Projected outlook gets gloomier

jennyfromtheblog

I do wonder sometimes if the reality of life in Britain is that of the 60s and 70s rather than the late 80s, 90s and 2000s. When you watch old TV programmes like the Liver Birds, Rising Damp, basically anything from 'the old days' its run down houses, sparse furniture, people sharing ROOMS, (not just flats or houses), car ownership a luxury rather than the multiple car ownership we seem to have now.
So is that the norm or is that depressed economics? Have we just been enjoying a couple of good decades (well in certain areas of the Uk where there is/was a healthy job market).Are we going back to the thrift our parents had to put up with but permanently?

amcluesent

>So is that the norm or is that depressed economics?<

More socialist economics which suppressed any initiative with taxation and 'The Ministry' planned everything about life in Britain. 6 months wait before the GPO 'allowed' you to have a phone!

Of course, the Tory toffs of the day were just as bad with their patrician loathing for 'trade'.

How much better would Britain be now if we hadn't wasted ££ billions for decades in allowing the 'can work, won't work' brigade to sit watching telly all day, with their cans of White Lightening to hand!

PasturesNew

jennyfromtheblog wrote: »

people sharing ROOMS, (not just flats or houses)

In about 1980 I had a friend who shared a flat with one other girl. They shared a bedroom, it was quite common back then.

I had another friend who had a baby, she rented the boxroom in a mid-terraced house (built about 1890). She didn't feel hard done by, she felt lucky to have her own place. She had to keep her stuff and the baby's stuff in that small room, couldn't take any of it downstairs, had no access to the lounge. That was the way things were.

I didn't know many people that lived like that though, the only way out of your parents' house was to get married - two salaries to pay the rent. Everybody I knew lived with their parents until their late 30s. In 1990 when I bought a mobile home I was known as really lucky and well off to be able to afford to do that and get out.

Both stories are from Cambridge.

nickmason

Mid 90s I shared a room in a three-bed rented flat entirely platonically with a member of the opposite sex. And one of my best friends owned a one bedroom flat and he would have a friend similarly paying rent for the other bed.

treliac

jennyfromtheblog wrote: »

I do wonder sometimes if the reality of life in Britain is that of the 60s and 70s rather than the late 80s, 90s and 2000s. When you watch old TV programmes like the Liver Birds, Rising Damp, basically anything from 'the old days' its run down houses, sparse furniture, people sharing ROOMS, (not just flats or houses), car ownership a luxury rather than the multiple car ownership we seem to have now.
So is that the norm or is that depressed economics? Have we just been enjoying a couple of good decades (well in certain areas of the Uk where there is/was a healthy job market).Are we going back to the thrift our parents had to put up with but permanently?

Might be what will have to happen. Many of us have got used to having too much materialism.

People didn't feel disadvantaged in the past just because they didn't have the latest of everything because it was the way life was for the masses. And there was no easy credit to be able to buy what you wanted when you couldn't actually afford it.

I believe that in France the majority still live as maybe we used to, without expectation of luxury furnishings, and at a more basic level, which is still seen as the norm.

We, in our society, developed what we considered a right to 'must have' trappings in a comparatively short space of time. In very recent years it's become common to hear people talk about the cosmetic surgery they have had or are planning. For how much longer can the celebrity culture be seen as normal aspiration?

For those who have never known the need to live frugally, the drop back to realism is going to be particularly difficult. But I hang onto the hope of a better society once we've gone through the inevitable shocks and readjustment that lies ahead.

lilac_lady

It hasn't been enough for some people to buy bigger houses to include a study, utility room , guest bedroom, conservatory ( and room for a pony), everything in the house must be new and matching. Changed days and not for the better.

iolanthe07

When my wife and I married in 1969 we lived in a two bedroom flat where one bedroom was unusable because of the water running down the wall. We had our own kitchen, but shared the bathroom with the couple downstairs. We paid £5 a week rent out of a joint income of £11 a week - housekeeping was £4 a week. I had a Morris Minor that my father bought and ran for me, so I was lucky there. If I recall I don't think we ever felt deprived, we were certainly never cold or hungry, and a lot of things we take for granted these days simply hadn't been invented yet. Actually, they were very happy times - you can put up with a lot when you're young.

The big difference is that we knew things would improve for us, given time. TBH I'm not sure that this is necessarily true now for young couples today. Our first house, a nice three bedroom semi with a garden and garage, cost £11,500 in 1977.

neverdespairgirl

This family did its bit for the British economy on Boxing Day. 12 of us staying here, and my brother bought 4 pints of milk, and OH bought a pair of shoelaces (made in England, no less).

neverdespairgirl

lilac_lady wrote: »

It hasn't been enough for some people to buy bigger houses to include a study, utility room , guest bedroom, conservatory ( and room for a pony), everything in the house must be new and matching. Changed days and not for the better.

I don't want room for a conservatory or pony. A utility room is quite useful, but not necessary. A guest bedroom is nice, and a study is (for us) on the essential list.

MiserlyMartin

I've been watching a load of old videoed TV from the early 80's/late 70's. All sorts including news reports. Some of the things I've seen draw amazing parallels to today. It was so long ago that this stuff has been in the media before I'd forgotten quite what it was like - that this is pretty much a re-run of the last hard times. Quite amazing how short peoples memories can be after the borrowing/consumption binge.