Tag: Grandpa’s Way

That journey into the self

What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done when no one was watching?

Trecco Bay Sunset

I took that journey into myself, that “road less traveled”. And I came out the other side a better person.

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.

The first time I saw her

The first time I saw her,
She was blue;
Cord wrapped round her neck.

She was mine.
She was ours.
We loved her.

Now in her teens,
She breaks our hearts.
But we love her just the same.

Charity Donations

What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?

Some years ago, a friend told me what his wife does with money she finds on the street, usually being coins of very little individual value, the sort of small change that could never be returned to the original owner.

But my friend was very conscious that she didn’t want to take what belonged to someone else and use it for her own purpose.

She used to pick them up, often single pennies, and keep them in a jar. She did this for a whole year. Then, every year, she would count up what was in the jar, purely out of interest, and donate the whole contents of the jar to charity.