Remember

[tommy.irene]

I remember the cheese of my childhood, And the bread that we cut with a knife, When the children helped with the housework, And the men went to work, not the wife..... The cheese never needed a fridge And the bread was so crusty and hot, The children were seldom unhappy And the wife was content with her lot.... I remember the milk from the bottle, With the yummy cream on the top, Our dinner came hot from the oven, And not from the fridge; in the shop..... The kids were a lot more contented, They didn't need money for kicks, Just a game with their mates in the road, And sometimes the Saturday flicks..... I remember the shop on the corner, Where a pen'orth of sweets was sold Do you think I'm a bit too nostalgic? Or is it....I'm just getting old?... I remember the 'loo' was the lavy And the bogey man came in the night, It wasn't the least bit funny Going "out back" with no light..... The interesting items we perused, From the newspapers cut into squares, And hung on a peg in the loo, It took little to keep us amused..... The clothes were boiled in the copper, With plenty of rich foamy suds But the ironing seemed never ending As Mum pressed everyone's 'duds' .... I remember the slap on my backside, And the taste of soap if I swore Anorexia and diets weren't heard of And we hadn't much choice what we wore..... Do you think that bruised our ego? Or our initiative was destroyed? We ate what was put on the table And I think life was better enjoyed. But a huge fact not hereto mentioned In this mushy tale of nostalgic rejoice Is the reason we all “enjoyed” our lot Was that we had NO BLOODY CHOICE!

[icyfroth]

hmmm... nice sentiment, but times have moved on and those times ain't never comin' back, my friend

[lyndal1838]

Yes, times have moved on but they are not necessarily better times now.

Some of us oldies like to remember our youth and the good times we had....when good fun did not necessarily equate to how much money our parents spent on entertaining us.

[zanadoo_56]

I grew up in Canberra.  Most of my friends' fathers (like mine) worked for the public service...it's what brought most of us to Canberra in the first place (that and the added incentive of buying a house with long term but a low interest mortgage).  We were not poor but we were also definitely not rich...but we sure had a good life.

My mother made most of my clothes, I wasn't fussed if any she didn't make were secondhand and it didn't matter what labels the new ones had....and thinking back on Christmasses and birthdays, I got some great presents - not all the ones I asked for but that didn't matter, as long as a couple were on my list. 🙂  A big deal was my first two wheeler bike.  I thought it was fantastic - the fact that it was secondhand with new decals didn't matter.  In fact before I got the bike I used to get around on a two wheel scooter that my father bought from an auction room for $3.  He cleaned it up and put better handlebars on it and it was great.

The school I attended was very good.  Bullying was not tolerated.  Not an official policy like now (no one wanted to involve the nuns in school squabbles!) but it was policed by the students.  If you were mean to someone or someone was mean to you then either you'd be told off by classmates or they would come to your defence.  There were groups of kids - the smart ones, the sporty types etc (I was in the misfits group of course) but 'membership' seemed to overlap.

I had my own bedroom and until my early teens all the furniture in it was secondhand.  Then because Dad was a dab hand at building stuff I got a mixture of brand new bought furniture and shelving units and cupboard alterations done by Dad,  Mum made the new curtains.

I think the best thing about my childhood was the sense of safety.  We thought nothing of coming home from school, and if no one else was home, retreiving the housekey from 'the spot'...or climbing in an open window.  Once in 'civvies' I'd take off on my bike and ride to see friends or just around the suburb.  As long as I was back before dark it was fine.

They were good times.

[bright.ton42]

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@icyfroth wrote:

hmmm... nice sentiment, but times have moved on and those times ain't never comin' back, my friend

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And thank goodness for that.