Category: Daily Prompt

Everything!

What’s something you do completely differently from how you were raised?

Swathes of Glory

Where do you start with what’s different?

Travel. I take the car nearly everywhere. We couldn’t afford a car when I was growing up. So, we took the bus or walked. And we were fitter.

Food. My parents grew up when food rationing was still in force. So, they’d learned to use ‘alternatives’ like beef dripping (the fat that came from roasting meat) instead of butter. And my mother liked it with salt added. Now we know that’s a recipe for a heart attack. So, some of us try to eat healthier. Although it’s also interesting to watch other people’s eating habits. You’d swear they’re on a mission to see who can have the first heart attack!

And we used to cook from scratch, not check what’s in the freezer to heat in the microwave. Our freezer was the cold larder room at the side of the house. Milk, delivered every day, and butter were kept cold in there, too. Even so, a lot of food had to be bought fresh, or picked from the garden which is now a lawn.

And that meant much less food waste.

Entertainment. For the first 10 years of my life we didn’t have TV, or electricity, for that matter. When we moved into a new local authority house we got a TV, in black and white. Seeing the latest movies meant a trip to the cinema. Now we have home cinemas in glorious colour,  with live pictures streamed from space.

Clothing. I grew up in the days of hand-me-downs. Today’s fast fashion put paid to that. Some of us still try to use clothes until they fall apart, and repair the favourites. But a lot of people have an annual (or more often) change of wardrobe and the old clothes just go in the bin.

Communication. If we wanted to communicate with anyone we either had to write a letter or go to the nearest phone box. Urgent messages would be sent by telegram. We used to watch Thunderbirds on TV and wish we had one of Jeff Tracy’s wall mounted video phones with the portrait of the person at the other end as a screen saver. I realised, a few years ago, when I was driving home one evening and my friend called me from Sri Lanka where he was working, that we now have them in our pockets. We had a long (hands free voice only) conversation and things that needed to be arranged were arranged in minutes instead of weeks.

Is that enough?

But then, times have changed. Do I long for those days? Not really. There are things I try to replicate, like cooking from fresh ingredients as much as possible, and recycling old clothes. Yet, each era has its own charm and advantages. When I was younger, life expectancy was shorter. Things change. And we have to change with them.

Speedy Gonzales

What’s a song lyric that has stuck with you forever?

It has to be from Pat Boone’s version of the Speedy Gonzales theme song. I was telling my grandchildren about it only two days ago. It’s not the song itself. It’s the two comments by Speedy.

Hey Rosita, come quick. I have to go shopping downtown for my mother. She needs some tortillas and chilli peppers.

And the second one, as someone who grew up with what were called Green Shield Stamps, in the UK,

Hey Rosita, come quick. Down at the cantina they’re given green stamps with tequila.

Never Give Up

What’s a promise you made to yourself that you’ve actually kept?

I’ve always had a reputation as someone who doesn’t give up when things get tough. That hasn’t always been the case. But I’ve always said, “Don’t tell me it can’t be done because that will only challenge me to find a way to do it.” And in trying to stick to that, I’ve achieved remarkable results, even if they weren’t earth shattering.

But that habit kept me going when my wife passed away, leaving me to raise two foster children, both under ten years of age. Many people thought I would give up. But sitting down to dinner with them, today, nearly nine years later, I haven’t given up. And I don’t intend to. I’ll stick to the task, hopefully until it’s finished. And if I don’t get there, it won’t be for lack of trying.

No Good Crying Over Spilt Milk

What’s a lesson you’ve learned recently that shifted your perspective?

We spend all our time trying to control every aspect of our lives. But the reality is that we have very little real control.

A lot of our lives are controlled by others, or by our circumstances. Employees are controlled by their managers, managers by their directors, directors by the business owners, business owners by the market demand. Children are controlled by the needs of their children, and children by the needs of their parents.

And even when we have free time, our freedom is controlled by the circumstances around us.

Take yesterday, as an example. My plan was to work around the house. Then my son called to tell me that he was available to help me with a different task. So, I drove to his house to collect him.

Leaving his home, we were greeted by a number of neighbours asking if it was my car. Yes, it was. Because a bus has just hit it, and the driver took his bus and left the scene before exchanging insurance details.

And that meant that after caring for the heavy lifting with which my son had come to help, and taking him home, I spent the day making reports to the police and insurance company. And now I’ll have to go through the trials of getting the car repaired. And because the bus driver is unknown, I’ll have to pay the excess on my insurance.

What have I learned? That we’re not as “in control” as we’d like to think we are.

How does it change my perspective? It’s a car. No one died. No one even got injured. It’s just a car.

Was I able to do what I wanted to, yesterday? No. I’ll have to do that today. But there’s no point worrying about it. As the saying goes, there’s no good crying over spilt milk. It’s gone. Like the time I’d set aside yesterday, it’s gone. No point worrying about it. I’ll never get that time back. And there’s nothing I can do about it.

So why worry? Why get angry? Will it help get my car fixed? No. Will it make me feel better? No. Will it get the bus driver punished? No. All it will achieve is cause me stress, and shorten my life. So why worry? Why get angry?

Instead, channel that energy into positive acts that get things done.

The positive side of yesterday was that I had less time available, so I carried out a different, shorter task. And strangely, that made a bigger difference than everything I’d planned but couldn’t do!