This is the main news story, all day long, with special programmes to cover it, ever since I first woke up and turned the television on. It is the worst storm
EVER on the east coast. The Governor of New York has closed all public transport and roads, and people have been banned from the streets. The governors in, I think it is seven, states have all declared a state of emergency. Thousands of airline flights have been cancelled.
However - not to gloat or anything - but down here in Oklahoma the sun is shining, the sky is deep blue, and the temperature as I drove through town was 74. I said there were three seasons here; tornado, freezing and summer. Today was summer. It's hard to imagine I am in the same country as all that lot on the east coast.
Cruising about on the internet I found the following -
Skills Your Great-Grandparents Had That You
Don’t – Obviously addressed to teenagers. (or so I thought at first) until I realised that if my 28 year old grandson had a kid, I would be a great grandparent. I’m actually one of these OLD people they’re talking about!!!!.
Corresponding
by mail Obviously, your
great-grandparents didn’t text or email. However, even though the telephone
existed, it wasn’t the preferred method of staying in touch either, especially
long-distance. Hand-written letters were the way they communicated with loved
ones and took care of business. I
remember them days.
Diapering
With Cloth Disposable diapers (nappies) weren’t commonly available until the 1930s.
Until then, cloth diapers held with safety pins were where babies did their
business. Great-grandma had a lot of unpleasant laundry on her hands. 1930s!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was using terry nappies
and doing unpleasant laundry in the 60s.
Writing
With a Fountain Pen While it’s true that
your great grandparents were skilled in the lost art of writing in cursive,
your grandparents probably were, too. However, the invention of the ballpoint
pen in the late 1930s and other advances in pen technology mean that your
great-grandparents were the last generation who had to refill their pens with
ink.
I grew up using a fountain pen, I
even had a school desk with an inkwell in it, and used a ‘dip’ pen. Anyone remember them?
Darning
and mending Nowadays if a sock gets
a hole in it, you buy a new pair. But your great-grandparents didn’t let
anything go to waste, not even a beat-up, old sock. This went for every other
article of clothing as well. Darning socks and mending clothes was just par for
the course
Haggling Though it’d be futile for you to argue with
the barista at Starbucks about the price of a cup of coffee, your
great-grandparents were expert hagglers. Back when corporate chains weren’t as
ubiquitous, it was a lot easier to bargain with local shop owners and
tradesmen.
Lighting
a Fire Without Matches Sure, matches have been
around since the 1600s. But they were dangerous and toxic — sparking wildly out
of control and emitting hazardous fumes. A more controllable, non-poisonous
match wasn’t invented until 1910. So Great-grandma and Great-grandpa had to
know a thing or two about lighting a fire without matches. What were they doing until 1910???
Was my Grandma rubbing two flints together?
Making Lace Tatting, the art of
making lace, was a widely popular activity for young women in your
great-grandparents’ generation. Elaborate lace collars, doilies, and other
decorative touches were signs of sophistication. However, fashion changed and
technology made lace easy and inexpensive to buy, so their children probably
didn’t pick up the skill. My
Grandma made lace and here I am in the 21st century wishing and
wishing she had lived long enough to teach me.
Memorising more than two phone numbers. Go ahead and write five phone numbers you have memorised. Can’t do it, can you? Your grandparents memorized every family member, best friend, plus the local movie theater number. Grief!!! I am hard pressed to even remember my OWN phone number.
How to use a phone book. This was your grandparents’ Google. Need a dentist? Phone book. Prank call
your teacher? Phone book. It used to be you weren’t anybody until you were “in”
the phone book. Now you’re not somebody unless you have your own reality show.
The ability to read and use a real, handheld, paper map. Unless you’re Dora the
Explorer, the last map you held was probably the one they gave you at
Disneyland. Even then you probably got lost on your way to Splash Mountain.
Your grandparents, however, could plan a trip across the country using only a
map, a pen, and a few gas station attendants along the way. Now that’s
traveling. S*d THAT. Give me my Sat Nav. Even if it leads me all round the houses –
and it sometimes does – it gets me there eventually and is still infinitely
preferable to tediously poring over a map.
Writing a check (cheque) properly. Your
grandparents wrote checks for everything. Groceries? Write a check! Car
payment? Write a check! The only time you write a check is when you pay rent,
and even then you’re like, “How does this work again?” Not saying you should
start paying for groceries with checks, because that is super annoying. It certainly is………………the times I have stood
behind someone in Walmart who is laboriously writing out a cheque, then
entering details on a counterfoil, and I am thinking “didn’t your bank give you
a debit card, they MUST have done”.
And yes, the only time I write a cheque is when I pay my rent.
When she is not commandeering my dressing gown......she inserts herself behind me on the computer chair so I have to lift her off on the cushion, and I sit on the hard chair.
