How times have changed
I‘‘celebrated’’ a birthday earlier this month and as these milestones seem to keep zipping by as quickly as if I was Lewis Hamilton in the British Grand Prix, I got to think how things have changed all around the world just in the course of my lifetime.
My earliest memory that I can definitely date was the VE Day celebrations in England on May 8, 1945. I was three years old and I believe I have recounted before that it was particularly memorable for me because that evening Hitler was burned in a bonfire in the middle of our village green. I think I was about 21 before I realised it must have been just an effigy.
My other memory of that day is that I spilt a mug of tea over myself at the evening’s victory meal in the village hall – the first indication that I would never be any good with my hands.
The legacy of World War II hung over Britain for some years after the conflict and I recall my delight when in February 1953 – nearly eight years after the war ended – sweets were finally no longer rationed.
It perhaps would have been better if they had stayed restricted because I have other memories of painful trips to the dentist.
In fact, sweets had been taken off ration in April 1949 but such was the demand from sweet-toothed kids like me that rationing had to be reimposed four months later.
It seems funny that child obesity has only recently become a problem – but then we didn’t spend our days in front of video screens. As the Monty Python cast would say: ‘‘We made our own fun in those days’’, although I don’t recall licking the tarmac on the road to pass the time.
However, I do remember that Peter Brown’s was the first family in the village to get a television set. His front room was like a small cinema after afternoon school had finished, with just about every kid transferring from the classroom to Peter’s house to watch such riveting programmes as Andy Pandy and Muffin the Mule.
They were rubbish – but just watching moving pictures in our own (well, Peter Brown’s in this case) home was compelling.
Other stand-out memories were passing my 11-plus and qualifying for grammar school, which I hated on principle because it was a rugby school and football was banned.
Later in life I recall being glued to the TV late at night watching the first Moon landing. It’s incredible to think that nearly half a century later there’s still an ongoing debate over whether the pictures were, in fact, faked by Nasa.
I’ve seen supersonic air travel, courtesy of Concorde, come and go. But even with Concorde’s demise it’s still possible to travel anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours.
When I emigrated to New Zealand in 1973, some families were still coming Down Under by boat.
Changes on the social front have been even more drastic, especially in recent years.
I never thought I’d see the day when a retired film star (Ronald Reagan) and a reality show host (Donald Trump) would be elected to the White House, although I must say there are definite elements of Big Brother and The Apprentice about US politics these days.
During my life I’ve also seen capital punishment abolished, homosexuality decriminalised and scientists clone a sheep, Dolly. So, it was with little amazement that I read this week that Chinese scientists have managed to get same-sex mice to breed and that gay penguins at Sydney Aquarium have been given a mock egg to look after so they don’t feel left out.
No wonder people get confused as they grow older. There’s an awful lot to take in.