We are Survivors

[oldfella]

For those born before 1940
(If there are any)

We were born before television, before Penicillin, polio shots, frozen foods, xerox, contact lenses, videos and the pill. We were before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens,before dishwashers,tumble driers, electric blankets, air conditioners, ... and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first then lived together (how quaint). We thought fast food what you ate in Lent, a 'Big Mac' was an oversized raincoat and crumpet was what we had for tea. We existed before house-husbands, computer dating and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies.We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, artifical hearts, word processors, or young men wearing earrings. For us'time sharing' meant togetherness, a 'chip' was a peice of wood or fried potatoe, 'hardware' meant nuts and bolts and software was'nt a word.
Before 1940 'Made in Japan' meant junk, the term 'making out' referred to how you did in your exams, ' stud' was something that fastened a collar to a shirtand going 'all the way' meant staying on the bus to the terminus. In our, cigarette smoking was 'fashionable', 'grass' was mown, coke was kept in the coalhouse, a "joint' was a peice of meat you ate on Sundays and 'pot' was something you cooked in. 'Rock music' was a fond mothers lullaby, 'Eldorado' was an ice cream, a "gay person' was the life and soul of a party, whiles 'aids' just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.

We who were born before 1940 must have been a hardy bunch, when you think of the way in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make.

No wonder there is generation gap .....BUT

By the grace of God ...... We have survived

Mr Bridge Bisley

[Rod in Japan]

> 'Rock music' was a fond mothers lullaby

Reaching a bit there...

Something about this calls to mind Philip Larkin's "This Be the Verse".

My father always lied to me saying he never had shoes when he was a kid, and the man next door lied to me, saying that his grandmother carried bundles of arrows to supply the bowmen at Agincourt.

My son has a very small hole in his heart, and we have to take him for scans once a year. I'm not allowed to ask why we bother, but when oldfella was born, nobody would have known or cared about that sort of thing.