|
|
 |
| Author |
Message |
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:23 am  |
My Dad sent me this last week, I think its very good...it's referring to life in the UK tho !
CONGRATULATIONS IF YOU WERE BORN IN THE
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they
carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't
get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured
lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when
we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this.
We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it,
but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down
the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the
bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all,
no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound,no cell
phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat
rooms...........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us
forever.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just yelled for them!
Football teams had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't
had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.They
actually sided with the law!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers
and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!
And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up
as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our
own good.
and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
PS -The big type is because your eyes are deteriorating at your age |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:27 am |
Then he sent me this the following week, another one on the state of the UK....quite a good read tho...
THE SQUIRREL AND THE GRASSHOPPER (Standard Version)
The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and
improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper
thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come
winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no
food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
THE END
THE SQUIRREL AND THE GRASSHOPPER (British Version)
The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a
fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the
squirrel is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper is feeling the chill.
A social worker finds the shivering grasshopper, calls a press conference
and demands to know why the squirrel should be allowed to be warm and well
fed while others less fortunate, like the grasshopper, are cold and
starving. The BBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering
grasshopper; with cuts to a video of the squirrel in his comfortable warm
home with a table laden with food.
The British press informs people that they should be ashamed that in a
country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while
others have plenty. The Labour Party, Greenpeace, Animal Rights and The
Grasshopper Council of GB demonstrate in front of the squirrel's house.
The BBC, interrupting a cultural festival special from Notting Hill with
breaking news, broadcasts a multi cultural choir singing "We Shall
Overcome". Ken Livingstone rants in an interview with Trevor McDonald that
the squirrel has got rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an
immediate tax hike on the squirrel to make him pay his "fair share" and
increases the charge for squirrels to enter inner London.
In response to pressure from the media, the Government drafts the Economic
Equity and Grasshopper Anti Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning
of the summer.
The squirrel's taxes are reassessed. He is taken to court and fined for
failing to hire grasshoppers as builders for the work he was doing on his
home and an additional fine for contempt when he told the court the
grasshopper did not want to work.
The grasshopper is provided with a council house, financial aid to furnish
it and an account with a local taxi firm to ensure he can be socially
mobile. The squirrel's food is seized and redistributed to the more needy
members of society, in this case the grasshopper.
Without enough money to buy more food, to pay the fine and his newly imposed
retroactive taxes, the squirrel has to downsize and start building a new
home. The local authority takes over his old home and utilizes it as a
temporary home for asylum seeking cats who had hijacked a plane to get to
Britain as they had to share their country of origin with mice. On arrival
they tried to blow up the airport because of Britain's apparent love of
dogs.
The cats had been arrested for the international offence of hijacking and
attempt bombing but were immediately released because the police fed them
pilchards instead of salmon whilst in custody. Initial moves to then return
them to their own country were abandoned because it was feared they would
face death by the mice. The cats devise and start a scam to obtain money
from peoples credit cards.
A Panorama special shows the grasshopper finishing up the last of the
squirrel's food, though spring is still months away, while the council house
he is in, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain the
house. He is shown to be taking drugs. Inadequate government funding is
blamed for the grasshopper's drug 'illness'.
The cats seek recompense in the British courts for their treatment since
arrival in UK.
The grasshopper gets arrested for stabbing an old dog during a burglary to
get money for his drugs habit. He is imprisoned but released immediately
because he has been in custody for a few weeks. He is placed in the care of
the probation service to monitor and supervise him. Within a few weeks he
has killed a guinea pig in a botched robbery.
A commission of enquiry, which will eventually cost £10,000,000 and state
the obvious, is set up.
Additional money is put into funding a drug rehabilitation scheme for
grasshoppers and legal aid for lawyers representing asylum seekers is
increased. The asylum seeking cats are praised by the government for
enriching Britain's multicultural diversity and dogs are criticized by the
government for failing to befriend the cats.
The grasshopper dies of a drug overdose. The usual sections of the press
blame it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of
despair arising from social inequity and his traumatic experience in prison |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:15 pm |
Naomim, BOTH of those could have been written about the U.S.! If I sent the first one to all of my friends, none of them would know it was about the U.K. as it sounds exactly like the lifestyle we had here in the U.S.
Thanks for sharing.  |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:19 pm |
| Thanks for that, I am quite new on the these forum and posted them, then thought oooh .... when I saw people reading them and not replying I thought, oh dear maybe they aren't liked, or it's a bad sort of thing to post...thanks for your comments made me feel better, shame it could be applied to your country too. When our kids are grown up we are thinking to emigrate, not sure where but my hubby likes the idea several countries including yours, anyway many years yet to go yet! |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 1:57 pm |
Hi Naomim & MermaidGirl
They both apply to Australia as well, and I have seen an Aussie version of the Squirrel and Grasshopper but I am not sure that the squirrel retained his identity (we dont have squirrels in Australia). The first one really did remind me what it was like to grow up in the 60 & 70s! |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:32 pm |
it definitely not for the better. All this mollycoddling.
I am definitely going to forward these on to my friends.
Thanks for sharing. |
_________________
50, happy reluma user started 16.6.12 original formula. PMD user. started LouLou's ageless regime. |
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 2:53 pm |
You're welcom.
Only one note from me ... I am a little animal rightsy, but not over the top...but thats not the just of these pieces, glad people are liking them.
Actually quite shocked and sad that they are relating them to their countries too, where am I eventually going to emigrate to ?! |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 3:05 pm |
| naomim wrote: |
Actually quite shocked and sad that they are relating them to their countries too, where am I eventually going to emigrate to ?! |
My thoughts exactly!! I would love to get out of the U.S. occasionally, or at least away from the ghetto/redneck people who don't want to do that whole "work" thing. |
_________________
American Indian/Irish/African descent, bleach-blonde hair with lowlights, tanned skin, greenish-brown eyes, strong facial features and drastically-improved lips! 28, but people tell me that I look seventeen-ish. |
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:23 pm |
Both are very cute and soooo true. Although, I have to admit that while the first one IS absolutely true, while I was reading it and enjoying it, I heard my parents voice in my head, saying, "why katee, when I was your age........" God I AM getting old  |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:45 pm |
The first is too true! When I think of the harrowing "deeds" my brothers and I lived through. AND, we were "latchkey kids" (both parents worked and that was rare in the 50's and early 60's) AND, I totally understood my mother's admonition, "Don't open the door to strangers." AND, I was responsible for my brothers from the age of 9 on. AND, I learned to iron my Dad's work uniforms at age 10. AND, I learned to have dinner started and the table set by the time Mom got home from work before I was 11. AND, at the same time, I had household chores on Saturday morning which included helping with the laundry, dusting, etc. Whew!!!!
But, I wouldn't trade any of that now for the world!! Did school work suffer? A resounding, "NO!" It wasn't allowed. Straight A's were expected and delivered.
The second story of the squirrel and the grasshopper? Same in the U.S., just change the names.
Ari |
_________________
Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "Oh Crap, She's up!" Unknown |
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 7:05 pm |
I wonder if all my "issues" can be blamed on the lead paint on my crib  ...........(born 1964) |
|
|
|
|
|
Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:33 pm |
| They are both very true and would apply to just about every country in the world now. Somewhere, along the way, common sense went out the back door and has never returned but I am still hoping that one day it will. |
_________________
Skin: Over 60, ex combination now sensitive, Cellcosmet |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:21 am |
| The first one made me smile. lol. I grew up in Asia, but I can still relate to it. |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:01 am |
I only read the first one, but it so applies to how I grew up. My son is 10 and is so different from how my husband and I were at that age.
Tina |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 7:39 am |
| I loved this. I passed it on to my son in college (who's cell phone has been surgically attached to his ear), and my Betty Crocker mother-in-law. Thanks for sharing. |
_________________
Joined the 50 club several years back, blonde w/ fair/sensitive skin, Texas humidity and prone to rosacea, light breakouts and sunburns, combo skin type, starting to see sundamage and fine lines |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:47 am |
| naomim wrote: |
My Dad sent me this last week, I think its very good...it's referring to life in the UK tho !
...and drank pop with sugar in it, |
Do folks in the UK say "pop" too?
I always thought that was just a Midwest thing here in the US. I'm made fun of all the time because I say "pop" and not "soda." |
_________________
32, Fair Skin, combo/break-out prone. Simple routine of REN No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm and Argan oil as a moisturizer; Clarisonic when needed. That's it! |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:28 am |
Well actually "pop" it is quite an old term here, we used to say it in the 60's and 70's and it refered to non known brands that were fizzy, like the local supermarkets own make of lemonade. Then in the late 70's and onwards people started saying brand names like coke, 7 up, Dr Pepper etc...it was like the word "tissues" my gran used to say "paper hanky" then people started saying "tissues" then "kleenex"....another one, "vacume cleaner" very quickly became "a hoover" because that was the best selling brand....
So yes in the 60's and 70's we did say "pop" not any longer.
As for "Soda" here we refer to it as in "Soda Water" to use as a mixer....if you have a brand you like for instance Schwepes you say the full "Schwepes Soda Water" other wise the bar or restaurant might give you a cheap brand - but if you're in a good restaurant or bar they probably stock top brands any way.
OK enough on that, here's a question, "ketchup" or "tomatoe sauce" or "red sauce" ?? |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:46 am |
Blimey, you're making me feel very old - I say "paper hanky"! I also still say "wireless" instead of "radio".  |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:07 pm |
Nice to know other people said "pop" at one point. Soda in Michigan (where I'm from) is soda water.
Ketchup is how we say it in the US (at least all the places I've lived...all two of them, haha)...spelled "catsup" though originally...
I thought it was called tomato sauce in Australia...
Wireless is my: internet connection
I say Kleenex and vacuum cleaner.
But I have weird words from my childhood...besides saying "eh" which I still do:
-roadkill = "speed beef"
-tourist = "fudgie" (not derogatory in any way)
-very white socks = "sparklers"..like when my dad used to wear socks with shorts in the summer.
I'm a troll/flatlander...so it's rare that I use these words, but I grew up in rural northern lower Michigan.
Was teased like mad when I moved...so I tried to drop most of the vocabulary...and the accent.
I love learning about other accents and dialects, dontcha know! |
_________________
32, Fair Skin, combo/break-out prone. Simple routine of REN No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm and Argan oil as a moisturizer; Clarisonic when needed. That's it! |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:08 pm |
| Ooooops, not intentional, honest - anyway nothing wrong with using the words you want the point is communication and if people know what you mean then that's fine...I wind up my daughter (13) I say get your "sandshoes" or "pumps" (which she finds hilarious) or I say "sneekers" or "tennis shoes" and then she cracks up and says or rather shouts, "trainers Mum trainers" |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:13 pm |
Is "speed beef" something or do you literally mean "road kill" as in squished animal ? Only asking as you have "beef jerky" and terms we don't use over here.
You're probably cracked up on the floor now - yes I am thinking - eh is it a kind of beef - lol  |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:19 pm |
speed beef is roadkill...
I didn't even learn the word "roadkill" til I moved.
Beef jerky (or Turkey Jerky, Buffalo Jerky, Ostrich Jerky, etc...) is dried meat...cured, usually smoked and absolutely fabulous to munch on...
Wouldn't want to munch on speed beef... |
_________________
32, Fair Skin, combo/break-out prone. Simple routine of REN No. 1 Purity Cleansing Balm and Argan oil as a moisturizer; Clarisonic when needed. That's it! |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 12:25 pm |
| Thanks for not laughing at me, I read your message again after I posted my reply and then realised I had got mixed up.... |
_________________
42, British |
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:21 pm |
| I was a 50's baby, and apparently I slept in a drawer! Wonder if I could now claim compensation for having my rights to a lead painted crib taken away! It was nice to be reminded of my free and easy childhood though. We used to drink from a small water fountain. There was one in the playground at school and one in most parks. We had to press a button and the water would spurt up and end up all over your face, so the other way was to get your lips round the rim, and when you pressed the button the water would spurt into your mouth choking you. Do any of you other UK girls remember these? |
|
|
|
|
|
Thu Dec 07, 2006 3:26 pm |
| lol! thanks for the read! |
|
|
|
|
| Wed Apr 24, 2024 9:04 pm |
If this is your first visit to the EDS Forums please take the time to register. Registration is required for you to post on the forums. Registration will also give you the ability to track messages of interest, send private messages to other users, participate in Gift Certificates draws and enjoy automatic discounts for shopping at our online store. Registration is free and takes just a few seconds to complete.
Click Here to join our community.
If you are already a registered member on the forums, please login to gain full access to the site. |
|
 |
|
|
