a non political return to yesterday by drugsrus48
(libertarian)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Being as old as I am, there are a number of things we (and I mean all of us) used to do that have somehow gone by the wayside. When we stopped and for what reasons seem to be rhetorical questions. I guess it's all in the name of progress, but sometimes we seem to progress a step or two beyond where we need to be. Sometimes it seems that progress has nothing to do with why some things are not done anymore, we just stopped. So in no order of importance or subject these are some of those..
1. When a family member had a cold, remember that old diaper pinned around your neck and VICKS VAPO-RUB smeared all over your chest ? Everybody wore pajamas and bathrobes and you looked as sick as you felt or worse. Everybody had that special pair of slippers, usually a month or two past being worn out that went so well with that "I'm sick" ensemble". After two, to four days Mom would suggest a hot bath would make you feel better. She didn't mention washing out that foul stench you were emitting. While you were sick, you took SAVE THE BABY on a teaspoon of sugar three or four times a day. Man that little bottle never seemed to empty, and it looked as old as mom.
2. If you were sick enough to call the doctor, he actually came over to your house and maybe charged $8 or $10. Two or three nights a week doctors actually made house calls all over town as part of their schedule. And he always carried a bunch of pills in his bag, he sometimes gave mom a small bottle with the instructions "take a couple of these about three or four times a day, he/she ll be alright in a couple of days".
And we got better
3. Does anybody order a new car anymore ????? Remember when the dealers only had a few new ones on the lot ? Dad got with the salesman and went through the list of models, options and colors, picked out just what he wanted, and in about a month your new car was there. Special order, just for you, with no additional price for being so special.
4. And how about the great week of new car debuts.! ? Usually sometime in early October, the new models arrived at the dealer on a special day. If you were lucky, you knew somebody that worked at the place and you could get a sneak peek in the evening a couple of days early. Some people had already purchased a "new" car, but couldn't take delivery until that day of unveiling. It was always an exciting time of the year. I remember when the Mustang debuted In April. WOW, and for a few months they were known as 64 (even titled that way), way too early to call them 1965s.
5. Someone recently reminded me of what could best be described as "old fashioned spring cleaning" . When all the members of the family helped empty the house onto the lawn, the whole house was cleaned top to bottom, then everything was cleaned and put back, all in ONE day.
6. How about, on any Sunday morning, the local news stand, neighborhood convenience stores, even super markets and drug stores, had tables set up with peoples names written on the Sunday paper. Regular customers who the store owner (or manager) "saved" the paper for. When did this stop????? What ever happened to the local newsstand anyway ? ? You know the place, loaded with newspapers, magazines of all kinds (usually at least one wall full), cardboard displays with combs, nail clippers,, key rings and multi-colored rabbit foot key chains, all kinds of cigarettes, cigars, and pipe tobacco and displays of all kinds of pipes, from $.69 corn cob to $10-$20 beauties, pipe cleaners (those fuzzy wire things), cigarette lighters of all kinds (even the latest fancy Zippo), lighter fluid, flints, and about a billion other important things and doodads. Every town had one. I know some were localized "chains" , the same owner for a store in several towns, kind of like a mini Wal-Mart. The clerks were usually old guys with nicotine stained fingers and a bad disposition. How can you forget a place like that ? And why did they disappear ? ?
7. What ever happened to taking personal pride in a job well done ? For that matter, how about really knowing how to do the job you are being paid to do ? I see a lot of people going through the motions without a clue as to what the assigned task is all about. BUT, on the other side of that, the employer probably doesn't want to pay the person who really knows the job what he/she is worth. So the customer is forced to settle for mediocre as a new professional norm. Kinda makes ya glad to be old.
8. What happened to holidays ??? I don't think there are any observed with the reverence, sense of family, or simple relaxation they were intended for. Most times retail services are merely slowed to the post Blue Law era Sunday pace. (Readers under 40 who don't understand should check trivial history, or ask your parents or grandparents what that all means)
9. Bad weather. Of course we still have it here in the Northeast, but we could do without the hype and scare tactics of the news media (radio and TV). An impending storm (of the winter variety) barely getting started by the afternoon "rush" hour has schools closing at lunch time with no afternoon activities or classes. The unsaid message being " Hurry, get home safely, travel of any kind will be extremely dangerous. So hunker down in the safety of your home for the duration." But everybody is thinking - " ALL RIGHT - I'm outa here early, we can go to the mall and hang out, maybe shop a little, go to my friends (a few miles away, not really within walking distance which is now usually less than 2 or 3 houses down the street) and play some video games." Everything is a perceived catastrophe. There are way too many cloned robots from the old TV show "Lost in Space" -- "DANGER -Will Robinson- DANGER" Short of tornado warnings or other impending seriously life threatening weather, haven't we discovered that Chicken Little was wrong. "Nuff said on this.
10. What happened to the evening paper ? ? Philadelphia had The Bulletin, Allentown, Pa. had the Evening Chronicle and I'm sure most major cities had an evening (or late afternoon) edition published under a different banner than the morning paper. Sometimes by the same publisher, sometimes by a different company, but they were there, with more information on developing stories than the morning paper, different comics, editorials and so on. I know of some small towns where the evening paper has and is still succeeding, and with new technology is coming out near noon with today's news, yup stuff that happened this morning or is going on now. The way I see it, if you watch the evening news on any TV network, the only reason to buy the morning paper is for the comics, puzzles, and editorial content , especially the letters from citizens bold enough to express their opinions and sign their names to them.
11. Has anyone noticed that a sizable portion of today's young people don't drink coffee or hot tea ? Many drink iced tea by the gallon, some may enjoy a cappo-frapa- mocha-chino -latte with whipped cream, at about $4 a shot but a regular coffee flavored coffee, with maybe some cream and/or sugar or sweetener substitute is unthinkable. It's also kind of funny how the young approach tobacco use. They seem to either shun it, or chain smoke cigarettes. Hardly any casual smokers. Not many, if any at all, into cigars, and when was the last time you saw a pipe smoker ? Then there are the "smokeless" users. Not many real chewers ( Redman, Little Yara, etc.), just "snuffers" you know the little round Skoal or Wolfe canister.
Nuff for now, stay tuned for more
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do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
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Posted By: The Indepublicrat
Date: 2010-03-06 23:25:24
Andy Rooney? Is that you?
The Indepublicrat wonders whether the seniors back in your day were just as vocal when bemoaning the loss of their radio serials and the fact that nobody uses bloodletting or leeches anymore to cure all ills. "Why do all the cars these days need six-foot tailfins? What's with all the grease that young folk are dumping into their hair? That Elvis fellow would have been begging in the streets back in the Big Band era. And if somebody got polio in my day it was because God wanted them to walk with a limp or die!"
Every decade is a Golden Age for somebody and a Modern Nightmare for somebody else.
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