How far have we come in our lifetime?
Discussion
Reading the numerous posts about outside toilets, horrible damp problems, freezing indoor temperatures etc, it's no wonder that the new tower blocks were so popular and well received when they were first built in the late 60s and early 70s. What a difference they must have made, compared to the dilapidated and cramped terraces most of them replaced.
I've never understood the positive nostalgia that people look back on their hometowns and lives. The standard of living in the 80s wouldn't be tolerated now.
Basic houses with single glazed windows and hot air heating.
Houses that stunk of cigarettes and the wallpaper stained yellow.
Someone always landed on dogs dirt during a game of football. Dogs were just left to roam and owners didn't ever pick up poo back then. They let their dogs do their business on playing fields.
A shower or bath was a weekly occurrence as the cost of hot water was significant.
Between the smell of cigarettes, dog poo and once a week showers we must have all stank.
The condition of the streets and cities wasn't great either. It's only once you watch back you realise things weren't what you remembered.
Basic houses with single glazed windows and hot air heating.
Houses that stunk of cigarettes and the wallpaper stained yellow.
Someone always landed on dogs dirt during a game of football. Dogs were just left to roam and owners didn't ever pick up poo back then. They let their dogs do their business on playing fields.
A shower or bath was a weekly occurrence as the cost of hot water was significant.
Between the smell of cigarettes, dog poo and once a week showers we must have all stank.
The condition of the streets and cities wasn't great either. It's only once you watch back you realise things weren't what you remembered.
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?
Certain restricted people from a very narrow sector of society were able to fly on Concorde.Now, we can't.
We used to be able to land on the moon.
Now, we can't.
What progress?
And even more restrictive group got to go to the moon.
We could do all these things now - if we wanted to. We stopped doing these things because we decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Having said that, there are active programmes at the moment to bring back both these capabilities.
StevieBee said:
The job of caring for a child rests with the family, principally, the Mother.
I think that's a bit controversial, and perhaps the persistence of that idea in the face of greater equality of opportunity in the workplace is part of the conflict?StevieBee said:
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.
I'm 49 and my mother always worked. My grandmother did the childcare. There seems to be less of that these days as people move further away from their birthplace - and perhaps less of an expectation of intergenerational care in both directions within families (but still an expectation that the state will pick up the tab for eldercare without inheritance being eaten...)Eric Mc said:
Certain restricted people from a very narrow sector of society were able to fly on Concorde.
And even more restrictive group got to go to the moon.
We could do all these things now - if we wanted to. We stopped doing these things because we decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Having said that, there are active programmes at the moment to bring back both these capabilities.
Certain restricted people from a very narrow sector of society decided they weren't worth doing anymore.And even more restrictive group got to go to the moon.
We could do all these things now - if we wanted to. We stopped doing these things because we decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Having said that, there are active programmes at the moment to bring back both these capabilities.
Driver101 said:
I've never understood the positive nostalgia that people look back on their hometowns and lives. The standard of living in the 80s wouldn't be tolerated now.
Basic houses with single glazed windows and hot air heating.
Houses that stunk of cigarettes and the wallpaper stained yellow.
Someone always landed on dogs dirt during a game of football. Dogs were just left to roam and owners didn't ever pick up poo back then. They let their dogs do their business on playing fields.
A shower or bath was a weekly occurrence as the cost of hot water was significant.
Between the smell of cigarettes, dog poo and once a week showers we must have all stank.
The condition of the streets and cities wasn't great either. It's only once you watch back you realise things weren't what you remembered.
Yes. I was born in the 1970s and grew up in a(n early 1970s) surburb in Merseyside in the 80s-early 90s -households typically had one car, nowadays they have 2-4 and every road is lined with parked cars.Basic houses with single glazed windows and hot air heating.
Houses that stunk of cigarettes and the wallpaper stained yellow.
Someone always landed on dogs dirt during a game of football. Dogs were just left to roam and owners didn't ever pick up poo back then. They let their dogs do their business on playing fields.
A shower or bath was a weekly occurrence as the cost of hot water was significant.
Between the smell of cigarettes, dog poo and once a week showers we must have all stank.
The condition of the streets and cities wasn't great either. It's only once you watch back you realise things weren't what you remembered.
I remember the fathers of some friends from school being on strike from the mines.
One set of grandparents lived in a terraced house -with an outside toilet, a bath in a lean-to in the yard and no central heating- in inner-city Liverpool and I would go for long walks around the city with my granddad. The city was in a bad state and there were still derelict bomb-sites from WW2.
The past wasn't all rosy.
Life is more comfortable for most people nowadays and but that comfort has resulted in some downsides.
Minorities are treated better, on the whole, nowadays
Opportunities for normal, non-wealthy people increased, but may well have peaked in late 1990s-late 2010s (never to reach those heights again).
Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 25th April 12:54
Eric Mc said:
Certain restricted people from a very narrow sector of society were able to fly on Concorde.
And even more restrictive group got to go to the moon.
We could do all these things now - if we wanted to. We stopped doing these things because we decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Having said that, there are active programmes at the moment to bring back both these capabilities.
Hopefully the UK and EU will do to the American supersonic passenger jet programme what the Americans did to Concorde.And even more restrictive group got to go to the moon.
We could do all these things now - if we wanted to. We stopped doing these things because we decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Having said that, there are active programmes at the moment to bring back both these capabilities.
Blimey, some horror stories about upbringings! I was brought up in a 1930's semi-detached in the suburbs. Central heating fitted sometime in the mid-late 70's (at the same time the kitchen was extended). House, garden and the general area look pretty much the same today except the trees are now bigger than the houses.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
This is bizarre. The way most women want to live their lives has changed, they don't want to be domestic servants only. You, Isaac H, have been able to live your life in the manner you choose, why would you say that others shouldn't? There is nothing stopping women having children and working if that's what they want. Sure, in some cases it's problematic, but problems can arise in any domestic set up, and always did. Insisting that women shouldn't work and should stay in the kitchen can cause as many problems as it solves. Societal problems are nothing new and they will always exist. They only change in nature from generation to generation. The chllenge is to find solutions and continuously improve situations, not say right, that's it, it was better in 1954 because it didn't do ME any harm, we're going back to that.I particularly object to the "farming out" comment. Children benefit from socialising with other children, as has been shown by the issues cause during recent lockdowns. Children are starting school without experiencing interaction with other children.
I think perhaps you shouldn't be quite so keen to disparage the choices other make without thinking it through. You're also implying that men are unsuited to raising children and domestic chores, which is equally insulting. Many of us actively want to be involved with child care, child raising and domestic duties also. We don't want a life solely focussed on career any more. I chose to have children and they have enriched my life, by my involvement with their care and upbringing on a equal footing to my wife's. It's enhanced their lives and mine.
I want more women out in the real world, in teh workplace, in government, ain all walks of life. Things improve when that happens.
MC Bodge said:
768 said:
Certain restricted people from a very narrow sector of society decided they weren't worth doing anymore.
Feel free to implement your own supersonic air flight or moon landing programmes.Earthdweller said:
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 doubt a crane driver would back allowed back on site these days after spending his lunchtime in the pub.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 don't think this would be happening now either:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggQyOqqrt7U
Let's drive a tank through a wall into the local park. We'll park it up and leave it there for a while.
That was where I was born and oddly enough I now live near where your video was taken. Whilst it's changed a lot, much of the history and some of the mills are still there. Still used for businesses and of course made into flats now. I've been researching our local history as I find it fascinating and could bang on about it at length. Two mills (Bancroft & Ellen Mill) still run their steam engines once a month I think. Just over the border into Yorks steam trains are still very much alive. It's great to be going about your daily life and hear a steam train setting off from the nearby station or passing by in the countryside.
It would be great to be able to go back and spend a year in other time zones, it would answer the eternal question;
"Were we any happier back then?"
I mean on the whole, not as kids as we were.
I don't think people spend enough time talking to each other these days, it's always 'Sorry i've got go/i'm in a rush/i'm busy'
Possibly because there has been a reversal from expensive materials and cheap labour to the opposite.
I used to run our local history FB page and one thing I could never get people to do was send in current pics so in years to come we would look back on them. It seemed people were just not interested in preserving or capturing the present for the future generations (and themselves) to look back on like we do now.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Well, buddy, I was responding to you (and the guy who posted it orginally come to that) agreeing with a very bald statement that "The job of caring for a child rests with the family, principally, the Mother. It's not something that should be out-sourced." Which is fairly clear and fairly easy to draw conclusions from. There is absolutley no need for child care to be principally the mother's concern, and the question of "out sourcing" as you casually put it is more complex that you make out.
Seeing as you chose not to have children, maybe you aren't the best qualified to hold court on the subject of modern parenthood. Whatever you think you're sure about. As a man I'd rather have been at home for the children, it was an absolute joy to be a parent. It was far more enjoyable than going to work, I can assure you. But equally I'm happy that my children had the opportunity to socialise with other children and learn from other adults as they grew up - even if I'd been a full time at home parent I'd have sent them to nursery too.
Of course there were. But Concorde was never going to sell in sufficient numbers with our without political intereference.
It was a political animal in the first place, funded by two governments who were trying top cosy up to each other at the time.
It was a beautiful aircraft and an engineering triumph (still is) but the likelihood of it making money for its two main manufacturers was always slim to non-existent.
It was a political animal in the first place, funded by two governments who were trying top cosy up to each other at the time.
It was a beautiful aircraft and an engineering triumph (still is) but the likelihood of it making money for its two main manufacturers was always slim to non-existent.
My wife-to-be is 29 and from Lithuania and though she'd described the flat she grew up in, the first time I visited it upset me. Her family don't live there now but still own it.
2 room flat, no shower/bath, toilet across the hall, no central heating just a wood furnace. This was in 90s immediately after Soviet independence. Even now, the farm house she inherited has no gas or running water, it has mains electricity, but to get water you use the well and if you need to lay some cable there is an outhouse. But that is no fun in -15c I can tell you.
The reason it upset me is I grew up in absolute luxury and had no idea such conditions still existed when I was a child. It gave context to all those times my mother said "you don't know how lucky you are".
2 room flat, no shower/bath, toilet across the hall, no central heating just a wood furnace. This was in 90s immediately after Soviet independence. Even now, the farm house she inherited has no gas or running water, it has mains electricity, but to get water you use the well and if you need to lay some cable there is an outhouse. But that is no fun in -15c I can tell you.
The reason it upset me is I grew up in absolute luxury and had no idea such conditions still existed when I was a child. It gave context to all those times my mother said "you don't know how lucky you are".
dundarach said:
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
That takes me back! Worked on Hessle Road for a couple of years 1981 to 1982 and very familiar with the road having lived west of Hull for 21 years from the early 70s . I could tell a few stories .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
Can remember Clive Sullivan Road being built and the lovely smell as you drove down last the fish docks!
Oddly I look back at growing up, born in 1982 and although life is different in my head it's not completely alien.
If I look at purely personal things, music and media has moved on in terms of everything being streamed, no VHS and hardly CDs anymore. But, video games and computers existed when I was old enough to take an interest in them, they've just got better and better. Internet arrived when I was 13-14ish but again wasn't until 2002/3 that it hit it's stride.
Cars have moved on in that they all have aircon and electric windows which were a novelty until about 2000 but I don't recall having a car that broke down etc.
I suspect if I saw a vide of someone driving around in say 1988-1990 it would look different but in my head 2022 doesn't look as futuristic as I'd have anticipated in 1990! haha
If I look at purely personal things, music and media has moved on in terms of everything being streamed, no VHS and hardly CDs anymore. But, video games and computers existed when I was old enough to take an interest in them, they've just got better and better. Internet arrived when I was 13-14ish but again wasn't until 2002/3 that it hit it's stride.
Cars have moved on in that they all have aircon and electric windows which were a novelty until about 2000 but I don't recall having a car that broke down etc.
I suspect if I saw a vide of someone driving around in say 1988-1990 it would look different but in my head 2022 doesn't look as futuristic as I'd have anticipated in 1990! haha
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