Talking about age in the 'wind' thread reminded me about this, which my DH (who is just 4 days older than me) passed on tome the other day


How Old is grandma?

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end. It will blow you away.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events.
The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general..

The Grandmother replied, "Well, let me think a minute, I was born before:
' television
' penicillin
' polio shots
' frozen foods
' Xerox
' contact lenses
' Frisbee s and
' the pill
There were no:
' credit cards
' laser beams or
' ball-point pens
Man had not invented:
' pantyhose
' air conditioners
' dishwashers
' clothes dryers
' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air and
' man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandfather and I got married first, .. .... ... and then lived together..
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir".
And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."
We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege...
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends-not purchasing condominiums.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks, CD's, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam....
Pizza Hut, Mc Donald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.
We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Ford Coupe for $600, . .. . but who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.
In my day:
' "grass" was mowed,
' "coke" was a cold drink,
' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and
' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
' "chip" meant a piece of wood,
' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and
' "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
How old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old lady in mind....you are in for a shock!
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
Are you ready ?????














Grandma is only 59 years old.

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At my mums funeral my neice read a piece she had written and I believe had published in a local book about recycling. In the piece she mentioned how she used to tear up squares of newspaper for the loo, cut up rags for new rugs, the list went on.
It made me think, my mum and her generation lived through a war that forged them into the people they were, but they were individuals who had their heads screwed on right, right from the beginning.

I too was born before computers were the norm, when the hippest thing on the telly was a new fangled programme called 'Top of the Pops' with a man called Jimmy Saville and even back then he looked a plank.
Duffle coats were the bees knees, white socks had trims of lace around the ankle (summer wear only of course). Songs on the radio were innocuos and told stories of a 'swinging on a star', ants punching holes in dams, mice standing on stairs, no swear words, no references to god, unless of course it was a hymn and certainly no scantily clad women gyrating around as if they had just connected themselves into the light socket.
Cars didnt have seatbelts or airbags or crumple zones. Street lights were still called gas lamps, and kids stood on the street corner begging 'penny for the guy' and strangers would stop to admire their handiwork and give them hay-pence or even a penny if they thought it good enough.
Where kids carried knives, not to stab each other with, but to make bows and arrows and whittle away at wood to pass the time.
Where scromping apples from the local orchard was the biggest crime you could ever commit but for which if caught you got a clip round the back of your head by the local bobby and marched down your path for all to see, blubbing like a baby that your mam was going to kill you and she did.

I could go on.

Got asked by the police once if I had a license for my little transistor radio that was sitting in my inside school blazer pocket trying so hard to be heard.

The only thing with your list Xabiachica is when was it written because penicillin was first used in a Sheffield hospital in 1930 and by 1945 hundreds of billions of units were used.

Love the list though and thoroughly enjoyed reading down and was nodding away in agreement.

Oh right - she´s the same age as me!

Either this was written a long time ago and she was born well before 1952, or she lived in some sleepy backwater a long way from civilization. Some of this stuff is just nostalgic fantasy ...

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Read about life in the pueblo: La Vida Alcalaina

Ah, but when you get to a certain age 'nostalgic fantasy' is so much fun compared to reality.

Back in the 1920´s us kids would work the fields in burning heat without water for 12-14hours before being treated to a dinner feast of uncooked carrots or a lump of coal. We had to run 20miles barefeet through the snow and across rivers to get to school. Once we got there we´d be beaten with pitchforks for not being able to recite the old testament, whilst forced to sing psalms to the local population of cows, sheep and farmers. It was much like the spanish classes ive just started taking actually.

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All the best, Morten
Javea Vacation - Holidays in Spain

ha ha ha

bet you can't sing this fast............

Pepe pide pipas y Pepe pide papas,*
pudo Pepe pelar pipas,*
pero no pudo Pepe pelar papas,*
porque las papas de Pepe no eran papas,*
¡eran pepinos!, metió la pata.

to the tune of 'onward christian soldiers'


or I'll beat you with a can of coke

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OOOPS

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All the best, Morten
Javea Vacation - Holidays in Spain

actually when I read your post I thought my dad had managed to work out how to use the computer - that's almost word for word what he used to say to us


& now I find myself saying similar things to my kids

you can SEE the school from our gate - but they still want a lift if it's raining

they don't believe that I genuinely walked 1.5 miles to school in all weathers uphill, carrying all my school books & dragging a bassoon along too - we didn't have a car so there was no other option & anyway that's what everyone did

and my OH had to changes buses & trains twice to get to school - on his own from the age of 10

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