Boomers 'Epitaph'

[Boomer54]

I saw this earlier and I thought it kind of summarises much of my life and probably yours if you are of a certain age.

They call us ”The Elderly”

We were born in the 40-50-60’s.

We grew up in the 50-60-70's.

We studied in the 60-70-80's.

We were dating in the 70-80-90's.

We got married and discovered the world in the 70-80-90's.

We venture into the 80-90’s.

We stabilize in the 2000’s.

We got wiser in the 2010’s.

And we are going firmly through and beyond 2020.

Turns out we've lived through EIGHT different decades...

TWO different centuries...

TWO different millennia...

We have gone from the telephone with an operator for long-distance calls to video calls to anywhere in the world.

We have gone from slides to YouTube, from vinyl records to online music, from handwritten letters to email and Whats App.

From live matches on the radio, to black and white TV, colour TV and then to 3D HD TV.

We went to the Video store and now we watch Netflix.

We got to know the first computers, punch cards, floppy disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones.

We wore shorts throughout our childhood and then long trousers, Oxfords, flares, shell suits & blue jeans.

We dodged infantile paralysis, meningitis, polio, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19.

We rode skates, tricycles, bicycles, mopeds, petrol or diesel cars and now we drive hybrids or electric.

Yes, we've been through a lot but what a great life we've had!

They could describe us as “exennials”; people who were born in that world of the fifties, who had an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.

We've kind of “Seen-It-All”!

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has literally adapted to “CHANGE”.

A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE.

-Author unknown

Keep on keeping on!

 

[Malc1]

Very clever ……. for those of us who’ve actually got this far ……. ambition now to outlive both my Lexii 😂

Malc 

[Mr Vlad]

Well found Stephen. Ruddy excellent. Brought a smile to my face. 

I keep telling the young'uns I've been there done that and got the t-shirt lol.

It's great being 61 going on 25 lol

[Boomer54]

19 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

Well found Stephen. Ruddy excellent. Brought a smile to my face. 

I keep telling the young'uns I've been there done that and got the t-shirt lol.

It's great being 61 going on 25 lol

Of all those things mentioned of course nowhere is there a line about a day in 1966 when the impossible happened and a young lad hid his head under a pillow too frightened to see the dreaded Germans win. Then of course they didn't, and for awhile the world seemed a better place full of boys who wanted to be at least one of the Bobby twosome. So, 'Epitaph' indeed for a Great footballer and equally Great gentleman. 

RIP Sir Bobby Charlton and thanks for helping to create a seminal moment in this guys memories.

[Barry14UK]

Yes, great player and Gentleman Sir Bobby, RIP. 

To the list of change we could add jet planes, package holidays or travel to countries as never before and Cruises on enormous ships.  Then fantastic advances in medicine and medical procedures, even heart transplants etc.  Then another major achievement, actually landing an Astronaut on the moon something that used to be considered fantasy.  So many changes and innovations, many of which we have had to come to terms with.  One thing I highly valued was progressively longer holidays from the two weeks I started with my first job and the few pounds I saved to buy an old motorcycle.  (A car was out of the question then but I made up for it over the years with a succession of motorcycles and cars). 

PS  There was decimalization and entering and leaving the EU for we Brits too.   

[Boomer54]

28 minutes ago, Barry14UK said:

Yes, great player and Gentleman Sir Bobby, RIP. 

To the list of change we could add jet planes, package holidays or travel to countries as never before and Cruises on enormous ships.  Then fantastic advances in medicine and medical procedures, even heart transplants etc.  Then another major achievement, actually landing an Astronaut on the moon something that used to be considered fantasy.  So many changes and innovations, many of which we have had to come to terms with.  One thing I highly valued was progressively longer holidays from the two weeks I started with my first job and the few pounds I saved to buy an old motorcycle.  (A car was out of the question then but I made up for it over the years with a succession of motorcycles and cars). 

PS  There was decimalization and entering and leaving the EU for we Brits too.   

Barry, guess it would read like War and Peace if we included even a fraction of the change we have seen over the last 70 ish years.

I confess to sometimes  just feeling like I might have outlived my time. So much is strange to me these days.

 

[Malc1]

Just now, Boomer54 said:

I confess to sometimes  to just feeling like I might have outlived my time. So much is strange to me these days.

WOT  ...  I'm,  and so should you too, be  living every day as if it's my First ......... knowing I just haven't the energy for lots of " interesting " stuff I used to do as a lad, even a couple of years ago now  ..  the only " strange " and unwelcome thing is this feeling of knowing the energy and physical levels don't match up to my mind " wanting " to do stuff 

That's the strange part of modern day life .....  I could still just about press buttons A and B in the Red Telephone Box if they still had them eh !

Malc

[Bluemarlin]

50 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

That's the strange part of modern day life .....  I could still just about press buttons A and B in the Red Telephone Box if they still had them eh !

Malc

But would you have the strength to push the 2p in when the call was answered? 🙂

[First_Lexus]

1 hour ago, Boomer54 said:

I confess to sometimes  just feeling like I might have outlived my time. So much is strange to me these days

I feel the same sometimes. It’s a funny thing, age. When I first started work - no mobile telephones, only a few big desktop computers - I worked with senior managers who I considered ‘old.’ They were actually about the age I am now.

They lamented the decline in Britain’s global standing, the change in etiquette and standards, we’re appalled by long hair and as for removing formal dress (and I mean three-piece suits) in the office, it was like the world was ending! They found new technology scary and threatening. I thought they were out of touch and that I knew it all…

…fast forward and I now know only too well how they felt. I don’t do much online, I also lament Britain’s (continued) global decline, I don’t like home working much, and as for the move from business dress in the office to no dress code at all…!

One of those managers, all those years ago, used to tell youngsters like me - who thought we knew it all - that “…I’ve forgotten more than you’ll ever know.”

Turns out he was right.

[PaulWhitt20]

Live every day as if it is your last…

…one day, you will be right. 

[Rabbers]

Depressing thread, this.  I don’t need reminding of my age.  I’m already pleased I can remember it. 

[Malc1]

I remember office dress standards in the 60’s …… my first formal job,  as a bank clerk …. my “ Old School”    Bank Manager ….. ex wartime naval officer ….. sent me home to change my red pin striped shirt to “normal and acceptable “  formal white 

i was years ahead of my time of course ….. red pin stripe shirts quite normal City dress just a very few years later ….. oh the excesses of youth ! 
 

Ain’t I lucky I can remember some 50/60 years back 😂

Malc 

[dutchie01]

Metoo. i was sent home for not wearing a tie, The Nerve!! By the way yes we have seen all the new technologies as stated in this thread but what about my grandparents. Born in 1890, seen the first plane, car, telephone. Lived through two ( 2 ) worldwars and died in the eighties.

Born in 1961 i think what makes my generation special is that we never experienced a war. Sounds stupid but you only have to look into history to see that is really special.

[Boomer54]

58 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

Depressing thread, this.  I don’t need reminding of my age.  I’m already pleased I can remember it. 

Was not meant to be depressing. Quite the opposite it was supposed to celebrate the resilience of a generation  who experienced a rate of social and technological change that has been unprecedented. Although I dare say that may not look the same in another 50 years.

As for the rest, well a guy died who meant something to me. Indeed we even named our dog after him and I kid you not it was run over by a number 66 double decker bus. Was the driver named Otto , we do not know.

[VFR]

From a time when a public servant had integrity & would instantly resign if caught lying. To now where lying is simply second nature & integrity is an unknown word.

From a time where you were guaranteed to cut yourself many times when shaving with a 7 o/clock blade to now flying along with at least a triple blade razor.

From a time when “you had to” spend at least part of your day off checking / fixing whatever you rode / drove. To now servicing your car once a year & grease guns are now in museums. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From a time when most of the world trusted the US. To now when most of the world despise it. 

[Boomer54]

From a time I used to cut peat for the fire to a time when I cut wood for the fire !

Hmmmm.   .

[Malc1]

……. when the coal man delivered sacks of coal on his wagon and tipped the sacks into the grille by the front door to fill the Coal Cellar 

AND the Rag & Bone man toured the streets ( of south London anyway ) on his horse drawn cart calling for “ any old iron “

Not seen any of those for decades !

Malc  

[Boomer54]

Nothing like seeing something visually displayed.

https://ourworldindata.org/technology-long-run

[Rabbers]

 

12 hours ago, Malc1 said:

I remember office dress standards in the 60's ...

 

12 hours ago, dutchie01 said:

... I was sent home for not wearing a tie ...

I remember one occasion when I found the dress code at my place of work particularly vexing.  The year was 1970 and I had just been posted to the London HQ of a major advertising agency.  In preparation for the move I had renewed my wardrobe to accord with what I figured up-and-coming young West End executives (as distinct from the quainter rolled-up umbrella City type) were wearing.  So, I showed up on my first day in a grey flannel suit whose elegant sobriety was nicely complemented, I thought, by a dark blue-and-white striped shirt purchased at not inconsiderable expense from Messrs Turnbull & Asser, outfitters to the gentry, in nearby Jermyn Street.  By mid-morning I was beginning to feel at home in my new surroundings and confident enough, on attending my first meeting, to take off my jacket like everybody else.  Just as I was doing so it dawned on me, alas too late, that mine was the only shirt in the room that was not white or pale blue and unpatterned.  Pointing a bony finger at me from across the table the Head of Personnel enquired for all to hear if I was aware of the difference between an advertising agency and a butcher's shop.  I was fortunately not slow to understand that the absence of laughter in the room meant that his words were not intended as the joke I might initially have thought them to be.  I later learned that only a couple of years previously it had actually been the practice not to take your jacket off anywhere in the building except your own office (and presumably the toilets).  Which meant, veterans informed me, that I was lucky to have joined at a much more relaxed time. 

 

 

[Malc1]

3 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

Messrs Turnbull & Asser, outfitters to the gentry, in nearby Jermyn Street.

hahahahaha  I still have a few ( neck ) ties from that esteemed establishment ....  rarely worn apart from maybe the odd wedding ....  and believe it or not I'm no " gentry "  😂

Malc

[Rabbers]

5 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

... believe it or not I'm no " gentry "  😂

Malc

Maybe I should rather have said "carriage-trade" then!

[Malc1]

7 minutes ago, Rabbers said:

"carriage-trade"

Nope not even that  .. I worked at our merchant bank County Bank in those days and one client was T&A and they graciously held a "sale" for our staff .... cheapy, well, not so ridiculously expensive bits and bobs

Malc

[Sundance]

On 10/21/2023 at 5:02 PM, Boomer54 said:

We've kind of “Seen-It-All”!

Our generation has literally lived through and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life.

It is our generation that has literally adapted to “CHANGE”.

A big round of applause to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE.

Not wishing to rain on your parade but I believe that it's more appropriate for an earlier generation to be labelled with this banner, those born in the 10-20-30's for they've seen much more so can add ...

Many lived through 11 different decades!

Two World Wars!

A separate telephone and handset, to a party line!

BBC not yet on radio!

What is this word "video"?

The horse drawn milk cart!

Gas street lighting!

They were the ones who "saw it all".

RIP Mum 1916-2019. ❤️

[Bluemarlin]

I don't have much of an issue with dress codes, although identifying who's who takes some getting used to, as often I find that the most senior/successful guy in the room is the one in jeans and t shirt.

Workwise, I think the biggest change I've seen is that when I left school, the route to success was generally considered to be the professions, such as medicine, law and accounting.  Whllst still true to some extent today, at least for now, the tech industry has appeared and grown from being the geeks who were hidden away, to the ones who call the shots.

I think we're lucky though, not only in seeing such a substantial amount of change and progress in our lifetimes, but in being too old to be negatively affected by the even bigger changes on the horizon. There's no doubt that the growth in AI and quantum computing has the potential to change the world for good in the longer term, but the speed at which it's moving is likely to cause a significant amount of social upheaval in the short term.

[Malc1]

Looking at Stephen's short link to AI above I do wonder if we should be believing any, or none, of the people putting themselves forward knowing about AI and whatever it might be heading towards us like a stampeding herd of trucks  ........

doubtless we'll all cope rather well with whatever it is that's seemingly heading our way 

It might be the best option is just not to take too much, or indeed any interest in the subjects proffered .  after all, those poor souls that get terribly wound-up about Facebook and Instagram. Linked-in  and all those other amazing modern links that seem to affect so many in so many ways ,  good and bad ..........  maybe best to be like me ......  just ignore it all and let it waft over me ............. 

Aldi forever together with the NHS is just about all I want ....  well apart from E5 petrol and a pair of Ls400s  🤣

Malc