Changes I've seen

When my grandfather died in 1992 at the age of 95, I thought that no one would ever see the changes in one lifetime that he had seen. When he was born in 1897, his mother carried him home from Armidale to 21 miles past Guyra, cradling him in her arms while she rode her horse, side saddle. He could remember seeing the first cars in the district, his first plane which was little more than canvas and plywood, lived through two World Wars and a Great Depression, the Korean war, Vietnam War, and numerous other wars and skirmishes. He saw women’s skirts rise from their ankles to their thighs and back again. He died in the computer age - not that he was particularly interested in computers. I really did think that the changes he had seen would never be equalled and perhaps they won't. However, I came across an email dedicated to all those born before 1945. (I was not born before 1945, I hasten to add, but close enough to it so that most of the things still apply) and I suddenly realised that I had seen a lot of changes in my lifetime, too.

As I was reading through the list, it brought back memories of my own firsts. When televisions first arrived they had a small 17 inch screen and were quite a substantial item of furniture. We didn't get a television until around 1959, and by then the screen had grown to 21 inches. People who had television used to throw parties and invite all their less fortunate friends in for a television evening. Our parents would take along a plate, and we'd take our pillows and blankets, and everyone would sit in a darkened room. In those days people thought you had to watch television with the lights out. I was so thrilled when we got our first television. I became as addicted to my favourite shows, like The Mickey Mouse Club, Roy Rogers Show, Topper, and a host of others, as I had been with all the radio serials I used to listen to before T.V. (Serials that I swore I would never abandon - ah the fickleness of youth). The T.V. had valves which always blew when my favourite shows were on. We became well acquainted with the T.V. repair man. Not like now, when it seems T.V.s go on forever with few problems.

Then there were transistors and transistor radios and you could listen to your favourite rock stars anywhere. You could bop down the street without a 300 ft extension lead following behind. (Just kidding), then came walkmans and ghetto blasters and CD's, MP3s, Bluetooth etc. Vinyl records gave way to cassettes, cassettes to CDs, CDs to MP3s etc. Before cassettes, some lucky people had bulky reel to reel tape recorders and could record all their friends saying all sorts of cool stuff.

Typewriters were big bulky things that required strong fingers. There was no such thing as liquid paper, whiteout and corrections. Thankfully there was an X key, which figured quite prominently in anything I typed, which is why I never made typing my career. The first time I typed on an electric typewriter was an experience to behold. Each letter appeared six times because the stupid thing was so sensitive. I love computers and word processors. Instant corrections - a typist’s delight.

Kentucky Fried Chicken was the first American style fast food outlet to hit Australia. In those days the chooks were chooks, not three week old chicks, and a meal was a meal. I managed to resist McDonalds until my children were toddlers, but my first taste of Pizza was at the opening of the Baulkham Hills Pizza Hut, which, as the local Librarian and therefore pillar of the community, I had been invited to attend.

When the first satellite was launched, I with everyone else in Australia, rushed outside to see this moving star and marvel at man's ingenuity. In 1967, I watched the first worldwide broadcast by Telstar satellite. The world was linked for the first time, and although most of the show was not exactly riveting T.V., it was astounding to know that I was watching someone in England, or the U.S.A. etc talking to me LIVE. Then man stood on the surface of the moon and proved forever, that it was not made of green cheese. WOW.

Refrigerators were solid boxes with nothing much in the way of a freezer. We were lucky and had a fridge. Our neighbours had an ice box and once a week the ice man would call with new ice. Sometimes he’d break off a bit and give it to the children who were following his van.

People had coppers and two concrete washing tubs – one for rinsing and one filled with Reckitts blue and an old fashion hand wringer to move the clothes from tub to tub. Now we put the washing in the washing machine and forget about it.

Calculators were fingers and toes, electronic diaries? What were those? Microwaves. computers, faxes, e-mail, Internet, the list goes on. Just think of all the gadgets we now have in the kitchen. Almost all of them appeared in my life time.  I just wonder what else will come along before I shed this mortal coil. I can't wait to find out.