When L.P. Hartley* wrote ‘The Go-Between’ in 1953 he included a line that’s now as famous as the novel and the 1971 film.
He wrote “The past is another country. They do things differently there”.
Well, my friends, what he described as another country in 1953, has expanded into more of a lost continent in the ensuing 73 years.
Post-war baby boomers who’ve grown up through all the technical and medical breakthroughs and social changes, were introduced to them gradually as they happened.
But I often wonder how someone who was, shall we say, in later maturity in the early 1950s, would react to how (and where) we live, eat, socialise and communicate in 2026.
To quote a phrase first coined in the 1960s, I think it might ‘blow their mind’.
I’m not going to get on my high horse about the ‘Decline of civilization since the invention of the air fryer’ or ‘The effects of global warming on Alan Titchmarsh’s hardy perennials’ in the last couple of decades, because that’s not my style.
And, frankly, it would take far too much of my time to research. I love all my readers, but a line has to be drawn somewhere!
Instead, I’ll illustrate how times have changed by recalling some things people once said in (fairly) recent history that you never hear today.
Like . . .
“Bradley who?”
“Will you take a cheque?”
“Arrange a mortgage for you? That won’t be a problem”
“I’m off out to post my football pools coupon!”
“I do wish there were more quizzes on daytime TV!”
“I must get a pair of legwarmers like yours!”
“Sorry, love. I couldn’t let you know I was running late. The phone box on the corner was out of order!”
“I don’t know which bank to open an account with. There’s so many in town!”
And…
“My favourite ITV show and my favourite BBC show are both on at the same time tonight. I don’t know which one to watch!”
*Not to be confused with J.P. Hartley, author of “Fly Fishing” according to a TV ad for Yellow Pages.
Remember them!