You don't need to have been born in 1880 to have experienced life without
modern conveniences.
In my young day in East Africa we had a wood fire and a paraffin
(kerosene) fridge. Telephones and televisions were unknown. I went to
the cinema only twice before I was thirteen (the coronation of Queen
Elizabeth, and The Living Desert). Lighting was by pressure lamp, and the
bathwater was heated by firewood in an old 44 gallon drum just outside the
bathroom. Water came from the roof into a large tank. Milk came in a
churn on the back of a bicycle.
You probably don't want to hear about the thunderbox.
This was the situation up until about 1965, when telephones, power, and
the 20th Century arrived.
Good times, though.
John
On Tue, 02 May 2006 17:41:22 +0100, Godfrey DiGiorgi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
On May 2, 2006, at 9:06 AM, graywolf wrote:
Humm...? That makes me think. The two modern conveniences I would not
want to give up are the indoor bathroom, and the personal computer.
Reminds me of a family get together years ago when my great great
grandmother was still alive. There were four generations of mothers
cooking in the kitchen. The youngest was going on and on about how it
was inconceivable to have a kitchen without a microwave ... she had two.
Her mother shook her head and said it was the dishwasher that made all
the difference, she hated the time it took to clean up after dinner and
the dishwasher made her feel like she wasn't some kind of hired help.
Her mother snorted and said the two youngsters were just spoiled: in her
youth, you had to fuss and fiddle with the gas stove and gas oven, cook
things from scratch rather than from packaged mixes...
My great great grandmother was a grand old lady, very quiet but very
smart. She was born on a village farm in 1880 and emigrated to the US in
1903. Her comment, after hearing all the discussion by the other three,
was that she though electricity was a wonderful idea ... it was a lot
easier to see than it used to be. I'm sure she would agree with your
honoring the indoor bathroom. She didn't live long enough to see the
first personal computer.
Godfrey
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