Preparedness for when

DawnW

GreyQueen wrote: »

My recollection of the 60s-70s was that clothing and footwear was much more expensive in relation to earnings than it is now. Supermarkets didn't do clothing, there weren't the cheap companies like Primarche, charity shops didn't exist as such and as for car boots -no such thing.

Mum recalls that what secondhand stuff there was about her young day/ early married life was absolute rubbish. It requires an affluent consumer society to have more than it needs in the first place and to be able to pass on stuff in good condition for others to use. She'd have loved to have been able to go carbooting, it would have made our lives so much easier than they were to have cheap goods.

I was a child in the 60s, one of 4 in a working class home. We were perhaps fortunate in that we lived in a village where there were lots of wealthy people, and they donated generously to those precursors of charity shops, jumble sales! Needless to say, most of our clothes came from these. I haven't seen one for years - do they still exist? They were a great way to raise money for local causes, usually in the church or community hall, everything was donated, piled on tables and sold for pennies. I used to love them, as we children were often given/ saved up a few pennies to spend on books or toys.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Since we bought our 'ranch' 18 months ago, ( don't live there at mo, doing it up) some people think they can help themselves to our trees etc:mad::mad:, ( we have a public footpath going through the land) just make sure when you are out and about, that you are not picking stuff up from someone's land...

With us prepping the land for growing next year, we will have to live there, regardless if the cottages are ready or not. to make sure no one pinches our produce

mardatha

Going back to what BB said - maybe if more kids today did get secondhand bikes done up for their xmas, then those families would be able to afford decent food instead of paying back the plastic!

THIRZAH

daz378 wrote: »

off work next week ..... just checked nearest ikea store to salford is ashton under lyne.... unless anyone knows different?

Yes it is although there is one in Warrington too. The Ashton one is only a couple of minutes walk from the bus station-you can't miss it it's bright yellow.We can always see it when we are walking in the hills around Manchester.

The trams do run to Ashton now and they run close to IKEA.

ALIBOBSY

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

Since we bought our 'ranch' 18 months ago, ( don't live there at mo, doing it up) some people think they can help themselves to our trees etc:mad::mad:, ( we have a public footpath going through the land) just make sure when you are out and about, that you are not picking stuff up from someone's land...

With us prepping the land for growing next year, we will have to live there, regardless if the cottages are ready or not. to make sure no one pinches our produce

We tend to assume if its clearly public land like down by the river or on some nearby walks its ok to forage, but footpaths through obvious farm land I wouldn't touch anything.

Is there any way of fencing the footpath off from the rest of the growing area?
I have walked through areas around here where the farmers have planted hedges or buildt walls/fences either side of the footpaths. Don't have to be that high for most people to respect them and if you planted say things like blackthorn, hawthorn, crabapples, damson, hazel etc it would become a traditional type field hedge. Good for wildlife and you could forage along it and not be bothered about others walking through and foraging the stuff on their side?

Just a thought on stuff I have seen farmers do around here. But defo something to remember when we are out foraging.

Are they picking "proper" fruit off your trees or even chopping branches off? As opposed to just talking foragy type stuff from the margins?

When we bought this house it has stood empty for almost a year so the garden had overgrown and people had got used to cutting over the corner of the garden-we are on a corner. Took a while till people realised we had moved in and stop cutting across, but within a few months it had stopped. If your land has stood unused/empty for a while especially if over a year, perhaps people have seen fruit dropping and rotting away so may think it will be wasted if they don't pick it? Hopefully once people see signs of inhabitance and argriculture they will stop.

Can I just say soooooo jealous, we would love a smallholding/piece of our own land. Enjoy it all, hard work but so rewarding.

Ali x

Pooky

Let's be honest, how many people would know how to strip a second hand bike down now and rebuild it? I grew up with a Dad that "did" and that's rubbed off on me and I'd like to think its rubbing off on my DDs, they're both strong willed enough to not care if people give them grief for having second hand stuff. DD1 is very much into retro clothing and as an art student pulls it off with ease, some of her friends visibly gag at the idea of stuff from a CS, but not until they know where it's come from. There's still a lot of people of the mindset that new and expensive must be better and I know at was the same in the 60's/70's.

My Dad was of the generation that if you talked back to your boss and told him where to shove it on the Friday (he was on the building sites) that you didn't come home until you'd trawled all the walkable distance sites and found another job to start on the Monday. He had a family to provide for and provide for he did. How many young men have that attitude now?

It's now become socially acceptable that people expect help from the state, moan when they don't get it and have forgotten how to help themselves. It's not just this governments fault, it's been a long line of bad decisions. But it's lovely to know that there are still likeminded people put there that want to make sure they're covered, they're ok, they've got plans in place and food in cupboards.

[Deleted User]

Not only that mardatha, but if they got fewer presents, instead of being showered with many hundreds of pounds worth of stuff, they might learn to appreciate (and even respect) what they got, a bit more.

I know a couple, with 3 children, who regularly spend well over £2,000 on Christmas.

If each child doesn't get at least £500 spent on them, the parents feel they're being mean.

Last Christmas, the kids got (among other things) games consoles, a laptop, smart phones, a brand new bike each, etc.

Some of the presents haven't even been used yet.

What I also find sad is, how few things, nowadays, involve the whole family.

Board games may not be very sophisticated, by today's standards, but at least they taught you about cooperating with others.

Nowadays, it seems less about working with one another, and more about outdoing one another, by getting/having a "better" phone, games console, laptop, or whatever.



Sadly, even the parents, themselves, are getting in on the act, of outdoing each other.

There was an article in the paper, a few months back, about how some parents spend a huge amount (in one case, over £1,000) on a massive birthday event, with their child's entire school class invited.

westcoastscot

Have you seen this?
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/oct/12/middle-class-young-people-future-worse-parents

Hard_Up_Hester

Two of my grandchildren got 2nd hand bikes for Christmas last year, and two of them were given a dolls cot made from shoe boxes!
Hester

bluebag

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

If you want to see how much better off we are now, consider three items.

Firstly, a pint of milk.

I have a friend who was a milkman for many years.

Twenty years ago, he was delivering it at 23p a pint.

You can buy it today, for 25p a pint.

Next, a pair of jeans.

You can get a pair from Asda for less than £5.

I paid more than £5 for a pair, 20 years ago.

Finally, a bicycle.

My first bike, in about 1967, was second hand.

My father brought it home, stripped it down, paint stripped it, resprayed it with a few aerosol cans, polished the rust from the handlebars and wheels, and reassembled it.

That was my "big Christmas present".

The rest consisted of the odd board game or annual.

How many children, nowadays, get a second hand bike for Christmas?

These days, it's a quick trip to Halfords, or the Supermarket, to buy a new one, which becomes just one present, among a pile.

The same comparison for travel, heating and housing costs don't come out that well though.