How far have we come in our lifetime?
Discussion
https://youtu.be/SYiaYDEgZ1o
I came across this video of where I grew up which was filmed in the 1970’s when I was a child
It’s so alien to look at today and seems so distant, yet it’s instantly recognisable and familiar
I grew up in one of those terrace houses .. no central heating, no bathroom, bog at the end of the yard next to the coal shed
By the mid 70’s my dad was doing well and we moved to a new build detached house on the edge of cottontown, we had a car although my dad still walked or caught the bus to work
I got the bus to/from school and walked a mile at each end from the bus station to the school and back
We hear talk today of a cost of living crisis .. but watching that video that randomly appeared on my YouTube feed has really made me think how bloody far we have come on and how much wealthier as a society we are now, even up in my beloved east Lancashire where the dark satanic mills and factories are no more
I had to move away to find work when I left school as the unemployment rate was 25% at the time
Really makes you think ( or am I just being a soppy daft arse ? )
Anyway it’s worth a watch
I came across this video of where I grew up which was filmed in the 1970’s when I was a child
It’s so alien to look at today and seems so distant, yet it’s instantly recognisable and familiar
I grew up in one of those terrace houses .. no central heating, no bathroom, bog at the end of the yard next to the coal shed
By the mid 70’s my dad was doing well and we moved to a new build detached house on the edge of cottontown, we had a car although my dad still walked or caught the bus to work
I got the bus to/from school and walked a mile at each end from the bus station to the school and back
We hear talk today of a cost of living crisis .. but watching that video that randomly appeared on my YouTube feed has really made me think how bloody far we have come on and how much wealthier as a society we are now, even up in my beloved east Lancashire where the dark satanic mills and factories are no more
I had to move away to find work when I left school as the unemployment rate was 25% at the time
Really makes you think ( or am I just being a soppy daft arse ? )
Anyway it’s worth a watch
I was born in Glasgow at the fag end of the 60s, but moved down south in 1973.
I watched 'The Hunt For Bible John' on the iPlayer, which was about the Glasgow serial killer who was doing his evil stuff the year I was born.
What struck me was how feckin awful the place was back then. Victorian slums with no windows & raw sewage running outside.
Grim does not begin to cover it. Glasgow was basically still a bombsite from WW2 at that point with a murder rate almost as high as Chicago.
I completely get why my parents moved. The fact that Bible Johns last victim was barely 5 minutes away from where we lived probably helped them make up their minds.
I watched 'The Hunt For Bible John' on the iPlayer, which was about the Glasgow serial killer who was doing his evil stuff the year I was born.
What struck me was how feckin awful the place was back then. Victorian slums with no windows & raw sewage running outside.
Grim does not begin to cover it. Glasgow was basically still a bombsite from WW2 at that point with a murder rate almost as high as Chicago.
I completely get why my parents moved. The fact that Bible Johns last victim was barely 5 minutes away from where we lived probably helped them make up their minds.
Thanks for posting this. I too grew up in similar surroundings. We lived in typical Coronation Street type back to back houses. Even though the conditions were below today’s standards, we loved it and were very happy. My Aunt had a house with a tippler toilet, where after you had used it, you had to go inside and turn the tap on in the kitchen to flush!
Happy days!
Happy days!
In my infant school years I rememeber us all standing in the playground waiting to hear the sonic boom of Concorde being tested. In later years we watched as this incredible aircraft took its wealthy passengers across the Atlantic in a couple of hours. We dreamt of how this innovation would surely lead to us all being able to travel at such speeds within our lifetimes.
Not everything gets better.
Not everything gets better.
When I was diagnosed T1 diabetic, we had no reliable home blood sugar tests. I was issued with a glass syringe and 12 large blunt painful needles. (we were expected to wash and reuse them) and 2 vials of insulin which we mixed in the syringe.
My consultant made a "matter of fact" statement that the health service plan was to keep me healthy through my 40s (my productive years)
I no longer have multiple daily injections, but check blood sugar and adjust insulin levels via an app.
Oh and pretty ice patterns on the inside of the bedroom windows.
My consultant made a "matter of fact" statement that the health service plan was to keep me healthy through my 40s (my productive years)
I no longer have multiple daily injections, but check blood sugar and adjust insulin levels via an app.
Oh and pretty ice patterns on the inside of the bedroom windows.
Sobering and interesting video
I haven't really got anything important to add to the comments so far.
I would point out that with current 'elf and safety rules I think the demolition footage wouldnt be filmed.
More likely the trains would have been suspended/ rerouted for a fortnight
There is a lot of love for some of the old terraced coronation street type houses. Some ~I think is misguided. Some of them are really rather unpleasant cramped places
I haven't really got anything important to add to the comments so far.
I would point out that with current 'elf and safety rules I think the demolition footage wouldnt be filmed.
More likely the trains would have been suspended/ rerouted for a fortnight
There is a lot of love for some of the old terraced coronation street type houses. Some ~I think is misguided. Some of them are really rather unpleasant cramped places
Agreed that lots of infrastructure and things like cars / gadgets are better but financially we seem to be going backwards.
Growing up in the 80s dad was a police constable and mum was a housewife. We had a decent detached house and a newish car and to my knowledge, didn't struggle for money.
Wife and I both have good jobs and are nowhere near the same position as my parents at the same time in their lives. No chance could we afford for my wife to stay home. The house my parents are in is double the value of our semi.
Growing up in the 80s dad was a police constable and mum was a housewife. We had a decent detached house and a newish car and to my knowledge, didn't struggle for money.
Wife and I both have good jobs and are nowhere near the same position as my parents at the same time in their lives. No chance could we afford for my wife to stay home. The house my parents are in is double the value of our semi.
Stealthracer said:
We used to be able to fly supersonically on a scheduled airline flight.
Now, we can't.
We used to be able to land on the moon.
Now, we can't.
What progress?
Supersonic flight was a dead end. Massive fuel consumption and noise from the sonic boom means it only really works on routes that rich people want to travel, and which don't fly over land, which limits the use case significantly. Concorde was a beautiful plane, had it been ugly then no-one would really miss what it gave us.Now, we can't.
We used to be able to land on the moon.
Now, we can't.
What progress?
Having landed on the moon several times, we now send rovers to much more distant places and land on those, like comets and planets. There is even a drone flying around on Mars at the moment. This is still progress - not everything involves moving people around at ever higher speeds.
At the time of the Apollo landings, flying away on holiday was very much the preserve of the rich. Now, all but the poorest can scrape together £50 a head and Ryanair will get them somewhere warm and sunny in a few hours. That's probably closer to progress of the sort discussed by the OP.
Thanks, love things like this.
What's interesting is that this video is from 1985 (I was 13 then) talking about Hessle Road in Hull (which if you're familiar with Hull, it's quite a historic centre).
Anyway, at about 2.30 mins, two ladies talking about how the road has changed, their feelings are the same as my grandma's in 2010 and mine in 2022
Places change, everyone at some point always feels the same!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbP9OUzMHE8
What's interesting is that this video is from 1985 (I was 13 then) talking about Hessle Road in Hull (which if you're familiar with Hull, it's quite a historic centre).
Anyway, at about 2.30 mins, two ladies talking about how the road has changed, their feelings are the same as my grandma's in 2010 and mine in 2022
Places change, everyone at some point always feels the same!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbP9OUzMHE8
In my life
Pros
Connectivity (web/mobile data/IOT and online shopping etc ).
Improved health care - regardless of how we complain about the NHS.
Cheap and easy international travel.
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Safer, faster, cleaner cars
Reduction in crime in certain areas
In the grand scheme of things no major wars (yet)
General cleanliness of the town (edited to add)
Negatives
Death of the high street
Dumbing down of the education system
Become a country of softies - everyone is special
A law against pretty much everything
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Congestion on the roads despite big improvements to the network
Government trying to kill small businesses
No one wants to do a "normal job" any more.
All in all, I think it just about balances itself out.
So I don't think we have actually made much "progress". With every step forward we seem to take a step back some how.
Pros
Connectivity (web/mobile data/IOT and online shopping etc ).
Improved health care - regardless of how we complain about the NHS.
Cheap and easy international travel.
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Safer, faster, cleaner cars
Reduction in crime in certain areas
In the grand scheme of things no major wars (yet)
General cleanliness of the town (edited to add)
Negatives
Death of the high street
Dumbing down of the education system
Become a country of softies - everyone is special
A law against pretty much everything
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Congestion on the roads despite big improvements to the network
Government trying to kill small businesses
No one wants to do a "normal job" any more.
All in all, I think it just about balances itself out.
So I don't think we have actually made much "progress". With every step forward we seem to take a step back some how.
gotoPzero said:
In my life
Pros
Connectivity (web/mobile data/IOT and online shopping etc ).
Improved health care - regardless of how we complain about the NHS.
Cheap and easy international travel.
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Safer, faster, cleaner cars
Reduction in crime in certain areas
In the grand scheme of things no major wars (yet)
General cleanliness of the town (edited to add)
Negatives
Death of the high street
Dumbing down of the education system
Become a country of softies - everyone is special
A law against pretty much everything
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Congestion on the roads despite big improvements to the network
Government trying to kill small businesses
No one wants to do a "normal job" any more.
All in all, I think it just about balances itself out.
So I don't think we have actually made much "progress". With every step forward we seem to take a step back some how.
"Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)" I like what you did there Pros
Connectivity (web/mobile data/IOT and online shopping etc ).
Improved health care - regardless of how we complain about the NHS.
Cheap and easy international travel.
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Safer, faster, cleaner cars
Reduction in crime in certain areas
In the grand scheme of things no major wars (yet)
General cleanliness of the town (edited to add)
Negatives
Death of the high street
Dumbing down of the education system
Become a country of softies - everyone is special
A law against pretty much everything
Joining / leaving the EU (I am not sure which!)
Congestion on the roads despite big improvements to the network
Government trying to kill small businesses
No one wants to do a "normal job" any more.
All in all, I think it just about balances itself out.
So I don't think we have actually made much "progress". With every step forward we seem to take a step back some how.
R56Cooper said:
Agreed that lots of infrastructure and things like cars / gadgets are better but financially we seem to be going backwards.
Growing up in the 80s dad was a police constable and mum was a housewife. We had a decent detached house and a newish car and to my knowledge, didn't struggle for money.
Wife and I both have good jobs and are nowhere near the same position as my parents at the same time in their lives. No chance could we afford for my wife to stay home. The house my parents are in is double the value of our semi.
But is it? Genuine question. I guess I am in a similar position, born in 1980 (probably the "sweet spot", having avoided postwar hardships, oil crisis, 3 day working weeks, etc, and yet had a chance to experience life before the internet), but take a different view.Growing up in the 80s dad was a police constable and mum was a housewife. We had a decent detached house and a newish car and to my knowledge, didn't struggle for money.
Wife and I both have good jobs and are nowhere near the same position as my parents at the same time in their lives. No chance could we afford for my wife to stay home. The house my parents are in is double the value of our semi.
When my parents were first married (1975) the only way they could afford a mortgage was because my dad worked for NatWest, so got a discounted rate. Even then they just scraped by. First sofa was some old cushions, wardrobe was made from unpainted chipboard, ice on the inside of windows in winter, slug trails across the kitchen lino, etc. My mum gave up work to bring me and my sister up, when we started school she did part time cleaning jobs. It was only when we were a bit older she went back into work full time that we had a bit more money, but we never did foreign holidays or stuff like that. Yes they were lucky with house prices, their 4 bed semi with decent sized garden, etc, was bought back in the mid-80's, and they now enjoy a decent pension and plenty of spare cash to enjoy their retirement, but to get there took a lot of sacrifice.
In comparison, I only managed to buy my first house in my 30's. But if I'm honest with myself, if I'd made better financial decisions in my 20's I could have bought somewhere a lot earlier. Instead I bought myself a newish car, had a few holidays, mobile phones, computers, etc. Mrs ZS was even worse, getting into debt with little to show for it. We furnished our first (rented) home together with some hand-me-downs, but were too quick to replace with new stuff rather than make do.
I do sympathise with the younger generation, it is hard to get on the property ladder, but the reality is too many are not prepared to make the sacrifice needed (and which was made by the "oldies who had it easy")
IMO, one of societies biggest gains has also led to one its greatest issues. Gender equality.
Bit controversial this but bear with me.
In the 70s and most of the 80s, mortgages were generally determined on 3.5 x times the main wage earner's salary. This set the price of property which for many looking to own their own home meant that houses were affordable.
As women gained greater equality and access to higher paying jobs (a good thing), mortgages began to take into account both salaries (also good, on the face of it).
But, women at some point in their lives also become mothers at which point, income drops and/or outgoings increase. This places pressure on both husband and wife to continue to work and work harder for longer hours to preserve their standard of living. This has created what the press like to call a Childcare Crisis.
There should not be a Childcare Crisis. The job of caring for a child rests with the family, principally, the Mother. It's not something that should be out-sourced.
A friend of mine runs a chain of childcare centres. Many kids get dropped off at 7am and collected at 6pm. I'm 55 and I think my generation benefited enormously from coming home from school and having Mum there, cooking our teas. The lack of this today, is, I think, eroding much of what's good about family which in turn leads to a drop in long term relationships which then negatively impacts society.
Overall, we've come a long way with gender equality but have done so with little thought to the nuances.
Bit controversial this but bear with me.
In the 70s and most of the 80s, mortgages were generally determined on 3.5 x times the main wage earner's salary. This set the price of property which for many looking to own their own home meant that houses were affordable.
As women gained greater equality and access to higher paying jobs (a good thing), mortgages began to take into account both salaries (also good, on the face of it).
But, women at some point in their lives also become mothers at which point, income drops and/or outgoings increase. This places pressure on both husband and wife to continue to work and work harder for longer hours to preserve their standard of living. This has created what the press like to call a Childcare Crisis.
There should not be a Childcare Crisis. The job of caring for a child rests with the family, principally, the Mother. It's not something that should be out-sourced.
A friend of mine runs a chain of childcare centres. Many kids get dropped off at 7am and collected at 6pm. I'm 55 and I think my generation benefited enormously from coming home from school and having Mum there, cooking our teas. The lack of this today, is, I think, eroding much of what's good about family which in turn leads to a drop in long term relationships which then negatively impacts society.
Overall, we've come a long way with gender equality but have done so with little thought to the nuances.
My mum was born in the late 50's and she remembers her parents boiling water in a pan to put in a tin bath, no central heating, no TV etc.
I was born in the early 80's and remember freezing outside toilets, central heating downstairs only, condensation running down the inside of single pane windows, walking and cycling most places, the internet hadn't been invented, 4 channels on the TV.
My kids by comparison will have a vastly different life experience.
I was born in the early 80's and remember freezing outside toilets, central heating downstairs only, condensation running down the inside of single pane windows, walking and cycling most places, the internet hadn't been invented, 4 channels on the TV.
My kids by comparison will have a vastly different life experience.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
A lot of pubs wouldn't serve a woman on her own either, especially if she wasn't known to the barman. If there was no obvious husband or boyfriend, or at least a group of women together as friends, then that was apparently reason enough to not serve them - a lone woman might be a prostitute.Born in 1959, I remember my grandmother having no telephone or electric appliances, tv/fridge/washing machine/vacuum cleaner.
My great-grandmother lived in a tenement in Edinburgh with no electricity, she had gas mantles for light and cooked on a range fireplace. This was late '60s.
Re Glasgow at that time, it was the height of the violent gang culture where you could get stabbed for wearing the wrong colour tie. My father amazed me one night when we were returning from the cinema. I said 'Dad, you just went through a red light!' and he replied 'If you think i'm stopping at this time of night in Springburn, think again'.
My great-grandmother lived in a tenement in Edinburgh with no electricity, she had gas mantles for light and cooked on a range fireplace. This was late '60s.
Re Glasgow at that time, it was the height of the violent gang culture where you could get stabbed for wearing the wrong colour tie. My father amazed me one night when we were returning from the cinema. I said 'Dad, you just went through a red light!' and he replied 'If you think i'm stopping at this time of night in Springburn, think again'.
Not as far as a lot of places in the Middle East.
It doesn't feel like things in the UK have moved on much to me. And where it has, I'm yet to be convinced it's all moving in the right direction. But I suppose I wouldn't be the first of a generation to feel like that. Give me a flying car I can afford to run and am permitted to and I'll change my mind.
It doesn't feel like things in the UK have moved on much to me. And where it has, I'm yet to be convinced it's all moving in the right direction. But I suppose I wouldn't be the first of a generation to feel like that. Give me a flying car I can afford to run and am permitted to and I'll change my mind.
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