The Green Thing

lindalegs
lindalegs Member Posts: 5,393
edited 28. Jan 2012, 11:22 in Community Chit-chat archive
At the checkouts at Tesco, the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.

The woman apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days."

The 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 its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilised 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.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every large shop and office building. We walked to the local shops and didn't climb into a 4x4 vehicle every time we went out. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have disposals. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 2000 watts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Children 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 not a screen the size of Yorkshire. 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 post, 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 petrol or plug into the electrics 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.


When we were thirsty we drank from a tap instead of drinking from a plastic bottle of water shipped from the other side of the world. 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 was dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus and children rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest fish and chip shop. 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? :roll: :roll: :lol::lol:
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Please feel free to copy and recycle this message as many times as you like. :wink:
Love, Legs x
'Make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing'

Comments

  • CJHunter
    CJHunter Member Posts: 1,038
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Linda that is fantastic.
    I love it and will recycle for sure :smile:
    Clare xxeyeore-1.jpg
  • frogmorton
    frogmorton Member Posts: 29,332
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Nice one Legs :wink:

    I still have the milkman here (3xs w week they deliver now) and my Mum DID recycle her bags because she had a shopping bag and a shopping trolley. It was MY generation l think who used plastic bag willy-nilly :oops: as young adults.

    Love

    Toni xxx
  • CJHunter
    CJHunter Member Posts: 1,038
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    :oops: Yes we did Toni. I do remember getting money for giving back Corona bottles, but we were bad uns. :oops:
    Clare xxeyeore-1.jpg
  • julie47
    julie47 Member Posts: 6,041
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Loved it linda :D
  • lindalegs
    lindalegs Member Posts: 5,393
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    Hi All,

    It just proves we had 'the green thing' but just didn't give it a title :D We, too, have the milkman deliver 3 x week and used to have a baker at one time and I can just remember the pop man coming round.

    Anyway off to sort the rubbish out!

    Luv,
    Love, Legs x
    'Make a life out of what you have, not what you're missing'
  • suncatcher
    suncatcher Member Posts: 2,174
    edited 30. Nov -1, 00:00
    lindalegs wrote:
    Hi All,

    It just proves we had 'the green thing' but just didn't give it a title :D We, too, have the milkman deliver 3 x week and used to have a baker at one time and I can just remember the pop man coming round.

    Anyway off to sort the rubbish out!

    Luv,

    You had the green thing. we ruined the environment i bet global warming was never mentioned. wish the clock would be turned back on some things not others. I remember my great aunts in so much pain and struggling in a house with Ra and living a long life. Wish they had had our drugs to help them.
    Joanne