I was about to start this with “In the good old days…”. But it struck me like a clumsy scaffolder’s discarded hammer (on the rare occasion I’d gone out without my safety helmet) that perhaps that is a rather well-worn cliche with little basis in fact. Take the railways for example. People love to whinge and moan about another cancellation from Eastbourne to Gatwick on Southern Rail and look back with spectacles still covered in grime, never mind rose-tinted, at the halcyon and romantic days of steam when British Railways ran with Swiss style punctuality, with carriages of luxury, pristine seats and immaculately clean and lovingly cared for stations. They didn’t, they weren’t……any of the above. The trains were dirty and smelly and rarely ran to time. The stations were grimy and choking and the staff discourteous more often than not. We’ve never had it so good.
Cars. Absolutely no contest. Whilst there might have been some really fun old Lotuses and Morgans and such things, the run of the mill Cowley or Dagenham jalopies were hideous. In my memory the Morris Marina was probably the worst of the lot, but compared with todays Fords and Vauxhalls, never mind BMWs and Mercedes……well, there is no contest. We’ve never had it so good.
Aeroplanes. We, with very considerable justification, might moan about Ryanair (you don’t HAVE to use it), but in general air travel is light years better than it was forty years ago. With one caveat; ‘The World’s Favourite Airline’, which used to be a fair nomenclature, is now ‘The World’s Most Expensive Low Cost Airline’ and the largely embarrassed staff know it full well. I’m afraid I now actively seek out foreign, mainly Dubai based, air transport rather than ‘flying the flag’. It actually makes me very cross that the national carrier has been allowed to plumb such depths. It’s an embarrassment. For the most part though, we’ve never had it so good.
Buses. I really am not sure about this. As a kid it was such good fun running for the open-backed double decker, grabbing the upright pole, with the hand that wasn’t holding a tennis racquet and a box of balls and leaping on as the driver accelerated away in the hope we’d rub our grubby little noses in the dirt. Dismounting was equally challenging. The game was to jump from the open back deck when the bus was just about going slowly enough that a parachute roll wasn’t required, but well before Grandma felt able to climb down in safety. There was always a conductor, shouting “hold very tight please” and whirring those magnificent ticket machines that were held firmly in place on the chest with Playtex ‘cross your heart’ straps. (To see such things younger readers will need to visit The National Traction Engine and Omnibus Museum in……now where is it?) Of course they always used to show up three at a time after a thirty minute wait and there was no electronic board at the bus stop to tell you that there’s one due in twenty three minutes, but I just have a sneaky feeling that this is one area where ‘the good old days’ might be appropriate.
Cinema. If that’s true of buses it most certainly isn’t of the Moving Picture Theatre. They talk about the ‘Golden Era’ of Hollywood in the ’30s, 40’s and 50’s but there is nothing more golden than the modern multi-screen, 3D, surround-sound, vibrating seat, all action Cinematic Experience. There is no comparison with the old single screen flea-pits of yesteryear, although that twin seat in the back row for two and sixpence took some beating for breaking the ice (or something) with the latest young conquest. We’ve never had it so good.
Food. The arguments are a little more mixed here. My grandparents owned a fabulous Victorian walled garden, from which they ate happily and healthily all year round. Fresh, delicious produce straight out of the ground and off the bush and they all lived well into their nineties. But the less well off ate a hugely inadequate diet in those austere post-war years. In general though we ate good quality, seasonal food that hadn’t been transported around the world. You ate strawberries in June and July, and delicious little yellow seedless grapes for all too brief a spell in July and August. Now you can pretty much get whatever you want, when you want it, including a vast tonnage of hideously processed junk food that is keeping the global population under control. The Scales of Justice definitely tilt on the side of “never had it so good”.
It strikes me this is a big subject and worthy of Part 2 another day. As they used to say in the good old days…..”to be continued”.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 