We are the Survivors

This is a blog for those born before 1940 in the UK and was passed to me by a friend. A lot has changed since this was originally written.

We were born before television, before penicillin, polio shots, frozen food, Xerox, cotantact lenses, videos, DVD's, frisbees, freebies and the pill. We lived before radar, credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and the ball-point pens, before dishwashers, tumble dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners, drip-dry clothes and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together. We thought a "Big Mac" was an oversized raincoat and crumpet we had for tea. We existed before house husbands, computer dating and dual careers; when a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins and sheltered accommodation was where you waited for a bus.

We were before day care centres, group homes and disposable nappies. We had never heard of FM radio, electric typewriters, electric typewriters, word processors or computers. Nor artificial hearts or yoghourt and young men wearring earings. For us "time sharing" meant togetherness, a chip was a piece of wood or a fried potato, hardware meant nuts and bolts, and software  wasn't a word.

Before 1940 "Made in Japan" meant junk, the term "making out" referred to how you did in your exams, a stud was something that fastened a collar to a shirt, and "going all the way" meant staying on the double decker bus until it reached the depot. Pizza, McDonalds and instant coffee were unheard of. In our day cigarette smoking was fashionable, grass was mown, coke was kept in the coal house, a joint was a piece of meat and a pot was something you cooked it in.A gay person was the life and soul of the party and nothing more, and aids just meant beauty treatment or help for someone in trouble.

We who were born before 1940 must be a hardy bunch when you think of the ways in which the world has changed and the adjustments we have had to make. No wonder we are so confused and there is a generation gap.

But we have survived.