The Green Thing

Message

TC · #1 Post by TC » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:42 am

Received this morning.

In the queue at the supermarket, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment." He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, drink bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day. We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery shop and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two hundred yards.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up electricity -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day. Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (not a tissue), not a screen the size of the wall. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn.

We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then. We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled fountain pens with ink instead of buying a new biro, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunted.

But we didn't have the green thing back then. Back then, people took the tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza shop. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Samray · #2 Post by **Samray** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:48 am

Oh so true.

and nicked.

#3 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 10:54 am

Yup, Very true.. and i must be gettin' old as i can remember plenty of that!

D-Rider · #4 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:21 am

True - though that old tv with the screen the size of a handkerchief probably consumed more energy than a good number of modern tvs the size of a wall.

.... and as for modern carrier bags that are supposed to be environmentally friendly .... have you tried re-using them? Stick some stuff in them and then come back to them a few months later and you'll find they've disintegrated - just lots of little plastic pieces piled around whatever you were storing in there. So all the energy and raw materials put into making them have been consumed for something that will be used once (or not much more). We used to keep our carrier bags to re-use them time and time again .....

#5 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:23 am

Oh right, so thats normal for them to disintegrate? Thank fek for that. I thought we had mice, but i couldnt see any mouse droppings.

D-Rider · #6 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:25 am

Funnily enough, I initially thought it was due to mice. Wonder how many others have been chasing a rodent problem that doesn't exist!

Aladinsaneuk · #7 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:26 am

Disappointed that you were not going to gain a new mount then Tim?

#8 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:27 am

Very funny alad...

HowardQ · #9 Post by **HowardQ** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:13 pm

Sadly TC I can remember pretty much all of that...........

I'll get my coat ..................
and my slippers ........
Don't smoke any more.

Samray · #10 Post by **Samray** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:22 pm

Didn't have a television, wouldn't have been any use without leccy.

As for the Pizza shop .... wtf?

TC · #11 Post by TC » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:29 pm

HowardQ wrote:Sadly TC I can remember pretty much all of that...........

Thats the problem, so can I

How many remember the Corona lorry that used to come around every 2 weeks? Best Cream Soda money could buy, and if I recall we used to get 3d refund on the bottle next time around. 3d, blimey, that does make me feel old

Used to get the little old french guys come around on their bikes selling onions, mile was delivered in bottles and the top of the milk was brilliant on cereal in the mornings, and you could go into a sweet shop and buy a pennorth of sweets and get a bag full (pennorth being 1 old penny).

Then there was the trip to the Saturday morning matinee. 1 shilling would get your return bus fare, entry to the cinema, some sweets or popcorn and a drink, a portion of chips when you came out of the Cinema and still have change

And for those of you too young to remember, 1 shilling is 5p in todays money.

HowardQ · #12 Post by **HowardQ** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:31 pm

We had leccy up in Yorkshire in the late 1950s, when I was a kid.
I can remember when we got a little 12" black and white telly in the corner, it was the first one on our street.
When anything major went off all the neighbours came round to watch and I had to clear all my toys away, so they could all pile into the small living room of our council house and watch it.
Then things got really exciting when somebody came up with a brilliant idea for a "Virtual" big screen TV.
We strapped a big magnifying unit filled with liquid in front!

But we were happy !

D-Rider · #13 Post by **D-Rider** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:04 pm

Yes we had the Corona lorry and the Ice Cream Soda was my favourite too.
We also had a bread delivery van (though there was actually a proper baker at the far end of the village), a mobile shop and a mobile library that used to visit the village. We had electricity but no gas until after I left my parents' home.

Before we moved to the village we did get our first telly - I was either 4 or 5. It could only get BBC. Later we upgraded (second hand of course) to one that could get both channels ..... and it had an oil-filled lens over the screen to make the picture look bigger.

#14 Post by **Kwackerz** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:08 pm

TC hit a good point there, the top of the milk being brilliant on cereal in the morning.. if the birds didnt get to it first! But yes. I think seeing as the missus doesnt use milk in coffee or elsewhere, I might just seize the opportunity to go back to proper milk and stop using this shitty green topped semi skimmed.

Aladinsaneuk · #15 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:18 pm

What's wrong you lot?

Bloody northerners and you do not even Mention Dandelion &Burdock?