Earlier today I saw one of those Facebook posts, it compared 20-years ago when everything was wired, telephone, network access etc. and talked about how wonderful todays wireless world was; and yes, I’m writing this on my laptop connected wirelessly to the Internet.
Growing up in the first non-second World War generation child, my parents mostly had little time and money for leisure activities. In our neighborhood, they were pretty typical. Dads worked on their cars, there were no car washes, automated or otherwise; Mums did housework, together they did Gardening, they owned a few vinyl records; cinema was a quarterly, or bi-annual pleasure; vacation was rarely more than one week/6-days, and mostly no more than 300-miles from home. Music was limited to AM Radio, and depending on the decade and the income, TV was black and white very rarely colour and the programmes mostly ended before midnight, and often with a rousing chorus of God Save the Queen aka the National Anthem.
For real working class Men, there were working mens clubs, darts, snooker, and the ever present smoking. For others there was Cricket and Golf, but that was it.
Compare that to today. Vacation is almost never taken within 300-miles, the choices of sports to participate in; TV is 24/7 by 300, it’s in HD; Music has gone digital, it’s omni-present and in quality we couldn’t imagine. Movies can be watched anywhere, anytime; the Internet contains pretty much anything of an value ever recorded or filmed. Most family’s have two cars, car washes are everywhere, brushless and hand washed; Music festivals of ever increasing choice, aimed at every generation. Clubs, museums, the choices of how to spend your time are endless. These days whole towns, areas focus their entire purpose around recreation and travel and entertainment, 50-years ago Vegas was the only place on the planet that could claim that.
My only disappointment is that smoking is still with us. Oh, yeah, and gardening, whats that all about?