Friday, June 05, 2009

i live in my own world

because i feel like i woke up in a different time sometimes. like back to the future sort of. i am 38 years old- and i only say that for a reference point. it is so difficult for me to really wrap my mind around the fact that i grew up with vinyl records, clotheslines, rotary phones, no remote, cassette tapes, cars where you actually had to roll the windows down by hand and lock the doors, no cable, etc..

there are young people out there today who haven't a clue how to use a manual can opener or apparently that there was a time when many folks did not have a clothes dryer. i am not being critical of them- i am flabbergasted. i had no idea i would ever live to see a time where municipalities pass laws ALLOWING home owners to dry their clothes outside. and i find it ironic that the party who allegedly champions individual rights over government took so many rights away or allowed so many rights to be taken away. but that's a different post.

technology moved so very fast that we didn't bother to lay down any history for these folks. i don't advocate sitting idle or not moving forward- but i also think that there is something to be said for learning about where you came from and how you got to where you are. otherwise, you end up with rootless folks who don't have any sense of belonging; of community; of society- and without some cohesiveness- you get civil war and worse.

but i digress. i have a clothesline that hopefully, will be fully operational soon.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I have the same thoughts.
I grew up (I'm 56) in a time when seat belts were not even in cars.
My mom would think I was sick, if I wasn't outside all day on my bike. No worry about perverts.
I feel sorry for kids today. I think they miss out on experiences of life. Yet, there is a real concern about kids safety out in public. Do you have kids?
My friends would tell you I live in the past.
I only got a PC 6 years ago to do my college papers. I didn't have a TV till I was 30, and then it was a 9" B&W.
I don't have a cell phone. I have a phone that is literally from 1966. I'm a dial up computer customer, my phone bill is only $18.00 a month. I do get basic cable at $9.99 a month. My truck is 12 years old with only 58,000 miles on it. I paid for A/C but it has manual roll up windows and manual transmission (stick shift).
I don't drink, or do drugs. I drink Sun tea by the gallons. I grow my own vegetables. I'm convinced I belong in another era, in the past.
I have no clue about DVDs, Blackberry's, Twitter, or even a VCR. My home clocks are not digital. It took me an hour just to set up my computer and it is my only path to some kind of tech reach to the World
I live a pretty monastic lifestyle and it drives my friends crazy.
I'm doing fine and all that tech would just drive my dog crazy, although I think he would like a new big screen TV. Really, HE would.

eaprez said...

That's one of my things to do over the summer - install a clothes line.

billie said...

we had a black and white tv until the mid 1980's when it finally crapped the bed :)

nope- no kids-- by choice. i don't drink other than socially and i have never done drugs. we got cable about a year before i got the internet- which is the year i started the blog :)

i think we may have watched an hour or two of tv a day- but mostly, we played outside or read books or sang together. we rarely were inside unless it was bad outside or winter. that's a big difference for today's kids. we had parental involvement- and a fence. if we were outside, usually my mom was- hanging laundry or doing yardwork or whatever.

but yes, a simpler time.

The Future Was Yesterday said...

Ma used to check the wind before she hung any clothes out.

If it was in a certain direction, the dried clothes came in with an odor of the outhouse on them.:)

Georg said...

Bonjour Betmo,

You are absolutely right. Looking back makes one think about prehistoric conditions.

As to outside clothes drying, well, we do this all the time (unless it rains). But living in a village and living in a town makes a difference. In the southern countries, like Italy, they dry the washing on trolley cables running from one side of the street to the other. Why not.

Georg