I called at Asda yesterday, the young rascal on the checkout (after asking me if I needed help with my packing - one tin of soup - I think not - said I. (I refuse to use the self serve tills - because they always fail) The young lady suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment etc. I apologised and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing when I was at school.” The very attractive (non eybrowed) (apart from the permanent marker/tattoo/WTF), said “That’s your problem today. Your generation dont care enough to save our environment for future generations.” She was right about one thing — our generation didn’t have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back when I was at St Pauls Primary and Copley Secondary school…? After some reflection and soul-searching on “Our” day here’s what I remembered we did have…. Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the Gills (the corner shop) on Stocks Lane. The very nice shop owner (with whom my pocket money was spent weekly) sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over again. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have a lift in every shop and office building. We walked to the shop and didn’t climb into a 3.5 litre 4 x4 every time we had to go next door to borrow a cup of sugar. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day. Back then, my mum (grandparents) washed my brother’s nappys because we didn’t have the throw-away Asda / Aldi kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days on Stocks Lane and Grey Street. I got got hand-me-down clothes from my sister, (only joking) as you know - Robert is my brother - ---- We very rarely had brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, and a 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 Tameside - (I do remember getting colour for the first time and watching Dr.Who on a Saturday as a ten year old). In the kitchen, we mixed and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we wrapped a fragile item to send in the Royal Mail, we used scrunched up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back in the day, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to The Village to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then. We drank from a hose pipe, or the stream in Cheethams park when we were thirsty, after playing footy for four hours, instead of using a cup, or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and my I bought my Dad razor blades for Christmas to save him throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunt. But we didn’t have the green thing back then. Back then, people walked, took the tram or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums (dads) into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one plug socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest curry house/Chinese/Dominoes. But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we 40+ folks are..... Sorry for reposting....... Im on strike tomorrow - Im a member of the NUT - futile? Possibly? - Probably!!! I know what is right and what is wrong ............ But a few things make VERY--- VERY mad............ Discuss.......
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 01:47:54 +0000
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