Things I remember on a rainy thoughtful morning:
Having school clothes and play clothes.
Having to get up from the chair to change the television channel.
The Fuller Brush man.
Green stamps.
Five and Dime stores.
ESSO not EXXON.
Three channel televisions.
When summer seemed endless.
78 rpm and 45 rpm records.
When penny candy was a penny.
When movies began with cartoons and a serial.
You could repair your own car.
Teachers had the authority of parents.
Most houses didn’t have garages.
Space travel was science fiction.
Men wore hats everywhere.
Pennies were steel.
The washing machine had rollers on top.
Each house had a clothesline.
Air conditioning was open windows and doors in the summer.
Alaska and Hawaii were territories.
People dressed up to travel.
You walked or rode your bike to school.
One gear bikes with big tires.
Each house had a coal bin.
Doctors made house calls.
You picked up the phone and an operator said, “number please”.
Route 66 was the main road across America.
The refrigerator was called an icebox.
Lawns were mowed with push mowers.
Camping in a Baker tent.
Paint was lead based and nobody knew it was harmful.
My Mother would say, “Think of all the starving kids in China”.
Al Jolson, Orson Wells, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Lowell Thomas.
Leftovers were always eaten.
Outhouses at my uncle’s farm.
1 comment:
It may be hard to believe, but, being in my mid 30s (and living in the South, as we seem to always be on the tail end of change here, both good and bad), I recall a good many items from your list. I do recall changing (or tuning) TV. channels, as well as their availability. In my home, we only had access to CBS, NBC and ABC until I was in my teens, and then we added unaffiliated channels, bringing the total number of channels available to five (05). The job of the young was to be the "remote" for the elders. That was an unwritten rule in many of the homes in my area.
I also remember the time when people attended meetings in town, funerals, or houses of worship, the men wore suits (with ties and the elder gentlemen did, in fact, wear their hat) and the ladies wore dresses (elder ladies wore their hat as well, according to season). Decorum was prevalent in my community until my late teens or early 20s, as it seemed to change a great deal when I moved back from college. I surmise that, due to increasing societal pressure, our expectations have steadily been lowered and our toleration for informality has greatly increased. Personally, I am saddened that most of your good list is no longer the norm, but rather the rare exception.
Thank you for posting your list. Take Care and May God continue to bless you and yours.
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