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This week I am going to take you all on my time machine back to the 1950s, 60s and 70s, to a time when things were so different…and I think, so much better.
Are you ready for this fantastic journey? I know I am!
All of you my age will remember public telephone boxes on almost every street corner, and how great it was when you picked up the phone and there was an actual human being at the other end saying “number please”.
If you were in difficulties there was this friendly human ready to help.
As a boy growing up I could safely walk on my own to school without fear that someone coming towards me might have a knife. I could be with my friends all day at the nearby woods, play in a makeshift camp and be home for tea and be perfectly safe.
If anyone was ill you could telephone the doctor’s surgery and the doctor or nurse would make a house call. If it was more serious there would be an ambulance taking you to hospital where there would be beds – you wouldn’t have to wait for hours for treatment.
And when you did phone the doctor or anyone else you were answered by a human. None of this press one for bla bla and two for diddly twat and kept waiting for hours listening to endless repetitive music, while a recorded message said you are 16th in the queue.
At the doctors you just went into a waiting room, wait until it was your turn and walk in to see the doctor. No taking tickets or having to play with silly machines.
In school a dentist used to visit twice a year to make sure your teeth were OK and if not you went to the school dentist. Thank you for that, I still have my own teeth today. And remember Nitty Nora, the bug explorer, who used to check your hair for nasties!
At school if you did something naughty you might get a clip around the ear from a teacher, or if it was something bad you would be caned in front of the school at Assembly. It taught kids at a young age to behave. And when parents were told their child had received the cane the chances are they would get the same again from dad.
So different from today when parents would go marching into school and run riot against teachers. (I hasten to add I was never caned or even get a clip around the ear).
On the subject of clip around ears, if you were caught doing something silly the likelihood was you would get a clip from a policeman. We were taught to respect the police – and we did.
As a boy my parents got a car – remember the old Austin 10s? I can even recall its registration number. Everywhere we went there were AA or RAC service or telephone emergency boxes, and also mobile patrols and if you were a member with a badge on the front, you got a salute.
If you drove into town there was always somewhere close to where you were going and it was free, even on the high street, and there weren’t any horrible parking meters. And car parks were free too.
People back then had been through a horrible war and society had got used to helping each-other through difficulties. Families also lived closer together; it was almost unheard of for a family member to be living in a different county, let alone a different country or continent.
You didn’t have the distraction of iphones or endless paid for TV channels, and most annoying adverts which repeat every day, bore you to death and encourage you to buy stuff you don’t really want or need. If you wanted to hear the news you watched BBC or listened to the radio.
Back then there was no social media – the only socialising was person to person, so you were spared those horrible comments people would write on their iphones or computers and which cause so much upset, distress and even mental illness today. And, of course, with no internet there were no hackers and people trying to steal your money on-line.
If you had a problem with gas or electricity supplies you went to the local Gas or Electricity Board shop where there was a real person to help and it’s where you paid your utility bills.
Most people didn’t spend all their time in night clubs spending money. It’s amazing how we managed to make one drink last all evening at the coffee bar listening to what was then real music and not the noisy rubbish you get today.
Life was far simpler, there was far less to spend your wages on and that meant it was easier to save enough to get a deposit to put your first foot on the property ladder.
As a teenager it was easy for me to find work – at the age of 14 I walked down the high street asking if I could work in any of the shops. One of the first ports of call was Jo Lyons tearooms who gave me a job clearing tables at weekends and school holidays and I earned cash in hand. Remember those Post Office 6d and 2/6d saving stamps enabling you to save enough to buy a Savings Certificate? I had saved 100 pounds by the time I was 16 – worth more than £3,000 pounds in today’s money.
Teenage years without drugs, with far less violence than there is today and when you went to the cinema the films were nice – like The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins, The Wizard of Oz, My Fair Lady, Singin’ in the Rain and Alfie, to name just a few.
Yes, far nicer times – I really think we grew up during the best years.
Did you enjoy my Time Machine adventure? I did writing it – let’s all go back, do it all again and slow down what is thought to be “progress”.
After reading this my daughter wanted to make a contribution. She wrote:
“We used to off on bike rides with a picnic. Our parents didn’t know where we were, but we were all safe, sensible and returned home at tea time.
“Things have certainly changed for the worse. Although we are blessed with improvements in medical science.
“A boy was a boy a girl a girl… no nonsense about one identifying as a penguin or a llama. We would have been told to shut up, by our peers, and rightly so.”
POLITICIANS REMAIN SILENT OVER ‘FERAL’ YOUTHS
I was recently talking to a UK magistrate holidaying here and he confided in me that almost half of the defendants appearing before his court were immigrants or children of immigrants.
And this is not in a place like London, Birmingham or cities up north, but in the south of England.
He also sits on the juvenile court bench and he is saddened that many of the youngsters appearing there are “feral” – in that they lack any proper parenting or any parenting at all, and are allowed to do virtually what they like. And yes, they are children of immigrants. It’s no wonder that crime is rife in the UK.
My biggest gripe is that these comments are not coming from the mouths of UK politicians, who do their damndest to hide the problems. Problems that should be brought to the forefront of the public – because if they are not, the situation is only going to get worse.
ORIHUELA COSTA’S WASTE CRISIS: WHERE’S THE RECYCLING?
We take recycling seriously. We have a dustbin for paper and cardboard, another for plastic and cans, and a third for bottles. But when we try to empty them in the proper recycling bins we invariably have problems – because the few there are in Orihuela Costa are full and rubbish overflowing into the road and pavement. Obviously little is being recycled.
Yet going over the boundary to Torrevieja it’s a totally different story. There recycling bins are far more regularly emptied and there are far more of them.
Orihuela Council is an absolute disgrace – its interest in the Costa is purely and simply for the money it generates to be spent in the city 35km away. How much better it would be if there was a boundary change and we became part of Torrevieja.
And while I am having a moan, take a long look at the Costa – it’s a total disgrace. Abandoned building plots which look like demolition sites, overgrown community areas and hoardings everywhere. It looks like some kind of sad third world country. Councillors should be ashamed of themselves. Oh yes, and don’t forget the pothole crisis!!
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