the good old days

[chesters1]

just been browsing old post cards of folkestone ,why is it the views we see are immaculate in every detail ?

no graffiti ,no rubbish, FAR more care taken of the public spaces! in all a sence of pride.

some pictures show walks now barred and full of rubbish! buildings that in the pictures were sparkling and well cared for now nothing more than derilict husks of their former glory.one shows a promenade with no railings at all but today that would be swiftly closed due to health and safety ! are we more stupid now we need signs everywhere telling us that theres danger about!!

 

why do we look back at the past and sneer ? why do we spend more and more on public services and tax yet get only a fraction of the value for money for it?

were our forefathers a 100 years ago so bad off ? are we in the 21st century being taken for a ride ,if our taxes could fund these spectactular vistas a century ago why the F cant they do it now

 

yes were at war but they had a few back then too so its not an excuse.

even as a kid i remember each park had a parky at least now its a couple of chaps in a van wheres all this money going they have only a fraction of the staff to pay? but every year they hike up the taxes.

 

it would be interesting to see a councils employee list from a 100 years ago and now ,then i expect there were far more working outside than in offices ,now the reverse seems to be the case in more managers! if theres more managers and less labourers just what are these managers managing

 

i expect theres the cost of living and wages but are modern basic rate labourers better off than a 100 years ago ? probably worse off in reality ,i wonder what council worker got then and now taking into consideration all the taxes both up front and hidden we pay now.

i think we are today living in a dream world and exploited far more than our edwardian counterparts.we dont have kids working in mines we dont have many mines at all!!

 

perhaps for the benefit of this country air travel should be banned and holidays taken here rather in some country full of foreigners why give them money to build buildings when we have deprived seaside towns here that need it.

the weather? it was good enough for those before us to enjoy.

expensive prices? is that cheap pint in spain so cheap when you count the cost of living out there for a fortnight to get it?

 

i have noticed whenever a town starts to decline (both fokestone and aldershot being observed) the council in its wisdom thinks re surfacing its pedestrian areas the way to stop shops closing !!! perhaps cutting the business rates would be better ,aldershot has had several resurfaces in 20 years but strangely the shops number far less than when we first moved to the area!!!

out of town supermarkets taking the trade? simple let them have town center plots! the small businesses will prosper in passing trade!!! the supermarkets sell a very limited number of items of every description cheap but they cant cater for everything thats where old fashioned shops come into their own.the two together should prosper but not when the buyer is several miles away in tesco.

Edited August 31, 2007 by chesters1

[nick]

just been browsing old post cards of folkestone ,why is it the views we see are immaculate in every detail ?

no graffiti ,no rubbish, FAR more care taken of the public spaces! in all a sence of pride.

some pictures show walks now barred and full of rubbish! buildings that in the pictures were sparkling and well cared for now nothing more than derilict husks of their former glory.one shows a promenade with no railings at all but today that would be swiftly closed due to health and safety ! are we more stupid now we need signs everywhere telling us that theres danger about!!

 

why do we look back at the past and sneer ? why do we spend more and more on public services and tax yet get only a fraction of the value for money for it?

were our forefathers a 100 years ago so bad off ? are we in the 21st century being taken for a ride ,if our taxes could fund these spectactular vistas a century ago why the F cant they do it now

 

yes were at war but they had a few back then too so its not an excuse.

even as a kid i remember each park had a parky at least now its a couple of chaps in a van wheres all this money going they have only a fraction of the staff to pay? but every year they hike up the taxes.

 

it would be interesting to see a councils employee list from a 100 years ago and now ,then i expect there were far more working outside than in offices ,now the reverse seems to be the case in more managers! if theres more managers and less labourers just what are these managers managing

 

Totally agree with you Chesters - but not just councils, government and business too.

 

It's all about greed, nobody does anything for basic pride now, their has to be a profit in it.

 

I wonder if this story helps to illustrate the mindset of Modern Council Officials as to how money should be spent. All I can say is thank you for external auditors!

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinbu...ast/6969656.stm

[chesters1]

you wonder why i scorn at council officials, we had a councilor get caught for fiddling postal votes ,the rascel then was up before the council to vote to eject him from his job ,ofcourse the party politics came into it and his lot voted against his ejection the other lot voted for.

trouble is it was 50 50 and only the council head could decide with her vote ,it went his way (he kept his job) why?

because it was his frigging wife

corruption everywhere.

 

in our tussle with housing we've already proved the head of housing is a liar who will stoop low enough to lie to an mp and besmirch our name ,yet he still is head of housing

what do officials actually need to do to get sacked?seems theres nothing bar murder!! in the real world anyone else would be sacked on the spot

Edited August 31, 2007 by chesters1

[gozzer]

In a local cafe, there are old photos of my town, before it became part of Leeds urban sprawl.

Pictures of people walking in the middle of the traffic free main street, stood talking in little groups, kids playing. Everyone looked either old or a kid, nothing in between, (don't suppose teenagers had been invented then).

There are also pictures of the local park, with a dozen or so men cutting the grass and tending the flower beds.

Now, one guy on a motorised lawnmower cuts the grass, while 2 maybe 3 unload plants off a truck, and bung them in the ground.

Along with teenagers, spray paint hadn't been invented then either, so no graffiti.

There wasn't much rubbish because stuff was recycled or mended then, not chucked away like now.

Not as much unnecessary packaging, fast food was a pie in your hand, or if you were taking it home, a brown paper bag.

My son was telling me that one of his mates had started working for him self as an upholsterer.

I was surprised and said that I didn't think that there was much work for them now a days.

But it seems that he's got a few contracts with big stores, so that when a suite is damaged on route from the factory, he goes out, assesses the damage and decides if it needs shipping back, or a repair can be made 'on site'.

In the old days before we became a 'throw away' society, an upholsterer re-covered old suites, rather than buying a new one, and dumping the old one, as is done today.

 

It's called 'progress' chesters, though some of us think that 'regress' would be a more apt word in some cases.

 

John.

[chesters1]

theres very little today that will become an antique of the future ,you can buy a antique solid wood wardrobe that will last several lifetimes for less than the poxy chipboard versions you get today.

to much choice and keeping up with the f-ing joneses going on!!

modern shops are no more than middle men today most havent a clue how their stuff works and parts unavailable when they break ,thank goodness for tight bastards like me who prefer to fix than replace ,no encouragement for a throw away society here

 

aldershot was a fine old town ,little true historical history (a victorian "new" town) but amoungst the half empty modern shopping buildings theres old ones with very faded painted wall signs advertising wares long gone from the shelves .the town had declined i admit but now its full of empty modern shopping precincts (farnborough too) which will probably (because they are falling to bits) be replaced at great expence for half empty new ones.

they replaced a genuine victorian shopping arcade which was full of shops with a fake version very similar in design it was half empty for years but now has a quarter of the shops that were there selling crap nobody wants and all struggling to make money.

 

aldershot has a statue (its true) is it proudly displayed showing its military back ground ? nope its an effing greyhound "promoting a track (now gone) that wasent even in aldershot .the wellington statue (moved from london) sits outside aldershot hard to find and neglected when at leat it could serve a purpose reminding people that aldershot was a military town before its forgotten not that we have a military now

 

as you say pride has gone ,our youngsters dont have it instilled in them and using their own eyes see nothing to be proud of ,once prides gone theres little else left and society falls.

 

yes ofcourse some things are better health care and a better housing standard but not a lot for a once world leader! pity those once "uncivilised" countries we "improved" have kept improving and not sat on its hands like we have! now we are the third world country and china probably pities us ,we have few "british" compaies, this nation of shop keepers dont even own our own "shops" any more

Edited August 31, 2007 by chesters1

[snakey1]

what do officials actually need to do to get sacked?seems theres nothing bar murder!!

Actually a mate of mine used to work as a mechanic for a local council and one of the guys he worked with was sent down for murdering his partner, when he came out of the nick some years later the same council offered him his old job back which he accepted and he ended up working with my mate again before he left a few years later.

So although murder may put you out of a job while your in the nick it doesn't mean you won't get your old job back when you get out(at least if you work for certain councils).

[Sportsman]

We also need to remember that these old photgraphs were staged to show the acceptable face of Edwardian life.

They didn't have graffiti but what they did have was rat infested slums, open sewers in the streets, no medical treatment unless you could afford it, grinding poverty for the majority and an appalling childhood death rate from disease, malnutrition and workplace accident and illness.

In the larger cities the life expectancy at birth would have been in the 40s for working class people.

No litter? no the working class poor would have been along and scavenged it.

The vast majority of the population would still have been agricultural labourers, living in cottages with no water supply and no drains, subject to eviction at a moments notice if your work circumstances changed.

It was only the good old days if you were lucky enough to be born into the right class.

[UK_Ozzie]

They didn't have graffiti but what they did have was rat infested slums, open sewers in the streets, no medical treatment unless you could afford it, grinding poverty for the majority and an appalling childhood death rate from disease, malnutrition and workplace accident and illness.

 

The good ol days where a working man couldn't afford fishing gear, there was little rubbish because there was little or no packaging.

 

There was no social security. No NHS. No public housing.

 

Imagine being sent to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread.

 

Your point is taken about the rubbish but things are no different in other countries unless they chop your hand off or send you to jail for having chewing gum.

 

Jail is just too easy these days. Take out the televisions and bring in smashing rocks and they'd be empty over night.

 

Any country with a death penalty for drug dealing seems to have low drug usage.

 

Imagine children in a depression today. I love it when you have fat people on television saying they have no money.

 

Bring back the whip!

 

Postcards don't exactly have rubbish in them.

 

The law has gone soft.

 

"Harden the f*** up Australia"

~ Chopper Read ~

Edited August 31, 2007 by UK_Ozzie

[chesters1]

they arnt staged they are street scenes on postcards no faking most were taken as it was.

i am not saying conditions were as good as they are now (but youl find conditions for the majority wernt as you described but ofcourse did exist in the poorest slums as they still do).

people do still live without mains water supplies in the 21st century and indeed our old house had no gas nor mains sewage and i was evicted so to speak as it was a tied cottage so no different to when the house was built.

were a small country so eventually the "mains" system got to most places! in france theres lots of places without mains water ,gas or sewerage.

"wealth" isnt just money its everything ,you can be poor but have pride you can be homeless and have pride .

life expectancy hasent gone up through us all being wealthy its risen because choice has been brought into the factor ,you can choose to have children you can choose where to live you can choose your job.

choice wasent a factor before you expected to go down the mines ,you expected to go to the mills because they were the closest and thats all you got.

but pride shouldnt be forgotten just because you well off! in reality pride makes even the poorest have clean clothes and they didnt have washing powder then.

poverty isnt an excuse to let things go it didnt then it shouldnt now and now with the country going down the pan theres little left but pride.

i was brought up in the 50's there was still some "pride" about ,bands used to parade for any excuse and respect was not in short supply ,the 50's wasent some miracle decade and all was well we still had air raid sirens being tested every week because stalin and his hordes were poised ,did we all let ourselves go and throw crap on the street? unless it was chewing gum absolutely not.

you called any grown up mr or mrs (i still do) you didnt kick the crap out of them if they moaned at you like today.

 

being "rich" today just means money our manners are saddly lacking ,our civilised society has forgotten how to be civilised.

Edited August 31, 2007 by chesters1

[UK_Ozzie]

Whoops double post but yes your right pride shouldn't go out the window. I live in a good example of that.

 

There is some old towns with no rubbish but nothing went to waste. Brown paper bags were expensive.

 

Bring back a deposit on packaging and watch the cool drink cans disappear off the streets.

 

We need a good depression to snap everyone back into realty?

Edited August 31, 2007 by UK_Ozzie