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Then and now.

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G G Jean

G G Jean

Brummy Wench.
I think when I was a child everything went at a much slower pace. People didn't seem to be rushing about and had time for one another. From what I can remember people were satisfied with their lot. Todays society is so much more materialistic. My nan lived in a back to back in Franchise street and all the neighbours helped one another out in a crisis. I don't think people today mean to be antisocial they just don't don't seem to have a minute to breath. I still think MOST families are close knit like years ago but comunicate by phone and internet rather than getting together as much. I'm lucky the lads have married into two closely knit families and we all get together a few times a year even though they are from down south and Wales. Jean.
 
Rupert - You made a good point regarding the trades and that is affecting a certain group of school leavers here as well. The apprenticeships were valuable and still would be but they are so hard to get into. With most of the schools changing their curriculum to general subjects and no trades classes, it makes things very difficult for some students. Hopefully that is something that will turn around again.
I can see that causing an area to become depressed but the local government should be trying to help.Mo
 
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I hesitate to post a reply to you last post Stitches as I think your mind is made up and you have forgotten how things were in the 40's and 50's.
Mini skirts were in in the 50's and 60's along with stilettos also the net petticoats making climbing bus stairs near to impossible. Every generation has it's styles and if you don't like seeing their boobs don't look.
I have never been a drinker or smoker but I can remember most of the guys going to the pub every night and getting drunk and throwing up, were they happy. They went back the next night.
I'm not sure what you mean about the UK going like the States but I'm sure NAS would be able to comment on whatever you mean since she lives there.
Please read what I wrote, I said it is difficult to have a 'community spirit' in a large city not that you can't.
Toronto is a perfect example of how it can be done. Each area has it's own carnivals, street parties with foods from all the nationalities that live there and it is open to anyone.
Famous for it's community spirit is the Beaches this is just one of the things happening this summer right down town. https://www.beachesjazz.com/
How does it happen, with a positive attitude and all the cultures working together. It can happen in England and does in some areas.

Your overall point was regarding the city being the leaders in the world for workers. Where were you? My nan worked in a factory doing chromium plating. She had a heart condition and ulcerated legs from being on her feet for many hours each day in filthy conditions. Today the western world attacks China for it's working conditions which are probably no worse if as bad as my nan worked in. The Jewelery Quarter was another perfect example of bad working conditions, that has changed with new laws coming in to protect the workers.
I'm sure there are many people on this forum who's relatives died because of the conditions they worked in.
You are entitled to your view but take off your rose tinted glasses and smell the roses, something that would have been hard in the fog of the Industrial Revolution.
 
I was brought up when at the tea table I must ask permission to leave, and that was said with a “Please may I”. Also I was taught never to interrupt others when they were talking. Everything then was please and thank you. Sadly, much seems to be lacking these days

However, having said that we can’t cherry pick only good parts of the past. The Second World War for instance. . . Lives changed forever and not for the better. There was a lot that was bad too.

The world is changing quickly and we have not caught up with the changes let alone begun to adjust to them. Technological advance has meant that the system no longer requires masses of people be born into lives of poverty, ignorance and drudgery just to service the needs of the elite. Everybody can have a decent go at making a fulfilling life for themselves.

Education systems have lost sight of the life of education. Schools now merely provide conditioning for a lifetime of mortgage slavery while promoting an intense competitiveness that will result in many pupils being written off as losers, abandoned to dead end jobs where their resentment will fester

These days discrimination against older workers is out there, and none of us will ever know (for the most part), whether we were discriminated against because of our age! If you're over 40 years of age...you're going to have to deal with it and I don't care who you are!

We can’t live in the past but w can learn from the past and have hope for the future even though it’s hazy .

We live in the present and as the old saying goes ‘Life is what we make it...’ We are each unique so we can enjoy the day, week, years, life by the choices that we make! We can take long walks, paint, fish, shop, read and write. . . It is said too that ‘The best things in life are free’ which give us power to share. .
 
Sorry Keith copied twice, it seems to happen sometimes when I do an edit. Mo
 
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Stitches - I would agree to most of your comments in 'One favourite fact about Birmingham' #81 which is some what different #67.
You are right something has to be done to keep young people both in school and college or university.
As I have said before local governments and community associations have to solve the problems, no individual can do that.
It is always so good to hear of the positive things that are happening in and around Birmingham. Show casing the industrial advances and the innovative spirit of the past which appears to be happening will help the generations of the future remember. Mo
 
My feelings completely NAS.
Because of the number of people in the cities there is an increase in crime and certainly here in the shootings. Not to point fingers but having the many thousands of miles of border with the States guns pour over in exchange for drugs as you know NAS.
Things are just different, many of us will remember being afraid of the Mods an Rockers who had turf wars and you certainly had to stay away from those areas.
As Wendy said in the other thread the Media are to blame for much of the paranoia and impressions of areas that really are not as bad as they portray.
My husband has your concerns NAS, how long can the world accommodate the increased population? He is afraid for the future generations. Mo
 
I just received this from a friend knowing I would remember the things it relates to. If you have Power Point please watch it all as it fits this thread very well.

I'm hoping it works. MoView attachment 15188
 
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NAS,I agree with you entirely, you probably put it better than I did. The only thing I will say about feeling safe is that the Drifter who made the comment about feeling safe in Birminghan was from Philadelphia. He would bring a newspaper with him so I could read what was happenning there. They did a concert in the Bronx and lost the wheels off their ride.
 
Sakura. I do not, and never have worn rose coloured glasses. This country is in such a mess it will take years to put it right. We have people producing hundreds of thousands tonnes of junk mail. 99% of which is never read or wanted. It produces loads of greenhouse gasses yet I must pay more for everything because we are going green. The official estimate is that we have 4,000,000 illegal vehicles on our roads and we pay congestion charges in some areas. We do not have apprenticeships any more because they were free. A learner now has to attend college where he will be taught to do something by someone who has probably never done a proper days work in his/her life. The wages bill and cost of the building used will be enormous but it all adds to the economy do you see. When my son was an apprentice he worked with a tradesman of 30 years experience and he was taught on the job. He now runs his own company and is very successful. Like you said, we are all entitled to our opinion but you seem to think that yours is the right one. I do not say you are wrong. My opinion is different to yours but I am entitled to it. When your grandmother worked in terrible conditions of course it was bad, but she would not get mugged on the way home. The point I made initially was that in general, people were happier and society was far more caring years ago. Finally I know we live longer and have better cars,I.T. and other things but if you really think this sort of community and what goes with it is good, then you need my rose coloured glasses. Do you know that 46% of school leavers can not read or write to an acceptable standard, that was in the news. In a small number of cases teachers are changing nappies on kids up to 7 years old. The vast majority of children starting school aged 5 can not eat with a knife and fork. If you are super rich today you can have a specialist lawyer who will get you through all the loophohes and save you a fortune in taxes. If you are an idle won't work type, or you abuse drugs and or alcohol, then the economic crunch that is coming will not affect you. However if you are honest and working, worse still married with children then things are going to get tough. As I said, I appreciate that some things are better but I am adament that generally people were happier years ago. For forty years in our road when someone died a collection took place. the mourning family could have the money or it could be spent on flowers or given to a hospice or other charity. No one will put to a collection these days.
 
I do think crime is on the rise all over and so are drugs. More in some places than others and more often than not it is younger people who are comitting these crimes.

However, I am glad Norma, that you live in a comparatively safe area compared to the rest of the country. My sister lives in Simi Valley and keeps two guns in her house loaded – one upstairs and one down.

I must say I was shocked when the Supreme Court upheld the Second Amendment that it is o.k for folks to carry a hand gun. I predict after the Supreme Court’s decision there will be an increase in gun violence

Here in Canada we have a hard enough time as it is controlling our borders without making it easier for more hand guns to come in from the U.S.

In truth the average Canadian doesn’t own a gun unless they have a permit for hunting.

Whereas the U.S has a love for the gun and it has become part of the American psyche. I also, think that people have become desensitised to the affects of so many shootings, that these killings are now just part of American life, just like road accidents

It is somewhat strange that the U.S had the will to ban alcohol, and yet can’t bring themselves to ban hand guns.

Since the U.S is the land of litigation I am surprised that no one has taken the government to the courts and sued under the Health and Safety regulations, or for perpetuating a law that allows its citizens to be killed on a regular basis. . .
 
Beryl the thing I don't understand about America is that each state has it's own laws. Nothing to do with me I don't live there but if the country had the same laws in every state no one would have any advantage over another. Bye. Jean.
 
Gee Gee Jean, I did not intend too start all this. All I did was quote what the Drifters Drummer sa to me one night. Sorry.
 
Jean You were right. However, this the Federal Govenment ruling, and it now applies to all States on this particular issue.
 
Different laws Jean - not like the UK eh Jean - oops but then I almost forgot Scotland does have its own legal system.

This has to be the dreariest thread I have read on this site and it shows a vision of the UK that I for one do not recognise.

It was said that there is more crime - then prove it as a lot of what is crime today would have gone unreported if not by the police by the newspapers in the 1930's. Violent crime, including rape, was at a terrible level in the late 1930's but rarely reported. My late FiL and neighbours showed short shrift to a character exposing himself to children in the early 1950's [one donning his footy boots to drive home the point]. Still people claim that "that sort of thing didn't happen in our day"! Nonsense it did but in their day that sort of story did not sell newspapers.

I fear that one can prove almost anything by selectively choosing which papers, statistics or reports to believe. I consider my self to have been very luck as even during my earliest years we never went short as my father came from a farming family. However I would not go back to those early years for all the money in the world. My Grandchildren have a fare better opportunities and future ahead of them that many born in the forties and fifties regardless of apprenticeships.
 
Stitcher nothing to apologise about. I have only contributed twice to this thread and that came to mind about a documentry that was on a few weeks ago. I always feel awkward because I don't live there. I would love to visit the grand canyon and places like that. Mind you they have lot's of rattle snakes don't they?. My son Steve is going to Florida with the karate club for a month in August. They will be travelling around as well. Give me a horse in the desert equipt with water and a guide and I would be happy. Bye, stop worrying stitcher, I was away last week and havn't been following previous threads. Jean.
 
Some things in life are better, some worse. Some countries laws are better than ours, some are worse. Comparisons will always be difficult, and the results will always be subject to personal choice. I think things in life could be a lot better if politicians paid more attention to running their countries than boosting their own popularities and decrying their opponents, but I'm happier to have that state of affairs than be ruled by a power crazed dictator.
 
As you say Norma the size of the country dictates how it is run. All the Provence's of Canada are huge except for the eastern provinces and the same applies regarding the police as in the States. We have Federal Police which are those handsome Mounties, Provincial Police and Regional police. Ours is Durham Regional Police.
We have a Federal Government and each Provence has a Provincial Government. Federal laws apply to everyone.
As peoples lives are very different in some of the Provence's, it could not be done in any other way. I think much is still based on the original English system from when the settlers first came.

And how right you are Lloyd. Mo
 
The truth of the matter is that each one of us who post on this Forum has had different experiences in life both good and bad. . .
We live in the present, and therefore should be concerned with things as they are, rather than as they might be. At the same time facing life without regret for the past or worry about the future. . .
 
Well put Beryl. That's why I have changed my signature. Bye. Off again for a few days to the van. Jean.
 
I tend to look to the future nowadays but will never stop looking back at the good old days as they call them. Jean.
 
Gee Gee Jean, When I say things were better when I was young I am obviously talking about my own personel experiences. Any sort of treat depended on dad getting a bit of overtime in. A Xmas present for one brother was a load of lead soldiers, for the other brother a load of lead indians and for me a fort so we had to play together. This meant we enjoyed being together. Today a child getting an expensive toy means he can show it off and boast about it. My dad was a bit of a fairground boxer and he ensured we could all look after ourselves and each other but it was never really needed. We could travel home on the Night Service bus and not hear a raised voice let alone get mugged or attacked. When I was pre-teens we all sat round the table doing Jig-saws, making model aircraft or painting pictures. Like you, we could not start our meal until dad was seated and we could not leave the table until dad had stood up. Being three boys I supposed we played up at times and we would get a smack for it but I loved my mom and dad dearly and missed them so much when they passed on. Because of the way I was bought up I have always worked and tried to never get involved in anything dodgy. I am sure that my upbringing is the reason I have always enjoyed anything I have ever done. I have some very proud memories of mom and dad and two brothers watching me in the boxing ring years ago. These are but a fraction of the reasons why I say life was more enjoyable for children years ago.
 
Do you know Stitcher my son Pete who has the autistic son takes time off with his daughter Jess and they make models together and she loves jigsaw puzzles which they also do together. When we go over we get the domino's out and have a game. With an autistic child time has to be set aside for the other sibblings. Just having a break from the ironing and looking after Alex [the autistic lad] with the help of grandad. Bye. Jean.
 
Gee Gee Jean, I can't pretend to understand whats involved with an autistic child but I can understand him enjoying the jig saw puzzles. My dad used to get some bendy sticks from the hedge and make a kite. Then he would take us over the park and fly it. When it was time to go home he would give it to the kids who were watching. Dad always mended our boots and cut our hair. All this after working full time, going to work and back on the bus because we did not have a car. And he worked longer hours than is allowed today. He always took us to the onion fair. He was also in the local pub bowling team. I was never much good but I boxed at Wilmot Breedon,Joseph Lucas and the Austin. We would go fishing most weekends. We did not have much but we were very happy. It makes me think the days are shorter now than then.
 
What a great Dad you had stitcher no one can take your memories away!
 
Stitcher did your dad tie a hanky to the kite?. My dad would turn the big light out and hold a torch in front of the beam would make pictures on the wall with his hands. A wolf was the best one. My uncle Norman was a carpenter and he made my cot for me. My favourite thing was making bubbles in the bowl. I have put this on before but this is the little cot. Jean.
 
Gee gee Jean, yes, and as I remember most fathers were similar. Although they all did different things they did all get involved with their children. Thats what made it better then than now. I get fed up of hearing how children mature earlier and they grow up so much sooner. I really think it is because they are allowed to do and say things we were taught were wrong, and that does not constitute maturity. In fact if a 13 year old girl is grown up she would not sleep around, and if a youth is mature he would not go around stabbing others. It must be difficult nowadays if you are really trying to instill self-respect and everything that goes with it into a child and all the childs friends are allowed to do whatever they want.
 
Wendy, as I recall most of my mates dads were of a similar ilk. The dads all made trolleys once from pram wheels and a plank and had races down our road because it was a hill.
 
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