For those born before 1940

[kensos]

WE ARE SURVIVORS

We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods. Xerox,contact lenses, videos and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before dish-washers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes...and before man walked on th moon.

 

We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?)

We thought 'fast food' was what you ate in Lent, a 'Big Mac'was an oversized raincoat and 'crumpet' we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.

 

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For us 'time sharing' meant together-ness, a chip was a piece of wood or fried potato, 'hardware-ware' meant nuts and bolts and 'software' wasn't a word.

 

Before 1940 'Made in Japan' meant junk, the term 'making out' referred to how you did in your exams, 'stud' was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and 'going all the way' meant staying on a double-decker bus to the terminus. In our day,cigarette smoking was 'fashionable', 'grass' was mown. 'coke' was kept in the coalhouse, a 'joint' was apiece of meat you ate on Sundays and 'pot' was something you cooked in. 'Rock Music' was a fond mother's lullaby, 'Eldorado' was an ice-cream, a 'gay person' was the life and soul of a party, while 'aids' just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble

 

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder there is a generation gap today...BUT we have survived!

[peterw]

Amen to all that, says he who is 77! What we DID have was a wireless with wires. Bit of an anomoly, I thought. And a wind-up gramophone boasting a huge horn! And the Austin 6, coppers who gave you a clip round the ear, real tramcars from which no-one in Sheffield was more than ten minutes walk away … I could go on, but space forbids it!

[KIWI]

Beautifully put kensos, makes you wonder how we have survived to this new age. But then again,

We could walk down the street at night without getting mugged

We could leave our doors unlocked

We could go out and play with our friends instead of being stuck in front of the t.v. or computer

We could depend on our friends and neighbours and we learn't to respect our elders, we also learn't that we couldn't have every thing we wanted and to make do.

Then came the war and we learn'd how to grieve and to rejoice,we knew how to have a good time without costing a fortune.

Sure, we are survivers and perhaps more by good luck than anything else.

but l'm certainly glad l lived through that era and not in the present one,at least now, l can blame my ignorance of all these technical gadgets on my age.

Good look to the youngsters of today, youve got it a lot harder than we oldies ever had.

Stop the world l want to get off.

[Falls]

Amen to all the above.

 

If you were born before 1940, or no later than 1945, it was into a world without antibiotics or any of the other wonder drugs and surgical procedures that are available now. Just surviving to school age was an achievement. That was without the added threat of the bombing.

 

Even though we only had BBC radio, newspapers and mags like Picture Post and Illustrated, I think that we were better informed than people are today. Of course, there is lot more "news" - so called - now but when you get down to it, and remove all the Hollywood gosip, dog and cat stories,etc, the rest is mostly what people here call "Info -mercials". Actual news here is less than 20 % of the total.

 

No doubt about it, electronics such as computers, etc. have made a tremendous impact and removed a lot of the drugery from the work place. I was more than pleased to put away my slide rule and log tables. It has also cost a lot of people who couldn't or wouldn't adapt, their jobs.

 

Text messaging has also been a god-send to the functionally-illiterate. Their grammar, syntax and spelling errors now generally go unnoticed.

 

One thing that I'm glad I will miss is the full impact of global climate change.

 

So good luck girls and boys.

 

Regards

[Texas]

The only thing I couldn't have done without on your extensive list kensos, is the ballpoint pen. The trouble to obtain and trim a quill was time consuming to say the least. I get to be 70 something in a couple of days or so, and thinking about it, If I'd thought I was going to get this far I would've looked after myself a little better.

[peterw]

The only thing I couldn't have done without on your extensive list kensos, is the ballpoint pen. The trouble to obtain and trim a quill was time consuming to say the least. I get to be 70 something in a couple of days or so, and thinking about it, If I'd thought I was going to get this far I would've looked after myself a little better.

 

Many happy returns for a couple of days or so, and best wishes for your continued future.

[Arfer Mo]

WE ARE SURVIVORS

We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods. Xerox,contact lenses, videos and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ballpoint pens, before dish-washers, tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes...and before man walked on th moon.

 

We got married first and then lived together (how quaint can you be?)

We thought 'fast food' was what you ate in Lent, a 'Big Mac'was an oversized raincoat and 'crumpet' we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.

 

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artificial hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For us 'time sharing' meant together-ness, a chip was a piece of wood or fried potato, 'hardware-ware' meant nuts and bolts and 'software' wasn't a word.

 

Before 1940 'Made in Japan' meant junk, the term 'making out' referred to how you did in your exams, 'stud' was something that fastened a collar to a shirt and 'going all the way' meant staying on a double-decker bus to the terminus. In our day,cigarette smoking was 'fashionable', 'grass' was mown. 'coke' was kept in the coalhouse, a 'joint' was apiece of meat you ate on Sundays and 'pot' was something you cooked in. 'Rock Music' was a fond mother's lullaby, 'Eldorado' was an ice-cream, a 'gay person' was the life and soul of a party, while 'aids' just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble

 

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder there is a generation gap today...BUT we have survived!

arthur 1924 wellput together Kensos

[hazel]

No fitted carpets, so cold feet on the lino, no central heating so ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. no supermarkets and food rationed.

No washing machines so the wash took all day, no clothes dryers so the washing was hung round the fire on wash days. No dyson just a brush and pan. Coal fires that had to be cleaned out. No entertainment on Sundays because it was a day of rest. (no dances, no pictures), No TV, no own transport, no frozen foods, no fruit and veg out of season. No bathrooms for some people and outside toilets too.

And no computer.

 

hazel

[peterw]

No fitted carpets, so cold feet on the lino, no central heating so ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. no supermarkets and food rationed.

No washing machines so the wash took all day, no clothes dryers so the washing was hung round the fire on wash days. No dyson just a brush and pan. Coal fires that had to be cleaned out. No entertainment on Sundays because it was a day of rest. (no dances, no pictures), No TV, no own transport, no frozen foods, no fruit and veg out of season. No bathrooms for some people and outside toilets too.

And no computer.

 

hazel

 

I’m beginning to enjoy this! What we DID have was ha’porth of chips and a penny fish (they filled a large white basin), a travelling last Postal Service on all tram routes and conductors on trams, gas street lamps that gave off heat in winter, shops without shutters in the town centre, houses without burglar alarms, coal fires (upstairs too when you were sick), doctors who visited your home as soon as was humanly possible, hospitals that relied on donations and the Penny In The Pound Scheme from your wages at work, almost full employment, jam tarts at 7 for 6d. (5 for 4d., 4 for 3d., 3 for 2d. and ‘one for nowt — I tried it but it didn’t work, telephone boxes with phone directories that stayed intact (and the boxes didn’t smell of urine), last trams at 2a.m. (the first tram was 3a.m.), and 58 cinemas all showing

different films. More when I think of ’em! And P.S. We DID have washing machines!

[hazel]

Sorry to burst the bubble a little Peter but the glow is still there and you are quite right on the other things but the only washing machine at our house was my Mother and me.

When did you have your washing machine ?

The cold feet and the feather shapes of ice on the windows linger a little with me.

hazel