The 'Green thing'.

[Mr_Squirrel]

Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

 

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

 

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

 

Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household rubbish bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two streets. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

 

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 240 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

 

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 handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Yorkshire

 

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 mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

 

Back then, we didn't fire 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 the green thing back then.

 

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing 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 got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

 

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked 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 computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest McToxicBurger.

 

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

[clarissa]

Seen this somewhere before, but it was far more Americanized.

[Mr Bloke]

Seen this somewhere before, but it was far more Americanized.

You're not suggesting it's been recycled?

[Chris_B_1983]

I recycle, and do my bit.

 

Last month, I got 4 new tyres for the car from Remould Ron. Instead of throwing the old ones in the river, I used them to help light a bonfire in the garden on Sunday afternoon.

 

The 'do gooders' would probably expect me to pay to have them disposed 'properly'.

[clarissa]

You're not suggesting it's been recycled?

 

I was being a little more subtle...

[geared]

Seen this somewhere before, but it was far more Americanized.

 

Can't believe I wasted time reading half of that rubbish.

[cgksheff]

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=We+walked+up+stairs%2C+because+we+didn%27t+have+an+escalator+in+every+store&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

[aliceBB]

The pious style gives it away within the first 3 lines.

[best sheff]

Checking out at the supermarket, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

 

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

 

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

 

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were truly recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

 

Grocery shops bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household rubbish bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling's. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But too bad we didn't do the green thing back then.

 

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two streets. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

 

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 240 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

 

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 handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of Yorkshire

 

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 mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

 

Back then, we didn't fire 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 the green thing back then.

 

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing 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 got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

 

Back then, people took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked 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 computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest McToxicBurger.

 

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

 

Wow, that's some opinion. I couldn't actually bring myself to read it. But hey keeps you active.

[aliceBB]

Not so much an opinion as a droning sermon.