Hailsham High Street
When I was young many years ago
and growing up in a time so slow
until the War to end all Wars
changed the way we were to grow
the telephone was here to stay
had been for a while and to this day
I remember that I looked in awe
at it when I tried to make a call
Back in those days with no direct dial
an Operator answered your call
and tried to help in any way
to place the call to have your say
not long after the War did end
Television became a household word
and though we could not afford our own
to friends and neighbors we would go.
Time does what it does by marching on
and computers entered into the fray
and the world has changed to something new
at first only just a few
soon everyone now knows how
to type and send e-mails and such
and work out complex theories on life
or do simple math or ledgers to keep.
Every desk across the world
is not complete without a PC
and different skills are now required
for humans with the ability
even the telephone has changed
with mobile devices more powerful yet
that every person in a civilized world
thinks they cannot do without.
People walking down the street
appear to be talking to themselves
as conversation they hold any time
much to the annoyance of their fellow-men
of the modern gadgets of the age
the mobile phone is the biggest bain
it has turned us into an inconsiderate group
as it takes over our lives on a different plane
Some people are so tied to the thing
that they keep checking the phone all the time
for fear they have missed that important call
or are forever messaging
the world has become a sorry place
with humankind a forgotten race
with gadgets taking over the world
face to face conversations being replaced.
Sometimes I wish that many years ago
when this first started after that War
that time had stood still and had not progressed
and had brought us to this day and age
wishful thinking on my part
but life was much simpler then
and it has no comparison to now
but we knew nothing different and yet
somehow we all got by and life went on
kids went to school and men to work
and women stayed home to do their part
and people knew how to read and write
and hold conversations with other folks
and visit each other in their own homes.
People walked everywhere and to their place
and they were a much fitter race
bicycles were the way to go
and even though they may be slow
they cost very little in terms of gas
just a pump with the legs is all they asked
and cars were for the very rich
a luxury for most it has to be said
envied its true but realistically absurd.
Would I really like to wind back the clock
with outside outhouses and a single tap
to provide running water in the kitchen sink
and fireplaces to warm and provide the heat
and everyone knew what was their place
and no one would consider stepping up the pace
as leisurely as those times might have been
for the working guy the pickings were slim.
No, as much as a slower pace would be nice
it’s impossible to have time standstill
and looking at it from a different way
this blog for instance, how could I write
if a computer was not available to me
as pen and paper are romantically nice
is way too slow in our quest for speed
as for cell phones as they are called
as long as an annoyance I try not to be
and get few calls which is what I like
I guess I’m a part of this century…
Laptop. Part of the Modern World
The first telephone in our house was contained in a large, wall mounted, wooden box with a hand crank on the side to ring the operator. We were on a ‘party line’ which meant that if our neighbor was on the phone we would not be able to get through to the operator.
Alexander Graham “Bell considered his invention an interference with his ‘real’ work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.” He expected the telephone to have use in a commercial capacity. When asked if it could be made available to the general public he is said to have questioned, “What would they have to talk about?” ~ Dennis
If only Alexander Graham Bell was alive to see what havoc his invention has brought to this world, he might never have invented it. Thanks for responding.
Those were the days
Of human interaction
These are the days
Of gadgets interaction
Those were the days
Of face to face
These are the days
Of ear to ear
Those were the days
Of familiarity and love on the earth
These are the days
Of familiarity and love in the sky
😂🌷🙏💟✌
Oh so true. As with all modern conveniences, way overworked. Thanks for your observations
I am a 70’s child who grew up in a home with everything old, shabby, vintage, traditions and values of a family. I did my homework using dictionaries. I answered questions of my homework through the book I read given by my teacher. I did not have “Wikipedia” but I made it through life and I became educated, and I have even left the “being employed world” and I am doing self-employed. I wrote letters to my friends abroad, and waited for many months to read from them. But our kids today “their potency of words” is unthinkable, and “EMOTICONS” are replacing words, what will happen to our next generations and generations that have not even arrived in the world. And plus, I understood what you have been talking about, “those days when APPLE and BLACKBERRIES” were still “FRUITS.” hahahaha what a laugh!
From the comments above, it appears that most of you are from the “older” generation and knew the times before all of this modern technology. I am all for progress but not where it takes away from our own individuality especially at the expense of the bad manners and downright ignorance shown by so many people.
Sure, I always say I grew up with an old man and an old woman. My dad was very educated and my mum wasn’t, but that did not stopped her bringing us up the old school way. She did it with capacity and rules under my parents roof was serious. As a young mother, if I have grown my daughter exactly like my parents did me, like the saying goes, “IF ONE MOTHER HAS DONE IT, ALL MOTHERS CAN DO IT TOO.”
Reblogged this on Life and Day to Day things by a Pond Lover.