plazma - and they started a good few fires to boot !

[Maggie1]

We didn't have a telly till 1961, so never saw the Coronation. On the other hand the telly programmes were not on all day so telly wasn't watched that much. Also telly closed down about 10-10.30. When it closed down you had the National Anthem played, then a couple of minutes after the Anthem played a mans voice came over saying don't forget to switch your telly off. Mind you the power used in the little time we watched it, it compensates for all the power thats used today.
Going back to childhood which was in the 40's I remember playing in the bombsites. Going out all day to play and coming home when hungry and making camps, one being in the middle of an enormous bush/tree. Then having a camp fire in the middle and doing jacket potatoes in the ashes. Makes you cringe when you think the tree could have gone up in a flash especially the dry summers we had. Oh memories