Oldies and Fossils

[SirRumpole]

I should have also added, I think we are disconnecting more than connecting as a society from what I mentioned above.

I remember as children if we were doing something wrong, the neighbours would say something.
I don't think people are as confident now to come forward.

We have seen the elderly being bashed, has anyone jumped in to help.

Even the police feel they have their hands tied.

That' s what you get with increasing population density.

No one has the time to get to know all their neighbors so there is much less care about who they are or their welfare.

If governments promoted natural population growth instead of growth by high immigration, the increasing burden of social problems would be eased.

 

[Tink]

I think it is a bit of everything, Rumpole.
Peoples rights, quick to sue, there is probably more.

Things not even thought of then.

 

[sydboy007]

While not as old as some posting in this thred, I do think it was easier to be poor back when I was in school.

Certainly it was still easy to pick the kids from poorer families because they were wearing the no name clothes, but it wasn't as overt as it is today.

Now with the technology bling, and ability for teenagers to be increasingly cruel online, I don't think I'd have liked to grow up in the pressure cooker of today's schools.

The lack of community sense these days I think boils down to over priced housing. It's no longer an option to have a stay at home parent, even when renting, unless one parent is earning over 6 figures.

We seem to have been tricked by Government into thinking the tax cuts they gave us means we have more money in our pockets, but then the user pays principle is rife. Before our taxes would pay for roads and other public infrastructure, but these days it's all about PPPs and full cost recovery, with monopoly style rents going to the connected corporates.

It wont surprise me if the youth of today are having a similar online conversation in 30 or so years.

 

[Tink]

So what does that have to do with helping and respecting others, teachers and authority.

I disagree with you that it would have been easier being poor back then compared to all the help available now.

 

[Julia]

Certainly it was still easy to pick the kids from poorer families because they were wearing the no name clothes, but it wasn't as overt as it is today.

Well, I'm not exactly poor but I wear no name clothes happily and always have. Just never thought of it as an issue at all. If that's the sort of thing you base a life on, there will always be something to make you envious or unhappy.

... ability for teenagers to be increasingly cruel online, I don't think I'd have liked to grow up in the pressure cooker of today's schools.

That will depend on the school, but yes in some instances and definitely online the outright cruelty is shocking in the true sense of the word. I read some of the vituperative, hate filled comments from these kids and can't believe they can be so vicious. Adults also. It's quite horrible.

The lack of community sense these days I think boils down to over priced housing. It's no longer an option to have a stay at home parent, even when renting, unless one parent is earning over 6 figures.

We seem to have been tricked by Government into thinking the tax cuts they gave us means we have more money in our pockets, but then the user pays principle is rife. Before our taxes would pay for roads and other public infrastructure, but these days it's all about PPPs and full cost recovery, with monopoly style rents going to the connected corporates.

Syd, could you consider not turning Tisme's interesting thread into yet another anti-government rant?

So called loss of community spirit may be a characteristic of where one lives. It's alive and well where I live. Perhaps there's a different atmosphere in cities though I found living in a city in NZ even more community focused than suburbia here, and we all worked full time. Sometimes as individuals we need to make the first move - go and talk to your neighbours. Usually there will be a positive response. So what if both parents are working? Ask your neighbours in for a Saturday afternoon drink.

 

[SirRumpole]

Ask your neighbours in for a Saturday afternoon drink.

There used to be some tradition of street parties, but I don't know how that goes down these days with a greater tendency to high density housing and reluctance of police to close down highly used public roads.

 

[basilio]

Probably the most significant change is the amount of contact and relationships we developed with Uncles /Aunts cousins.

As a kid we visited our grandparents house most Saturday nights and there would always be a fair number of uncles/aunts and their kids. Oldies played cards we watched TV.

Sunday was often seeing other relatives. We certainly grew up as an extended family. (Yes we are European..)

The fact that shops were closed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday also helped these family outings.
There was also a lot more innocence in the sense that children/adolescents/adults were far less exposed to completely open community on the internet. Very, very big difference.

 

[noco]

I don't hear of any of you oldies talk about slates, slate pencils and stinking wet sponges to wipe you slate clean...maybe that was before your time.

The head master used the cane if you were sent there by your teacher for bad behavior...6 cuts to the hand of your choice....I only went once....Our 7th grade teacher was a Russian Jew named Kajewski...he made a special strap made of two pieces of leather stitched together about 1" wide by about 18" long...(25 mm x 450 mm )...if you homework was not up to scratch, one would receive the strap down the full length of the hand......if any kid misbehaved, it was across the bare back side.....it was a boys school but nevertheless embarrassing to have it done in front of other kids because that kid would be ribbed about it for days after....I was fortunate enough to avoid that punishment....Those teachers had the fear of God in us kids......today they can abuse a teacher and get away with it......

I was in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago and decided to visit my old school of Buranda and much to my astonishment, all the old class rooms were not being used.....new class rooms had been built...when asked the question why, I was told by one of the teachers who gave me a tour of the school, the old class rooms were too hot.....phew!!!!!!the new ones are all conditioned......We had no air conditioning, no fans only open windows and hoped to hell the breeze would give some relief from the heat.

Many kids went to school bare footed because their parents could not afford shoes.....we never had free milk.....On Mondays when the bread was a bit stale we were given threepence to buy a pie with Holbrooks sauce at the school gate....I used to love Mondays for that reason.

Each morning at 9am we would assemble on the parade ground and sing the national anthem...kids then marched to their class rooms by the kettle drum played by yours truly.

A State Government nurse would arrive at the school at least once per year and would inspect the kids from head to toe......I could never work out why she would open the front of our shorts and look down the inside and still don't know to this day.

Yes....the good old days...can you imagine that sort of caper happening today?

 

[SirRumpole]

They were also the days when milk was delivered in bottles to your door, and Mr Whippy came around at 3pm every afternoon.

 

[explod]

Does anyone remember the old knuckle-bones game. They were little bones that you tossed up and down on your hand, a little before my time, and only vaguely remembered.

The knuckles came from legs of lamb, I think. Mother would save them. One would ballance numbers of them on the back of the hand, toss them and catch in the palm. The winner was who could toss and catch the highest number, I had difficulty after four. The game was generally called knuckles.

 

[explod]

I don't hear of any of you oldies talk about slates, slate pencils and stinking wet sponges to wipe you slate clean...maybe that was before your time

Many kids went to school bare footed because their parents could not afford shoes.....we never had free milk.....On Mondays when the bread was a bit stale we were given threepence to buy a pie with Holbrooks sauce at the school gate....I used to love Mondays for that reason.

Yes....the good old days...can you imagine that sort of caper happening today?

Yes I used a slate from prep-grade but the big memory was the cracks on the back of the hand from a black hooded Nun.

Fortunately Dad was granted a farm in another area and found the State School a much nicer place.

And the hoisting of the flag and acknowledging the King was far better than having the fear of God rammed home.

 

[noco]

They were also the days when milk was delivered in bottles to your door, and Mr Whippy came around at 3pm every afternoon.

No bottles in my early days......milk was delivered to your door and the milkman emptied his gal steel jug into our billy can left on the back steps.....I would say milk bottles came after ww11.

 

[noco]

Yes I used a slate from prep-grade but the big memory was the cracks on the back of the hand from a black hooded Nun.

Fortunately Dad was granted a farm in another area and found the State School a much nicer place.

And the hoisting of the flag and acknowledging the King was far better than having the fear of God rammed home.

Yes I forgot about the flag raising before the singing of the National anthem which was "God save the king".

 

[SirRumpole]

The knuckles came from legs of lamb, I think. Mother would save them. One would ballance numbers of them on the back of the hand, toss them and catch in the palm. The winner was who could toss and catch the highest number, I had difficulty after four. The game was generally called knuckles.

Pig's knuckles perhaps ?

Don't remember those, but the cycle of fads in my day were pogo sticks, yo-yos, hula hoops, spinning tops, then back to pogo sticks.

 

[SirRumpole]

Yes I forgot about the flag raising before the singing of the National anthem which was "God save the king".

The King ? You must be 90 ?

 

[noco]

The King ? You must be 90 ?

Not quite 90 yet...I did get my OBE some years ago though.......I think King George vi died around 1951 or 1952....I know the present Queen Elizabeth11 was crowned on the 2nd June 1953...4 days before I married my first wife on the 6th June 1953....So I was well and truly still at school at school during the King George vi reign.

The 6th of June 1953 was the night the Noosa heads picture threatre was burnt down.

 

[johenmo]

I find that parts of my early years make me nostalgic. Less traffic, a seemingly safer city (though it was possibly just ignorance), less complicated, less expectation re material possessions, we knew our neighbours. I do think extended shopping has helped to eat into family time. The best sense of community came when we lived in a small country town (<1000) but everyone knew what you were doing before you'd even thought about it the first time.

We're heading back in time... I mean, back to Perth for Xmas. When we go back each year I notice the more limited shopping on Sundays. And notice it's slowly changing as people/companies/governments think they need it.
I think life was less complicated and enjoyed my childhood despite a few challenges.
Great thread. Made me think/reflect.
Merry Christmas everyone.

 

[burglar]

Pig's knuckles perhaps ?

Don't remember those, but the cycle of fads in my day were pogo sticks, yo-yos, hula hoops, spinning tops, then back to pogo sticks.

You forgot stilts and 'milo tins with sting'

 

[SirRumpole]

You forgot stilts and 'milo tins with sting'


View attachment 60842

Yes , milo tins with string. A hole in the end, string goes through the hole, two cans joined together to form a "tin can telephone" to the next room.

Also remember little crystal radio sets with no batteries that picked up nearby stations.

 

[Ruby]

It's an old word for feather.

As in, "The pen is mightier than the sod."

It's "The pen is mightier than the sword"