It's just the thought that counts and I think that many of are just grateful that we can see another year out and the new one in, in better health than our parents where at our age. Which brings me to the thought what would have our parents and grand parents think if they where to return to the world as it is today ?
MY father, born in 1917, was in the second world war served in Africa mentioned in dispatches and his medals are now in the Sherwood Forrester Museum in Leicester ..
I am comforted by a remark made by natural history expert Sir David Attenborough. He says, it is because humans are compulsive communicators that set them apart from all other creatures. This set me wondering. Of all the modern aids that make our lives better, which ones would our parents have liked the most? Most never really got to grips with the internet even if they were aware of it. Oh, how my dad would have loved the internet. I am now my own BBC. From my keyboard, I can and do talk nation unto nation.
This morning, the first thing I did was handle personal mail. I chatted with friends in the Spain. I popped over to Australia, said good morning to my daughters, had a keyboard coffee with Uwe in Bielefeld (Germany) . I read Russia Today, scanned the Daily Mail and BBC, checked out what my locals are doing in Derby.
It is now time for cereal and I will again murmur, ‘I am sorry you were born too soon for the internet, dad.’ For all I know your dad might have been a car enthusiast. I wonder what he would make of today’s cars when comparing them with post-war Morris Minors or the Mini Coopers of the 1960s. Imagine the amazement on grandparents’ faces as they watch a hurricane or earthquake as it happens on the far side of the earth. Take digital photos and share them with the world instantly.
Grandma, when shown a modern kitchen would, perhaps for the first time in her life, be speechless. There would be considerable bemusement that today’s youngsters are largely unaware of how food is grown and harvested. My daughter was an adult when she saw her first sprouts growing. Wouldn’t it be fun to watch grandma’s face as she watches the expression on a young mum’s face when, having asked where the cupboard is, she is directed to the garden and the farmyard?
It was about 1960 when my mum, cycling home in the Nottingham countryside, decided on chicken for dinner. Calling in at a farm she asked for one of the advertised fowl. How her eyebrows shot up when the farmer’s wife, stooped, grabbed a chicken from those milling at her feet, casually snapped its neck and handed the unfortunate bird’s still quivering carcass to mum. Not quite Asda then then.
Our parents probably met at one of the many dance halls and their first date was likely to be a movie. If broke, which was often, then a night in with 45rpm records on a Dansette turntable? A restaurant meal was a rare treat. I wonder what parents would make of internet dating. We live longer but the entertainment isn’t as good. I sure miss those pints of beer at one shilling and three pence and the packet of Park Drive or Woodbines at one shilling and eight pence.
With that I will leave you all , wishing you all a Merry Christmas where ever you are, and good entry in the New Year 2013 .
Till next year Toodle pip Magic.
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