" The Green Thing. "

Prospecting Australia

Help Support Prospecting Australia:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
T

Tathradj

Doug
Joined
Feb 17, 2014
Messages
10,728
Reaction score
13,134
Location
NSW
Yesterday after shopping in our local supermarket, I was in the queue at the Check Out,
and heard when the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags,
because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl & then sighed, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. You folk didn't do enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said
"Ahh yes you're right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day."

She sighed then continued:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles & beer bottles to the shops.
The shops then sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized & refilled, so those same bottles were used over & over,
thus REALLY were recycled.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores put our groceries into brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things.
Most memorable was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property
(the books provided for our use by the school) were not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on
their brown paper bag/covers.
But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

I remember how we walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store or office building,
walked to the grocery store & didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go 200 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 240 volts. Wind & solar power really did dry our clothes back in our days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. . . .
But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And if anyone did own a TV, it had a small screen the size of a handkerchief
(remember them?),not a screen the size of a football pitch. When cooking we blended & stirred by hand coz we didn't have electric machines to do
everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send by post, we used layers of old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic
bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline 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 tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, & we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just
because the blade got dull....
But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the bus & kids rode bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's expensive
car or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing"..
Oh and 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest leisure park.

But it so sad this current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? . . .
I am just another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from some smart ass young person. .. ...
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off...
Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart ass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much...
 
A friend of mine posted it on Farcebook.
Took a bit of editing to get it nearly right.
Oh, I am not that old but do remember most of what was mentioned.
The house we grew up in only had 3 power points in it and it
was an old queenslander.
4 bedrooms, Lounge room, Dining room and kitchen.
Extension leads were very precious. :D
 
Tathradj said:
Yesterday after shopping in our local supermarket, I was in the queue at the Check Out,
and heard when the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags,
because plastic bags are not good for the environment.
The woman apologized to the young girl & then sighed, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. You folk didn't do enough to save our environment for future generations."
The older lady said
"Ahh yes you're right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day."

She sighed then continued:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, lemonade bottles & beer bottles to the shops.
The shops then sent them back to the plant to be washed, sterilized & refilled, so those same bottles were used over & over,
thus REALLY were recycled.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores put our groceries into brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things.
Most memorable was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property
(the books provided for our use by the school) were not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on
their brown paper bag/covers.
But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

I remember how we walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store or office building,
walked to the grocery store & didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go 200 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 240 volts. Wind & solar power really did dry our clothes back in our days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. . . .
But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And if anyone did own a TV, it had a small screen the size of a handkerchief
(remember them?),not a screen the size of a football pitch. When cooking we blended & stirred by hand coz we didn't have electric machines to do
everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send by post, we used layers of old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic
bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline 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 tap or fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, & we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just
because the blade got dull....
But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the bus & kids rode bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's expensive
car or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing"..
Oh and 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 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest leisure park.

But it so sad this current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? . . .
I am just another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from some smart ass young person. .. ...
We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off...
Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smart ass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much...
Click to expand...
yes we had all of them things. milked a cow killed a sheep grew veg cut wood went 10 miles to school But no green thing
loved it so true
Mond
 
Smoky bandit said:
No GPZ or flash air conditioned landcruziers towing a 5 star caravan back then either. Who should we blame for the industrial age. :lol: :lol: :lol: :clap: :clap: :p
Click to expand...

Absolutely right, Smoky Bandit, we that can remember all those things need to really take a lot more responsibility for creating the world that we live in now. Us old farts are just as much to blame as the younger generations for implementing change - we invented things to make life easier for ourselves and yet we reminisce about all those things that we helped to replace.

I am one old fart who really appreciates the gadgets and flash toys that came about with the onslaught of technology and if some young member of the current generation decided to lecture me on how wasteful people of my generation were, I would say "you are absolutely right" and thank them for caring enough to point out the error of our ways.

This topic jogged my memory of something I read a few years back:

A self-important university student attending a recent function took it upon himself to explain to a senior citizen seated near him why it was impossible for the older generation to understand his generation.

"You grew up in a different world old man, actually an almost primitive one," the student said, loud enough for many of those nearby to hear. "The young people of today grew up with television, jet planes, space travel, man walking on the moon. Our space probes have visited Mars. We have nuclear energy ships and electric and hydrogen cars, mobile phones, computers with light-speed processing...and much more."

After a brief silence, the senior citizen responded, "You're right, son. My generation didn't have those things when we were young........ so we invented them. Now, you arrogant little shit, what are you doing for the next generation?"


Yes, who do we blame?

Jeff
 
Hmmmm,
How do you know I am in the shower. ? :8
Actually, How do you know we even have a shower installed. ? :playful:

Harbourmaster said:
Tathradj that was a walk down memory lane for the wife and I
Thankyou
PS Get out of the shower your taking too long and wasting water :lol
Click to expand...
 
Tathradj said:
A friend of mine posted it on Farcebook.
Took a bit of editing to get it nearly right.
Oh, I am not that old but do remember most of what was mentioned.
The house we grew up in only had 3 power points in it and it
was an old queenslander.
4 bedrooms, Lounge room, Dining room and kitchen.
Extension leads were very precious. :D
Click to expand...

I remember it all. The house that I grew up in (until I was 15 ), had NO 240v power at all and lighting was from the dairy 32v system (when it worked), but more likely from a Tilley lantern. Oh "thems the days", radio ran from 6v car battery, and apart from the news (one ABC station for most of the time), there was "Blue Hills" for mum, and "Dad & Dave" for dad. We would go out helping on the farm, rabbiting or collecting firewood for the stove and the laundry "copper", and that also allowed us to have a bath once a week, as no HWS.

While it was a good time to be a kid, mum and dad worked darned hard from dawn 'til dusk each day at least.

Rob P.
 
During the late 1940's we lived in Queanbeyan and at 11pm each night the street lights were turned off, think it was something to do with rationing after the war. We moved to Hurstville in the early 1950's and my mother and I went to the new supermarket that had recently opened, G & G was the name and my mother had never seen so many items for sale as we had always shopped at the corner store nearby. I remember her washing the first plastic bags she got and hanging them on the clothes line until dry that stretched across the back yard and she reused them until they fell apart, but she would never buy any of the 'fancy' foods that were on offer as both parents were country raised, but I do not think that the older generation could be classed as the 'throw away society'. I have tried to fix some of the items that now seem to have a use by date built in and there is not a lot that can be done any more, I keep some bits that maybe could be used for something else, but generally I also have become one of the throw away society also. :N:
 
Things are meant to be just thrown out these days. Including cars!
Common practice that most men had a shed!
A hands on approach to most things in life.
Wood chisels, planes, jug elements, sharpening stones....if the house needed it.... they had it, the list is endless
It's a lost tradition and culture
Sad that teenagers cant rebuild a motor themselves anymore.
Build a motor up with beers and tunes in the shed anymore and quarter mile it.
Now they buy computer chips and slot it in thinking they have accomplished something......?
The dying breed now are considered gods of DIY's.
And those now are lucky enough to have half their old mans knowledge!

At least when young punks break into your shed,
The crow bar and sledge hammer always seem to be still there!
Too much a hard working tool for them!
 

Similar threads

Moneybox
Getting old?
Replies
7
Views
711
nucopia
nucopia
elliott thompson
My Introduction to the love of fossicking
Replies
0
Views
119
elliott thompson
elliott thompson
ChristophBerlin
German Greenhorns dreaming of australian gold... (Northern Territory)
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
Aries
A
Moneybox
Making a video
Replies
5
Views
1K
PhaseTech
PhaseTech
nucopia
Are we there yet ?
Replies
16
Views
1K
grubstake
grubstake

Latest posts

Top