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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's
First, we survived being born to mothers who drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer..
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle...
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and cubbies and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
FOOTBALL and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT
Our teachers used to hit us with straps and sand shoes and bully'salways ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL !
And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore
[ November 10, 2010, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: Jon Butterworth ]
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Sure brings back memories of my Daisy Red Rider BB gun and my Lionel train set. Never did shoot my eye out with the BB gun back then, just waited 70 years for AMD to do the job.
for the memories Bushie.
-------------------- Len Mort Signmaker1.com 11 Juniper Drive Millbury, MA 508-865-2382 "A Good Business Sign, is A Sign of Good Business"(1957) Posts: 811 | From: Millbury, Ma | Registered: Dec 2006
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Ha Ha. I was having a rant about stupid made up names and a fellow commented that I must think he's stupid as well, as his daughters names was (some made up rubbish that I can't remeber now), and I told him straight up, Yep you're and Idiot. He wanted to know why and when I told him, a little light seemed to go on in his head. That child will have to spell out her name anytime that someone is writing it down, for the REST OF HER LIFE.
[ November 10, 2010, 04:24 PM: Message edited by: David O'Hanlon ]
-------------------- Army Dave Oz Posts: 229 | From: Brisbane, Oz | Registered: Feb 2002
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Just missed it Jon, 1928, but yes, been there and done that. Bill
-------------------- Bill Riedel Riedel Sign Co., Inc. 15 Warren Street Little Ferry, N.J. 07643 billsr@riedelsignco.com Posts: 2953 | From: Little Ferry, New Jersey, USA | Registered: Feb 1999
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Yeah Ray, but colour had been around for centuries already.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Sounds a lot like something my grandfather told me way back when I was a kid - ha ha! But....I'm with you.
-------------------- “Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?” -Winnie the Pooh & A.A. Milne
Kelly Thorson Kel-T-Grafix 801 Main St. Holdfast, SK S0G 2H0 ktg@sasktel.net Posts: 5496 | From: Penzance, Saskatchewan | Registered: May 2002
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Well, while you guys all were lucky enough to go play, I had to go work for my dad at his Used Car Emporium. My wages were generally an ice cream cone for several hours of digging grass out of the sidewalk and had to go back into the shop and work for Big Jim and his other African American helpers. My job was with a wad of steel wool to polish bumpers and hubcaps. I respected them cause they knew the drill how to work and they respected me because I guess, I was the Boss's kid.
I watched the guy come in and regroove bald tires with a blow torch and an iron blade thing. I watched the mechanic come in and 'adjust the distributor' (or rather the speedos). I even got to watch the big mechanics gut out an old V8 and repalce the main bearings. I hated getting all that black oil all over me, but was good for fetching tools.
I also learned about every good cuss word by the age of four down at my old man's car lot and my buddies back in the hood looked up to me cause I had the good words. I think I introduced at least three of my fellow pals to the word "F**k", which made me kinda wild. One of the salesmen once told me he was "nervous as a whore in church" which really made me feel he musta been real nervous, not knowing what a whore was. My dad had a motorcycle and I got to ride up front on the tank with him. We would cruise around our suburban neighborhood and I was king of the world!
When I turned seven, My dad bought me a brand spanking new go-kart from Don's Speed Shop. I was the only kid in our neighborhood with one and it was a new one at that. Girls would try to bribe me for rides, but it was strickly a one person rode, painted in 1957 Chevy Cardinal red! I also got to go to Mr. Kelly's Foreworks about a mile away, by myself and spend my hard earned money on 400 packs of Black Cats for one dollar. Cherry bombs were still around (outlawed in '54, darnit) from some hood's Stupidbaker trunk. They cost $3.60 for a half gross. Gosh I loved Cherry Bombs!
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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I can add a few to Bushie's list: Most kids carried a pocket knife by the time they were ten, and naturally we had it at school. Slingshots were common. Baseball was our own affair, not an organized sport supervised by parents, ugh. I'm not sure how widespread the term "rumble seat" is -- an open cockpit on the back of the car where the trunk normally is. My brother and I wd ride in it when we were 5 and 7. Riding in the back of a pickup was also common.
And with all the "improvements" and health consciousness we have now, how come there are now so many kids with asthma, Asperger's (not being sensitive enough to others' sensitivities), and way overweight? And why do so many kids find it impossible to write cursive correctly that the schools now teach a dumbed-down, stupid looking version called Handwriting Without Tears?
-------------------- dennis kiernan independent artist san francisco, calif, usa Posts: 907 | From: san francisco, ca usa | Registered: Feb 2010
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Handwriting without tears? Give me a break. No wonder the Gerber machines were named after baby food.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Preston, google "Handwriting without tears". It will make you despair of all hope for this civilization. Note the warehouses full of "teaching aids" the schools are buying to teach kids how to write.
PS. They havent yet turned their attention to teaching them how to hold a pencil.
-------------------- dennis kiernan independent artist san francisco, calif, usa Posts: 907 | From: san francisco, ca usa | Registered: Feb 2010
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Another thing I've definitely noticed --- unlined white paper tablets, both the 8.5x11 and the 6x9, are almost impossible to find. All my life until a few years ago I would pick them up at the drug store or the stationery store. Now I cant find them. Even at the huge office supply store with a large section of all kinds of paper, none at all. Now they're all ruled. Does everybody need the ruling to guide their writing? Does no one ever draw a picture? Or make a paper airplane?
-------------------- dennis kiernan independent artist san francisco, calif, usa Posts: 907 | From: san francisco, ca usa | Registered: Feb 2010
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Dennis, What a hoot. They have the state handwriting standards for 48 of the states and naturally, Kansas is not there. Guess they figure out here that there are no standards after teching them all about 'evolution'. Can't believe that.
-------------------- Preston McCall 112 Rim Road Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 text: 5056607370 Posts: 1552 | From: Santa Fe, New Mexico | Registered: Nov 1998
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Just as an illustration of times changing, Jon, our little town has a lot of things that have always been appealing to me...southern charm, friendly atmosphere, family owned businesses (that are becoming fewer and fewer),and folks who visit with each other and encourage each other.
Most of the businesses on our (struggling) Main Street are open 8 (or 9) to 5 most days, many are closed on Wednesdays, and at noon on Saturday. None are open on Sunday. This is pretty much how it was in Ohio, when I was growing up.
Last July, as part of my city government training, I went to a conference/seminar on the subject. One of the classes I attended, dealt with the problems of small towns, and their role in the "new millenium". One of the concepts that the instructor dealt with (that totally knocked me off my chair!) was that "67% of all retail sales, today, take place after 6 PM, or on SUNDAY." Think about that!
Our town (and maybe yours too) is totally out of sync with the trends of today. To me, it's not objectionable; but to a Main St. business owner, it could be the difference between success and failure. I don't (in this case) believe that change is always for the better.
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Well, here's some hope for this generation... my kids hve no idea how to use a computer, there's no TV, video games, etc anywhere... but art covers the house, they can cook (the 6 & 7 yr olds anyway), clean, do laundry, they'll talk to you politely, answer questions while actually looking you in the eye, any stick or piece of kindling becomes a sword or gun, bikes are the number one toy/tool, followed closely by real hammers, nails etc. (and when a finger was hit HARD, he learnt about heating a needle and putting it right through the nail to release the blood - my kids are fascinated by First Aid ) School today included anatomy study on a dead deer, my 6 yr old son helped skin it and they will all help cut it down and make it into FOOD tomorrow. Bread comes out of the oven made from real wheat, and if the milk runs out in the fridge they can go outside and milk the goat to get some more. Veges come out of the garden, dirt is a wonderful invention - for playing, growing things, eating, throwing etc. And I haven't bought them any toys because people throw away so much we just cruise the trash dump every now and again to pick up something else Oh yeah - and those Jeeps for kids... mine love pushing those things around (no batteries allowed) Just watch out if you have any electronic stuff - they will tear it to pieces trying to work out how it's put together
-------------------- Karen Stanley Signs & Wonders Amherst, VA Posts: 136 | From: Amherst, VA | Registered: Jan 2007
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for the memories Bushie.
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