When people look at the past it is often through a pair of rose tinted spectacles. People always talk about the old days with a fondness that probably was not there when it was actually being lived out by them the first time round. You know what I mean, you must have heard it or even been the person talking it.
When we look back at what was good in life I am sure we all have something different that stands out and that will change generation by generation. For example when I look back at some of the good things with my rose tinted specs on I see a sweet shop where you got change from a penny if you so wanted to and a treat was collecting your comic from the news agent once a week, we played outside from dawn to dusk without fear. Shops closed for a half day through the week and were all closed from lunch time or before on a Sunday giving you just enough time to get the Sunday rolls -which tasted better than rolls from any other day in the week- bacon and the newspapers.
Now as I said rose tinted specs because nowadays I am a grumpy old sod if the shops are shut when I arrive at whatever time I chose to be good for me and those noisy kids out playing at this time of night, well what are the parents thinking about! As for Sunday I am now the one cooking the breakfast so cornflakes it is and who needs a newspaper just stick on the tv.
What sounds better rose tinted or today, lets look further.
Those rose tinted days were also the days when believe it or not we had a Health service with the word service being the important word. Imagine being at home on a wet Friday night and one of your loved ones takes ill now you have done the usual helpful things we all do when this is the case including a couple of old wives tales that used to pass as remedies a thousand years ago, but our loved one is still unwell and getting worse. The solution was simple you picked up the phone or in our case used the neighbours and called out the Doctor, He or she would arrive in literally no time sometimes clutching the cup of tea or coffee he was drinking when his phone went!
The head of the family would let them in to the house thanking them for getting there so quickly and the doctor would ask about all in the house by first name.
Now hopefully everything went well and the doctor gave the said patient a pill and all was well, however just like today sometimes the hospital was necessary- so you would arrive in a building that was pristine in appearance and smelled of disinfectant with a hint of bleach your ward was immaculate and if you had the want you could genuinely have eaten your dinner off the floor!! Staff were also recognisable by uniforms that had lines where lines should be.
Now take todays 'service' the other night my daughter phoned for a doctor for Hurricane Billy aka my grandson and had to wait in line to be assessed by someone over the phone in a call centre somewhere in the world. This person then made a stab at, a possible, it could be diagnosis and arranged a doctors appointment for the wee fella at 0200 hrs at hospital 20 miles away in the knowledge my daughter had no transport and that no public transport was available, when my daughter explained this she was met with a snappy that's your problem we have done our bit. Luckily and thankfully everything turned out ok thanks to mums vigilance and some of her own mums advise.
So looking back yes something's are definitely better through the Rosie specs, however even when you take them off something's should definitely go back to the future.
So with that I am off to get an everyday roll and some bacon and dream of the Sunday roll from days gone by!
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