Things your GC will never experience...

[ClytemnestraWasMisunderstood]

...or even your children may never experience...
I was reminiscing yesterday and realised that there are many things we've experienced that younger people won't. For example, living in a shared flat and having to work out how to split the (landline) telephone bill! Trying to be honest about the length of the call. Was it a long or short-distance call? Before 6pm or after? All such things affected the cost!
Then the washing-up rota (pre-dishwasher days), cleaning of communal areas rota, etc...

I hope that the cure to prevent Alzheimer’s disease progressing into Alzheimer’s dementia is round the corner, so my GC never have to experience the scariness that is developing or caring for someone with Alz.

Mix tapes! Or probably even CDs…
Making plans in advance and sticking to them- the ease to change plans and make them last minute has made it virtually impossible for my kids to make plans in advance and stick to them- unlike us who made a plan at school on Friday to meet at Xpm on Saturday and then we all went there or you missed out!

The bigger joy you get from experiencing things you have had to wait for: photos to be developed to remember a holiday, a song you have wanted to hear on the radio, the next episode of a good TV programme etc.

Ice on the inside of bedroom windows
Modems
Typewriters (I'm old)
Car phones
Manual chokes on cars
TV
Cheque books

Reputtying and painting window frames - the most tedious task ever 😁

• Waiting for someone to get off the phone so you can use the internet
• The dialup sound
• Having to think really carefully about your text so you got the characters all in one message
• Choosing which 10 messages you'd keep on your phone as that's all you had space for
• Taking 20p to call your parents from a payphone when you needed a lift home
• Not being able to see the photo you took on the disposable camera until it was developed
• Hearing a click and knowing your sibling was listening in on the other phone
• Cycling without a helmet and noone worrying/caring about it
• Parents who had no idea that the plastic tat they were buying you was f*cking terrible for the planet, so therefore just let you have it and all the guiltless joy that came with it
• In fact parents that didn't really have anxiety about anything, didn't worry constantly that they were somehow messing you up or second guess every decision and need to check it with the masses on mumsnet :P

How to live in a world without the internet.

Toys in a cereal box.😄

Not being contactable. I didn't have a phone (landline) til I was 12. When I left home I didn't have one for a while either. It felt like an uneccessary expense.

Now, my mobile phone is surgically attached to me. Its a constant battle I have to break up with my phone but I'm always drawn back.

I would love to say misogyny. I'm hopeful.

As a mother of a new baby, going down to the phone box at the end of the road on a Sunday night for my weekly phone call to my mum.

Hopefully asking your dad when he got home from work if he'd got your holiday photos from boots in his lunch break.

telling your parents you were sleeping at your friend 's house, your friend telling her parents she was sleeping at yours but you were both going clubbing all night.

A tech free world

Possibly affordable travel

Job security

Being able to make a fool of yourself without the worry of it being splashed all over social media.

Driving a manual car instead of automatic.

Travelling in the boot of a car.

It's funny when we watch live tv (extremely rare) and they tell me to fast forward the adverts.

Living life without a reaction (likes, comments, reviews, etc).

Feeling great because you have a purse full of notes and coins.

Taking photos for the sake of having a memory or souvenir, when no one else will see them.

Smoky nightclubs
No internet

Going to a proper pub without kids or food.

Having to clear out the grate and lay a proper coal fire, including chopping sticks, an art I perfected at a very young age.

Map reading.

Driving a proper manual car

Discussing TV programmes at school. As there were only 3 channels, no streaming and no method of recording then there was a high chance you'd find someone who had watched the same thing.
Not watching a popular programme as that was your regular night at swimming/Brownies etc (never saw Rising Damp, but knew all the quotes "Mrs Jones!" from hearing everyone else talk about it)
Dad using the testcard to check the brilliance/balance etc.
Going to the cinema and having an usherette walk backwards with a torch to show you to your seat.
Interval in the cinema when usherette would come back with a tray of ice creams.
Reading the job adverts in the paper, phoning to ask for an application form. Form arrived in the post, had to be completed by hand and then posted back. Checking the post every day to wait for the rejection/invitation to interview letter.

Plenty of house shares still don’t have a dishwasher!

Driving around London without buying a permit. Parking easily in London and other big towns ( and it was free after 18.00 or 18.30). Hopping on and off a bus without waiting for doors to open and shut ( you could even get on or off without a proper stop if traffic permitted) . Travelling by train and only hearing the wheels and the engine ( sometimes other people’s conversations but they tended to murmur to each other).

Having the same GP for ten or more years, and them knowing you without staring at a screen to find out, or to find out what to do.

Going to the job centre. Looking at the jobs on the cards pinned to boards. Seeing one you like and taking it to the desk where the job centre clerk tells you about the job and where it is etc and then if you're still interested rings the company while you wait to arrange an interview.

Phone boxes and photo booths!

My kids love a photo booth!! Definitely still around atm. Might not be forever though.

Most phoneboxes round here are libraries these days.