In the line at the supermarket, the cashier told the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bag because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. The former generation did not care enough to save our environment."
She was right, that generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, soft drink bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. They were recycled. Plastic bags were not thought of, the groceries were packed in cardboard cartons that were saved & stacked near the check out, not flattened in a big power chewing press out the back of the store or in a strong brown paper bag with the name of the supermarket on it. Kids made a few pennies pocket money returning the empty bottles & selling all the old newspapers to the butcher shop for wrapping, now the meat has to be wrapped in hygienic white paper.
But they didn't have the green thing back in that customer's day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. They walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two blocks.
But she was right. They didn't have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby's nappies because they didn't have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in a 220 volt energy gobbling machine - wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right; they didn't have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they 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, not a screen the size of a cricket pitch. In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn't have electric machines to do everything for you. When they packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, they used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. They didn't have air conditioning or electric stoves with self cleaning ovens. If it was too hot in the house you went outside for the evening or hung wet sheets across the doorways to cool air as it came into the house and if it was too cold you put on a jumper! They didn't have battery operated toys, computers, or telephones.
Back then, they didn't fire up an engine and burn fuel just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They used hand operated clippers to trim the shrubs. They exercised by working so they didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; they didn't have the green thing back then.
They drank from a glass filled from the tap when they were thirsty instead of using a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people walked or took the bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?
Many of us didn't have a TV at al!!
What do you think...................
Thanks for the memories. You forgot to mention that we warmed the bed in winter with bricks heated in a the fireside oven. Toffees were not wrapped in silver paper .The shopkeeper broke a block of toffee with a little hammer and dropped the pieces into a little bag made from a newspaper. In my village the local farmer delivered fresh milk every morning and evening. Telephones were a rarity, not glued to people's ears as they walk the streets.Somehow we managed to live without computers in every room.
ReplyDeleteBut I suppose Old Stone age man looked askance at the strange ways of the New Stone Age people while they in their turn were puzzled by the antics of the Bronze age.
J.A.L.
.....and in our village many of us grew our own vegetables, kept hens, geese and pigs, trapped rabbits, made our own jam, pickles and stored apples, potatoes, carrots and onions for the winter. My family did. Mother made clothes and knitted all our sweaters and cardigans. Of course, times were hard and the main reason was to save money but we lived very well and were green without knowing it !!! Our entertainment was a once weekly visit to the cinema and a twice weekly visit to the library. In the evening we all sat reading or listening to the radio in front of the one source of heat in the house, a roaring coal fire. ( Did we really use a whole ton of coal a month?) That probably wasn't very green but Thatcher the milk snatcher sorted that out, didn't she?
ReplyDeleteYou are echoing my feelings, both of you. I've just come from a meeting of our Moorends history club, and we were talking about the 30s, 40s and 50s.......and a lot of what's been said, was talked about there. All our waste either fed the cat or went into a bucket to mix with other things for the hens and geese. What could be burned on the fire, was, and newspapers went to the local chippie!
ReplyDeleteI just thought my original post said it as we see it.......in theory....and in practice on the whole.
My daughter and her husband have gone back to the "good old days " and , in addition to teaching, raises chickens on their farm, grow their own vegetables and recylcle anything that can be of use.In the city of Montreal they are now passing a local by-law that allows people in the city to raise their own chickens so maybe common sense will prevail in the end, after all !
ReplyDeleteWe kept hens in the twenties, but started to join the modern age about 1933,got rid of the hens, and unlike my grandmother never had pigs. Did I ever tell you about her pig, a tale of martydom before slaughterdom?
ReplyDeleteWe even got a wireless,in 1936.A home-made one in a kitchen drawer.
My sister who worked at Pilkington's came home elated one day, she had for the first time earned "a green 'un", i.e. a pound note for a week's work.
Progress (which sometimes sems more like regress) doesn't come smoothly.Churchill out in 1945, Thatcher out a generation later. Germany losing the war but coming out as Top Dog in the end. The Decline of the WEst finally in rapid progress.
Where I lived,people started buying cars in 1957. My wife said We've got to have one. I said Nonsense, we don't even own a house yet. So of course we got a car.
In 1960 people started buying televisions. My kids said We've got to have one. I said why?we've got the wireless.
So we got a television.
In 1962 I was going to buy another car,and my kids said not one like last time, we've got to have a red Skylark convertible.like the Grovens. So we got a red convertible, and after that a canary yellow convertible.
I think most of us are thankful that we are no longer young.
Breaking the silence.
ReplyDeleteChildrens rights
Human rights
Poliitical correctness
The chickens have come home to roost.
.
Cries from the sinking ship
ReplyDeleteThieving MPs
Criminal avarice of Bankers and CEOs
Student fees of 9000 pounds a year
Who sows dragons teeth shall reap the whirlwind.
I am at a loss for words! The events were so incredible and horific to watch.
ReplyDeleteHow did this happen??
Horrific too;)
ReplyDeleteJust to see if it's really true that this site has been idle for close on three weeks, or is it my old computer ( using windows 98) that is getting a bit doddery like its owner. What happened to
ReplyDelete...per saecla saeculorum
Fama crescat vox tuorum...??
Apathy.
ReplyDeleteWho cares?
I care!
ReplyDeleteI would hate to see the site fold through apathy. I can think about old friendships and keep my memories refreshed when i visit here.
ReplyDeleteI care too Eileen.
We are up to date in Aussie - we have a turkey for PM!
ReplyDeleteTootle Pip
Ron