Thrifty Fifties

AS A child of the Fifties and Sixties, we recycled as a matter of course. Milk and soft drinks came in glass bottles that were washed and reused.

Vegetables were sold covered in soil and put straight in your shopping bag, fish and meat were wrapped in greaseproof paper and bread and cakes came in brown paper bags.

Fish and chips were eaten out of yesterday’s newspaper.

If you needed to go somewhere, you walked, cycled or took the bus. Flying was for the birds.

Clothes were bought for best and over time were used for casual wear and ultimately for work.

Most products were expected to have a long life and were repaired easily. How well I remember getting a ‘new to me’ bicycle with replacement brakes, mudguards and lights.

We dressed for the weather inside and out — we didn’t walk around the house in a T-shirt and shorts on the coldest day of the year.

It’s the advent of plastic, the convenience of supermarket shopping and cheap fashion that has turned us into a throwaway society. Most of the problems are of our own making.

D. M. DEAMER, York.