With all this free time at home I’ve been reflecting on memories of my youth, those years from five into my mid-teens. Life seemed simple back then. As a family we always ate our evening meal at home and always together. That was because we did not have much money and second there were not that many restaurants available. It’s different now.
Television was still in its’ younger days. Channels shutdown by midnight with the black test screen. Many of us still had black and white televisions with rabbit ears and at most, 3-5 channels. The evening news would come on at 5:00 for about an hour while a second at 10:00 pm. There was no 24/7 news from multiple sources with differing viewpoints. It’s different now.
We had one phone for the entire family to use and it hung on the wall. It was a party line so we needed to pickup the phone and make sure no one was using it before dialing. It had a rotary dial. It’s different now.
Thanks for listening.
4 Comments
Earl
My “youth” time at home sounds the same as yours, Monte. Play when the weather allowed it was always outside and the toys were most often things I’d find outside…a stick, string, etc. We had a B&W TV for years and on our party line were a couple of old ladies (at least I thought they were old) that always talked together every morning for an hour. As kids, we always had chores to do and during the summer a large garden which required our helping with freezing and canning of produce for the following winter. I felt like I had all I needed but looking back I know money must have been very tight for Mom and Dad. I sure do appreciate and admire how well they managed it.
It has certainly been a different experience for our children’s generation and I wonder with this COVID-19 pandemic if we’re not on the cusps of a major social and economical change again. I guess time will tell. Take care and stay healthy, Monte. Glad you had your surgery when you did!
Monte Stevens
I have a find who was scheduled to have back surgery today but that was canceled a week ago. I feel I had a pretty good childhood and have stored some good memories. You made me think about the chores we all had to do and there was no allowance involved. They were just a part of everyday life.
Tom Dills
We never had a party line, but I remember that our phone number started with a word – DI(amond)23253. That finally changed when they ditched the rotary phone for the push button model. I also remember the first cable channels, where the “weather channel” was a camera panning over the dials of a weather station. Or maybe the weather station was moving…I could never tell.
Yes, it was a much simpler time. Riding my bike, playing kickball and reading Asimov or Heinlein under my covers by flashlight…. Sigh.
Monte Stevens
Those are good memories, Tom. We must look back at them once in a while, helps us remember where we came from.