Questions for the seniors

[choffer]

On 04/03/2018 at 19:29, snowychap said:

This is getting like the nostalgia thread - only not as good, of course.

Nostalgia? It ain't what it used to be.

[sidcow]

You couldn't start a car without pulling out the choke then gradually pushing it back in. 

Or. In the case of my first car pulling out the choke then putting your finger into the fuse box at a very particular angle to somehow make a connection with a fuse in a previously blown out socket. 

Having read this post back through I urge you to resist posting a picture of Kenneth Williams thank you. 

[TheAuthority]

2 hours ago, sidcow said:

You couldn't start a car without pulling out the choke then gradually pushing it back in. 

Or. In the case of my first car pulling out the choke then putting your finger into the fuse box at a very particular angle to somehow make a connection with a fuse in a previously blown out socket. 

Having read this post back through I urge you to resist posting a picture of Kenneth Williams thank you. 

[MrDuck]

On 01/03/2018 at 18:58, Robtaylor200 said:

Being Green

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

 

The woman apologized 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."She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in our day.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 schoolbooks. 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 throwaway 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 blades 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 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 know it all who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

 

The conversation continues:

“Of course,” continued the older woman, “after we were done patting ourselves on the back for saving diapers and razors, we belched coal dust into the air from our homes and factories. We put phosphorus in our detergent and lead in our paint to make our things shinier, and sprayed DDT on our fields and orchards to rid us of bugs and birds. Our industrial and agricultural waste we dumped in the river to let nature wash it away.

“We threw our garbage in dumps and landfills, and when those grew too big or too noxious, we loaded that garbage onto barges to be dumped in the ocean. Out of sight, out of mind, am I right?
We invented celluloid, Bakelite and other synthetic materials because we were running out of animals whose horns and bones we could carve into billiard balls and hairbrushes. In fact, it was my generation who invented the whole artificial, disposable culture of convenience I was just crabbing about. From frozen foods to chemical preservatives to spray cans that put a continent-sized hole in the ozone layer, we cheerfully bought into anything “new and improved” that relieved us of the drudgery of cooking, cleaning, daily grocery shopping and having worn-out things repaired.

“We turned our prairies into pavement, our rolling hills into strip mines and our green forests into factories and mills. Then we went abroad and razed the rainforests to make rubber tires and fan belts to keep our machines running.
“When someone like Henry David Thoreau or John Muir or Theodore Roosevelt or Rachel Carson implored us to conserve our land and our water for future generations, many of us laughed and said, let those future generations fend for themselves, we’ve got railroads and highways to build, oil wells to drill and toxic waste to dump. To us, if you were overly concerned with how we were polluting the earth and sky and water, you were not ‘green’, you were a damn hippie.

“I guess what I’m saying is that every generation could have done - and still can do - a better job in preserving and protecting our environment and that no generation has a monopoly on virtue.”

To which the young cashier replied, “Now you're getting it, Grandma. Have a nice day!”

[Seat68]

Then a bald fella from Stafford was being served and the cashier said "you should bring your own bags......", to which bald fella said, **** off son.

[sidcow]

2 hours ago, MrDuck said:

 

The conversation continues:

“Of course,” continued the older woman, “after we were done patting ourselves on the back for saving diapers and razors, we belched coal dust into the air from our homes and factories. We put phosphorus in our detergent and lead in our paint to make our things shinier, and sprayed DDT on our fields and orchards to rid us of bugs and birds. Our industrial and agricultural waste we dumped in the river to let nature wash it away.

“We threw our garbage in dumps and landfills, and when those grew too big or too noxious, we loaded that garbage onto barges to be dumped in the ocean. Out of sight, out of mind, am I right?
We invented celluloid, Bakelite and other synthetic materials because we were running out of animals whose horns and bones we could carve into billiard balls and hairbrushes. In fact, it was my generation who invented the whole artificial, disposable culture of convenience I was just crabbing about. From frozen foods to chemical preservatives to spray cans that put a continent-sized hole in the ozone layer, we cheerfully bought into anything “new and improved” that relieved us of the drudgery of cooking, cleaning, daily grocery shopping and having worn-out things repaired.

“We turned our prairies into pavement, our rolling hills into strip mines and our green forests into factories and mills. Then we went abroad and razed the rainforests to make rubber tires and fan belts to keep our machines running.
“When someone like Henry David Thoreau or John Muir or Theodore Roosevelt or Rachel Carson implored us to conserve our land and our water for future generations, many of us laughed and said, let those future generations fend for themselves, we’ve got railroads and highways to build, oil wells to drill and toxic waste to dump. To us, if you were overly concerned with how we were polluting the earth and sky and water, you were not ‘green’, you were a damn hippie.

“I guess what I’m saying is that every generation could have done - and still can do - a better job in preserving and protecting our environment and that no generation has a monopoly on virtue.”

To which the young cashier replied, “Now you're getting it, Grandma. Have a nice day!”

And we all thought Prince Charles was mad as a box of frogs. 

[Xela]

16 hours ago, sidcow said:

You couldn't start a car without pulling out the choke then gradually pushing it back in. . 

My first car I purchased in 1998 had a choke! (it was a 1988 Metro)

[bickster]

39 minutes ago, Xela said:

My first car I purchased in 1998 had a choke! (it was a 1988 Metro)

Must have been made on a good day. Any Metro that lasted ten years was nothing short of a miracle

[Robtaylor200]

My first car was a Hillman Imp , Choke too

Ran leaded petrol Can you still get that ??

[Xela]

1 hour ago, bickster said:

Must have been made on a good day. Any Metro that lasted ten years was nothing short of a miracle

It only lasted 6 months with me. Got rear ended by a Montego and written off!

[snowychap]

48 minutes ago, Xela said:

Got rear ended by a Montego...

Vanden Plas?

[Xela]

2 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Vanden Plas?

I should be so lucky!

Countryman estate. 

[Risso]

2 minutes ago, snowychap said:

Vanden Plas?

Lovely bit of walnut veneer in those.

[VILLAMARV]

If I mention my C reg beige Maestro have we won Austin bingo?

Or do we need an Allegro an MG and a Maxi still?

I had a blue one later on too, not because it was good or anything, but because it was about £200

[snowychap]

1 minute ago, VILLAMARV said:

If I mention my C reg beige Maestro have we won Austin bingo?

Did you win that on Bullseye?

Edited March 9, 2018 by snowychap

[VILLAMARV]

Just now, snowychap said:

Did you win that on Bullseye?

Nah, that was my speedboat!

*I was never on bullseye nor have I ever owned a speedboat

[VILLAMARV]

Not even the worst car I ever had. I reserve that title for the Rover 214 from the 90's. Handled like a boat.

[bickster]

11 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

If I mention my C reg beige Maestro have we won Austin bingo?

Or do we need an Allegro an MG and a Maxi still?

 

I had a blue one later on too, not because it was good or anything, but because it was about £200

My Dad at various times owned a Maxi (orange) an Allegro (beige) and the piece de resistance... a red Austin Princess

I shout House 

He owned some shite cars but at least he never bought an Allegro Estate, the car that every tow truck company refused to tow because towing it buckled the chasis. Breakdown in that and it was a low loader

[bickster]

2 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

Not even the worst car I ever had. I reserve that title for the Rover 214 from the 90's. Handled like a boat.

Now I had one of them. It was shite

[VILLAMARV]

3 minutes ago, bickster said:

a red Austin Princess

forgot about that, that's either equally mundane or rather beautiful depending on how old it was