I miss the old days!

[MagicSummer]

I have been re-watching Call the Midwife from the beginning and I so wish we were back in those times - everything was so gentle, kind and happy. Hardly anybody was aggressive or on drugs or generally horrible. No swearing apart from the good old sailors and such - it seems such an idyllic time. And before anyone comments, yes I know women's rights weren't good and I am not suggesting that was good.

Whilst I know what you mean…Call the Midwife isn’t a documentary!

And a lot of women and babies died during childbirth........

No thanks

I do love the fashion though!!

Sorry OP but the racism 😞 ..

No thanks! Racism, sexism and homophobia, not to mention inferior healthcare. I’d have died in childbirth back then (and even if I hadn’t, my daughter would have died within her first year).

Interesting
My gran's pet hate was people talking like this.

She said there was lots of drinking, drug taking, fights, normal to have your arse grabbed on the train, normal to be treated as a sex object at work. She died in her 90s fairly recently.

I'm wondering what age you were, too polite to ask
But if you were a child, perhaps your perception is just different?

Are you on glue?

Random anecdote
When mum was a teen, she asked the dentist what age she would likely need dentures.

She was delighted when the dentist said that improved care and knowledge made this highly unlikely.

I wouldn't live in that era, no way.

You should read the original book Call The Midwife. Utterly harrowing in parts. I sobbed.

But there was drug taking, violence and all that and much less civilised than shown. The TV show is a rosy version of the reality. It would only have been pleasant for the rich.

Er the Krays?

@YoComoManzanas

But there was drug taking, violence and all that and much less civilised than shown. The TV show is a rosy version of the reality. It would only have been pleasant for the rich.

I'm hoping OP has not written this post based on a TV show...?

The squalor and poverty were so lovely.

I did some ancestry research recently and found out some interesting facts about some of my ancestors who lived in the early 20th century. Just as I was getting all misty-eyed about the lovely lives they would have lived, I found magistrates' records showing that one had been brought before the court for cruelty to a donkey, and another for assaulting a policeman! Another relative attacked a man outside a pub with a washing line prop and was sent to prison!!

Interestingly, the landlady had denied that he and his friends were drunk - presumably because they would have lost their licence. I think things were just covered up a lot more in the past.

I'm hoping this isn't serious?

Of course there was swearing and violence...

In the 1950's one of my Grandads was raping his daughters and beating his wife and son and on the other side my Great-Grandad was an alcoholic wife beater.

Funnily enough while I wasn't around to witness it I'm pretty sure they swore too.

It's just that people talked about it less.

I didn't know my mother posted on here

I'm binge watching all the programmes too - and loving it but, as many have said, it is sanitised beyond belief as to the perfection of the Nonnatus house lot and the brusque impatient ones from anywhere else. And Dr Turner is available to anyone who calls him from Nonnatus at any time.

I do like that home visits were available by both midwives and drs. as a matter of course rather than only in absolute emergency but lack of phones and personal transport made that much more necessary as well.

I was a child in the 50s 60s (born '55) and the dr. always did a house visit if I was ill as a child but overall, for most people, life is much easier now.

It was safer from strangers - hardly anyone had cars so the people you saw daily you knew, also stuff can't be stolen if you can't chuck it in the back of the car and make off with it.
I suppose people are the same - some good, some bad but there was a slower pace of life.

Sorry you are aware Call the Midwife is a drama, and not a documentary?

I lived in the countryside - people didn't swear - possibly men in their own company did but I didn't here much apart from the occasional bluddy.

@ATieLikeRichardGere

Whilst I know what you mean…Call the Midwife isn’t a documentary!

Actually, the first few series were heavily based on Jennifer Worth's memoirs so were a reflection of real life during those years.

Wake up.

The earlier episodes were certainly better than the most recent series. More centred on women's stories.
But there's no such thing as 'the good old days' . I recommend reading Factfulness . Everything is better now than 20, never mind 60 years ago - life expectancy, education levels, poverty levels, deaths from natural disasters, maternal death rate etc etc.

That's some serious rose tinted glasses you have on! There was drugs, swearing, antisocial behavior, just as there has been in literally everytime in history.

OP, did you actually live in the old days or is your knowledge based on Call the Midwife?

As others have said, it's not a documentary! That time had all the violence and horrible people that we have now, along with extreme poverty, living in squalor, infant mortality, domestic violence, lack of life choices, the list is endless.