LOST SKILLS

HERE are some things that our parents could do, but many of the younger generaion can’t.

Darn a sock: Your mum may have spent hours carefully patching up the holes in your dad’s socks but now, with shops selling seven pairs for a pound, why bother?

Starch sheets: It used to be that housewives took pride in their crisp, starched sheets. Now we just ignore the creases.

Sew patches on a jacket: Once upon a time, leather elbow patches gave a favourite jacket a new life. Its trendy modern equivalent comes with patches ready sewn on - and will be out of fashion long before they’ve worn out.

Change a tyre: It was the basic car maintenance skill your dad taught you after you passed your test. Now half of new cars don’t carry a spare and flat tyres were the reason for 180,000 AA call-outs by motorists last year.

Make custard from

scratch: Never mind from scratch? Hardly anyone bothers to make it from custard powder, with sales of cartons of “fresh” custard soaring.

Batter fish: Once a staple of the Scottish Friday night, now we buy oven baked French Fries from the supermarket.

Repair a punctured bike

tyre: Once we all carried a puncture repair kit... now we just buy a new wheel.

Write a letter: Once we knew how to set out, begin and end a letter. Nw w jst snd a txt.