Simplifying Life - Mark II

Alison_Funnell

Lavender_Cottage wrote: »

Just wanted to say I feel dishearted with life today....watched Wartime kitchen and garden on Yesterday (Freeview) and life (despite the war) seemed so much simpler then...I hate consumerism and all the waste that happens today (I'm 38 by the way!)

I agree with the consumerism and waste. I also agree with you about things seeming simpler. There are so many things that are great about now and drawbacks, same as then. I wouldn't miss the blaring music from neighbours or the grafitti. I would definitely miss fridges/freezers/modern knowledge and acceptance of others lifestyles.

Caterina

Wouldn't it be nice, though, to have the wartime spirit of frugality, simplicity and tight knitted community without having the war? Must it happen only because of impelling necessity? Perhaps peak oil and climate change will bring these qualities out in people, then!

I would miss avocados, though!

helzbelz_57

well, i agree about the sense of community and making the best use of what we have but wouldnt for as moment wish to go back in time. so i am making a huge effort in our family at the minute to really think about how best to use the things we buy so we waste as little as possible and also what we can reuse or pass on to someone who can use it better. also trying to encourage the family to buy things with less packaging. we are making alot of our own treats from scratch with our eldest son and he is really enjoying it and brings a share to his friends that live near us which also encourages him to think of others and be a part of his community. it is all small things but everyday we are finding new ways to do things and it makes us all feel better for it.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I'd like to be able to see the stars at night. I'd prefer it if most people travelled by bicycle. Rules that meant every child was allocated enough to eat. Organic methods of food production. Less reliance on meat. Fewer chances (not none, just fewer) for people to get completely rata rsed on strong lager. Jobs, cheap housing.

The ability to leave the house without someone telephoning within 15 minutes, texting because you didn't pick up, texting again because you haven't replied to the first text, texting again because they've just thought of something they didn't put in the previous texts, texting again wanting to know why you're not replying to their texts/demanding to know whether you are out of credit/wounded/kidnapped by aliens/run away with the bloke you went to school with 20 years ago because you had a text from him last year to say happy birthday and you replied to HIM.

Yeah, I'd like that.

But the actual bit about war, death, dying, famine, fear, separation, etc, etc. Nope. The need to have permission from your husband/father to do anything. The strong possibility that, if your husband died, someone would come and remove your children to a state orphanage because they 'needed' a man. Backstreet abortions. No recognition of domestic violence or rape within marriage. The maternal deathrate. Infant mortality. The absence of antibiotics, contraceptives, chemotherapy, analgesia. No real recognition of mental illness. Only the first steps of plastic/reconstructive surgery. TB. Criminalisation of homosexuality. People being called Y d, W p, D go, C n, N g r, G ppo, people in this country and others believing in the superiority of one group over another. The concept of the Untermenschen. Kristallnacht. The Daily Mail declaring 'Hooray for Hitler'. Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.

Not enough good in the past to warrant bringing it back, in my opinion. Not that the present is necessarily better in all respects. Different, though.

Alison_Funnell

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I'd like to be able to see the stars at night. I'd prefer it if most people travelled by bicycle. Rules that meant every child was allocated enough to eat. Organic methods of food production. Less reliance on meat. Fewer chances (not none, just fewer) for people to get completely rata rsed on strong lager. Jobs, cheap housing.

The ability to leave the house without someone telephoning within 15 minutes, texting because you didn't pick up, texting again because you haven't replied to the first text, texting again because they've just thought of something they didn't put in the previous texts, texting again wanting to know why you're not replying to their texts/demanding to know whether you are out of credit/wounded/kidnapped by aliens/run away with the bloke you went to school with 20 years ago because you had a text from him last year to say happy birthday and you replied to HIM.

Yeah, I'd like that.

But the actual bit about war, death, dying, famine, fear, separation, etc, etc. Nope. The need to have permission from your husband/father to do anything. The strong possibility that, if your husband died, someone would come and remove your children to a state orphanage because they 'needed' a man. Backstreet abortions. No recognition of domestic violence or rape within marriage. The maternal deathrate. Infant mortality. The absence of antibiotics, contraceptives, chemotherapy, analgesia. No real recognition of mental illness. Only the first steps of plastic/reconstructive surgery. TB. Criminalisation of homosexuality. People being called Y d, W p, D go, C n, N g r, G ppo, people in this country and others believing in the superiority of one group over another. The concept of the Untermenschen. Kristallnacht. The Daily Mail declaring 'Hooray for Hitler'. Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.

Not enough good in the past to warrant bringing it back, in my opinion. Not that the present is necessarily better in all respects. Different, though.

YEP! ^^ All of the above.

JoolzS

Lavender_Cottage wrote: »

Just wanted to say I feel dishearted with life today....watched Wartime kitchen and garden on Yesterday (Freeview) and life (despite the war) seemed so much simpler then...I hate consumerism and all the waste that happens today (I'm 38 by the way!)

You may want to try living through *one* winter with a coal fire in your front room as your only form of heating, and no boiler for hot water - you may find you like modern life a lot more after that!

It's easy to avoid consumerism - don't watch ads and don't buy stuff. Waste is also incredibly easy to cut down on - don't buy stuff you don't want, don't buy things that have excessive packaging, don't buy more than you need, etc, etc.

If you really think it was better back than, try talking to someone who was black, indian, gay, jewish, a battered wife, an abused child, back then and see how much "simpler" they thought life was.

Ignore what other people do. I find it ridiculous that anyone would pay £300 for a dress when they could buy one elsewhere for £30, or even £15, but it's not up to me to tell them how to spend their money. I choose to not spend money on things that aren't worth it to me, and that's where it ends.

It's actually very easy to live a 1940s lifestyle (with the best modifications) in a 2010 world, whereas it was impossible to do the opposite. I know which I prefer .

Julie

moo2moo

Modern life might be pants but it is easy.

For those of us whose collegues think we're an alien lifeform from an alternative dimension by choosing to live in the middle of nowhere without central heating or mains sewage and with intermittent landline phone service and children who are too busy climbing trees and mucking out animals (by choice) to watch TV. There are days when walking in to the door to a warm house would be fab. Instead we chop up kindling, lug in logs and clean out fire grates waiting an hour or so for the house to warm up. Its far harder on days when the log pile is under 6" of snow and the coal man can't get to the house because of the ice to fill the bunker but I wouldn't have it any other way.

The children play cards with us at the dinner table after dinner, we play board games. I'd be surprised if we watch 3 hours of TV a week. Theres nothing worth wasting the time on, although its a nice distraction if I'm tired but there are far too many fabulous books out there waiting to be read to waste time watching mindless drivel.

One of the few luxuries in my day is an hour surfing the net each morning which generally occurs between 5:30 and 6:30am and enables me to have an hours peace and grown up conversation as during school holidyas and weekends I can go days if not weeks without seeing anyone. I'd miss the convenience of having the sheer volume of information at my fingertips and the ability to have obscure items delivered to my door but I'm sure I could find most of the things I need with just a little more effort.

seraphina

And I don't buy that rubbish about tightly knit communities either! From reading about that era, it was more like a grown up school playground, with queen bees and busybodies checking the cleanliness of your whites on the washing line! Communities are still here, but evolving - you only need to look at OS to see that!

Linda32

Oh's Mum (age 78) still thanks her lucky stars when she turns on the electric light in the centrally heated bathroom, remembering when they thought they were rich when they got an house with an inside cold tap and didn't have to use the water butt any more.

Ches

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

I'd like to be able to see the stars at night. I'd prefer it if most people travelled by bicycle. Rules that meant every child was allocated enough to eat. Organic methods of food production. Less reliance on meat. Fewer chances (not none, just fewer) for people to get completely rata rsed on strong lager. Jobs, cheap housing.

The ability to leave the house without someone telephoning within 15 minutes, texting because you didn't pick up, texting again because you haven't replied to the first text, texting again because they've just thought of something they didn't put in the previous texts, texting again wanting to know why you're not replying to their texts/demanding to know whether you are out of credit/wounded/kidnapped by aliens/run away with the bloke you went to school with 20 years ago because you had a text from him last year to say happy birthday and you replied to HIM.

Yeah, I'd like that.

But the actual bit about war, death, dying, famine, fear, separation, etc, etc. Nope. The need to have permission from your husband/father to do anything. The strong possibility that, if your husband died, someone would come and remove your children to a state orphanage because they 'needed' a man. Backstreet abortions. No recognition of domestic violence or rape within marriage. The maternal deathrate. Infant mortality. The absence of antibiotics, contraceptives, chemotherapy, analgesia. No real recognition of mental illness. Only the first steps of plastic/reconstructive surgery. TB. Criminalisation of homosexuality. People being called Y d, W p, D go, C n, N g r, G ppo, people in this country and others believing in the superiority of one group over another. The concept of the Untermenschen. Kristallnacht. The Daily Mail declaring 'Hooray for Hitler'. Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.

Not enough good in the past to warrant bringing it back, in my opinion. Not that the present is necessarily better in all respects. Different, though.

Brilliant post and the second paragraph is just so true. :T