In our day - some home truths on being green.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right - our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:

'Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then. We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.

We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

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Share with us some of the things that piss you off - or bring you joy - about being ' the older man' and what was better - or worse ' back then.' -

No central heating back when I was a child and no double glazing and house insulation at all. . Shared a bed with my twin brother in the winter to keep warm. Bath night just once a week and no hot water between times as the thermostat was turned on just for bath night. No remote control so we had to get up and change the TV channel which had 2 channels and in black and white and yet there was always something to watch of interest. No supermarkets so for a Mother /wife meant hours schlepping from shop to shop getting everything and NOTHING was self service so took an age.

Saturday morning cinema for kids cost 6d - less than 3 p today - and was meant for kids to be some place safe for the Saturday morning while the parents went shopping as shops were only open 09am - 5pm so not a lot of use to those who worked - hence Saturday mornings were shopping days.

Can you just imagine that happening today ???

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John: I got a hard on without even thinking about it. Today, it has a mind if its own and comes and goes at its own pleasure but rarely when I want it. Gavin

Life in general may have been harder but life itself was easier. Too many aches and pains as you grow older and this really slows me down. Rob.

I filled my life with so many amazing experiences that as an older man I can look back and say that at least I did something rather than just get married, have a job, raise a family and feel lost. I did it all on my own terms. Mitch.

My get up and go has got up and gone. Bit like me teeth. Bob.

I don't sit for hours in the sun now I am covered in moles, liver spots and all sorts of old man things. I limit what time I spend in the sun which is so different to when I was young. Dennis.

I have so much more confidence than I ever had back then. Having made my fortune and am now rich gives a certain level of confidence I suppose. House mortgage paid off, no credit card bills and money in the bank. Now I can tell people to go fuck themselves and I really do not care what they think but when younger, their opinion of me was all that was important. Not any more. Fuck 'em. Barry.

Not a single vegetable was pre wrapped in plastic and everyone took their own shopping bag or basket - there was very little pre wrapped anything. Every shop served you. Garages filled your petrol for you, wiped the windscreen and even checked your oil under the bonnet for you at no extra cost. JG.

No Mc Donald's or Berger Kings at all - especially for us teenagers to work in - we had to serve as an apprentice in a trade and it set us up for life.

David.

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