Our time.the best of times?

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Berkshire said:

I wasn't necessarily talking about your parents, just the older generation in general.  I suppose I'm in that generation now, but I try not to criticize every little thing the young folks engage in because I remember that I too was young once.  We all tend to believe that our generation did things better, true or not. 

Perhaps, but I do know that what most youngsters do today seems to have no adventure, not all of course but thinking back to my non nanny state we were adventurous and a little daft with it..

PS. My dad bought our first television in 1953, we were the envy of the street...

[bert bloggs]

What i think the op was getting at was not about the future but about how it was so much easier for us in the past than it is for youth now . for myself i am having a great time now ,but then we have enough money not to have to worry to much ,i have a great wife and family so i am sorted , but it was a great time for me when i was young ,i was not stuck in front of a smartphone or tablet talking to "friends" i will never meet .I was lucky in that my family were not badly off so we never had to struggle , i had good jobs and had a fantastic 60s and 70s in the thick of it , Work was easy to find as was accomodation and not to expensive,travel was cheap ,i could get the tube into the west end for pennies (try that now)

so yes ,i think in many ways life was more fun and exciting then , we got out and about more .

just saw what Transam wrote and yes we got our first tv in 1953 for the coronation of the Queen , we had a house full to watch ,also half the local kids used to come around to watch childrens tv .

[transam]

3 minutes ago, bert bloggs said:

What i think the op was getting at was not about the future but about how it was so much easier for us in the past than it is for youth now . for myself i am having a great time now ,but then we have enough money not to have to worry to much ,i have a great wife and family so i am sorted , but it was a great time for me when i was young ,i was not stuck in front of a smartphone or tablet talking to "friends" i will never meet .I was lucky in that my family were not badly off so we never had to struggle , i had good jobs and had a fantastic 60s and 70s in the thick of it , Work was easy to find as was accomodation and not to expensive,travel was cheap ,i could get the tube into the west end for pennies (try that now)

so yes ,i think in many ways life was more fun and exciting then , we got out and about more .

At the age of 14, after school, I went to an engineering machine shop operating a lathe to make pocket money. I bought my first Lambretta when 15 and rode it to school...

[Brunolem]

3 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

When I was 50, if you had asked me about my future

 

I can't even predict 10 years in advance .................. enjoy today, and maybe the next week.

Predicting one's personal future is a bit like weather forecasting...lots of parameters, lots of unknowns, lots of uncertainties...

 

Predicting the future in general is more like climate study...one can't go into details, but one can draw the main lines with a certain level of accuracy.

 

The world today, in large part because of the baby boomers (myself included) and the silent generation (their parents) is in a very dire situation, with no historical precedent.

 

That is because, prior to the wonders of technology, humans didn't have enough power of destruction in their hands.

 

Robots, self-driving cars and the next generation of mobile phones are just footnotes...they won't matter in the shaping of the future.

 

What matters are the "tsunamis" that will inevitabily come crashing to shore sooner or later, but not that late...say, most probably during the next decade.

 

Among these "tsunamis" are the debt tsunami, the climate tsunami and the elderly tsunami.

 

The global economy only stands, with a lot of difficulty, on it legs because of zero interest rates and massive money printing...in other words, it is more the result of the work of illusionists (a.k.a. central bankers) than of reality...and it is unsustainable.

 

The climate...well, no need to expand on that..the more the alarm bells are ringing, the more oil and gas we extract!

 

The elderlies...that is the global population getting older and older.

As a matter of fact, save for Africa, the global population stopped growing "naturally" 30 years ago!

The only reason why the number of people has increased is because of the elderlies (Henry Kissinger is still out there and kicking).

Instead of having a resilient well mowed "green grass" growing from its base, as it should, we have a decaying long "yellowing grass".

This dangerous situation can't be reverted, first because it would take decades, but also because most people are aware, consciously or not, of the other two coming tsunamis, and thus not very much inclined to have children, even less many of them.

 

Welcome to the future, it is not shaping up to be pretty...

[transam]

11 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Predicting one's personal future is a bit like weather forecasting...lots of parameters, lots of unknowns, lots of uncertainties...

 

Predicting the future in general is more like climate study...one can't go into details, but one can draw the main lines with a certain level of accuracy.

 

The world today, in large part because of the baby boomers (myself included) and the silent generation (their parents) is in a very dire situation, with no historical precedent.

 

That is because, prior to the wonders of technology, humans didn't have enough power of destruction in their hands.

 

Robots, self-driving cars and the next generation of mobile phones are just footnotes...they won't matter in the shaping of the future.

 

What matters are the "tsunamis" that will inevitabily come crashing to shore sooner or later, but not that late...say, most probably during the next decade.

 

Among these "tsunamis" are the debt tsunami, the climate tsunami and the elderly tsunami.

 

The global economy only stands, with a lot of difficulty, on it legs because of zero interest rates and massive money printing...in other words, it is more the result of the work of illusionists (a.k.a. central bankers) than of reality...and it is unsustainable.

 

The climate...well, no need to expand on that..the more the alarm bells are ringing, the more oil and gas we extract!

 

The elderlies...that is the global population getting older and older.

As a matter of fact, save for Africa, the global population stopped growing "naturally" 30 years ago!

The only reason why the number of people has increased is because of the elderlies (Henry Kissinger is still out there and kicking).

Instead of having a resilient well mowed "green grass" growing from its base, as it should, we have a decaying long "yellowing grass".

This dangerous situation can't be reverted, first because it would take decades, but also because most people are aware, consciously or not, of the other two coming tsunamis, and thus not very much inclined to have children, even less many of them.

 

Welcome to the future, it is not shaping up to be pretty...

Yep, and the Dinosaurs had their day for millions of years, but it ended for them, it will end for us too, l reckon...

[Brunolem]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Yep, and the Dinosaurs had their day for millions of years, but it ended for them, it will end for us too, l reckon...

But the dinosaurs didn't self destruct...and they lasted 150 million years, whereas modern society and its technology has only been there for a couple hundred years...quite an achievement!

 

[transam]

14 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

But the dinosaurs didn't self destruct...and they lasted 150 million years, whereas modern society and its technology has only been there for a couple hundred years...quite an achievement!

 

Sure, the Dinosaurs used the planet until the planet (nature) did it's thing...The planet (nature) will do it's thing again, could be nature or man made stuff that ends humanities rein....We ain't been here long enough to know which way it will go...

[MaeJoMTB]

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

Predicting one's personal future is a bit like weather forecasting...lots of parameters, lots of unknowns, lots of uncertainties...

 

Predicting the future in general is more like climate study...one can't go into details, but one can draw the main lines with a certain level of accuracy.

There's a whole thread on that and the consensus is ...... we'll either have an ice age or a meltdown.

[MaeJoMTB]

1 hour ago, Brunolem said:

As a matter of fact, save for Africa, the global population stopped growing "naturally" 30 years ago!

Completely wrong, 50 years ago 30% of the world population  were white, now we're down to 15%.

Asians 60% (includes India), black 20%, white 15%, (including Hispanics and Jews) Arabic 5%.

Most of the increase is Asians, African population has hardly changed in the last 100 years.

 

Here's one prediction I can make for the future, there won't be any white people in it.

Racial suicide  caused by white liberals bleating on about the future and refusing to breed.

Insanity!

 

[MaeJoMTB]

4 hours ago, transam said:

Yes it is on line now which is why the new generations have become house bound, couch potatoes, fat, useless..

I recall a youthful highlight was going to a record shop, meet up with mates and the birds, listen to a record in a booth before buying.

When I were 16 (1960s) I used to go to the beach and listen to the radio.

Today I cycled 50Km while listening to Youtube.

 

Tell me again why you think I have to sit at home and listen?

As far as I can see, the difference between then and now, is I can choose the music.

(and it's only me that has to listen, 'cos they invented earphones)

[transam]

1 minute ago, MaeJoMTB said:

When I were 16 (1960s) I used to go to the beach and listen to the radio.

Today I cycled 50Km while listening to Youtube.

 

Tell me again why you think I have to sit at home and listen?

As far as I can see, the difference between then and now, is I can choose the music.

I never said you have to sit at home and listen to music....

 

I recall me and my mate with a couple of birds on South End beach with a battery record player..Probably 1966....Good fun...

[MaeJoMTB]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

I recall me and my mate with a couple of birds on South End beach with a battery record player..Probably 1966....Good fun...

Always a bit cold on the beach, had to pull a towel over us.

God knows what went on under those towels!

Brighton beach  1968-1974 .........

[transam]

3 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

Always a bit cold on the beach, had to pull a towel over us.

God knows what went on under those towels!

Brighton beach  1968-1974 .........

I had an problem with a cop there in l think 1965 .....

[MaeJoMTB]

1 minute ago, transam said:

I had an problem with a cop there in l think 1965 .....

You were probably a Mod fighting on the beach ...............

We locals avoided all that nonsense, it was just day tourists causing trouble.

[Brunolem]

26 minutes ago, MaeJoMTB said:

African population has hardly changed in the last 100 years.

 

Indeed!

 

 

[transam]

1 minute ago, MaeJoMTB said:

You were probably a Mod fighting on the beach ...............

We locals avoided all that nonsense, it was just day tourists causing trouble.

Sure thing....But I was doing nuffink guv....

[toofarnorth]

4 hours ago, transam said:

At the age of 14, after school, I went to an engineering machine shop operating a lathe to make pocket money. I bought my first Lambretta when 15 and rode it to school...

I remember a similar thread a few weeks ago ( or was it years ago ? ) I went to Brighton as a Rocker on my Norton and you had 20 mirrors on yer scooter , is that about right ? More later.

[transam]

1 minute ago, toofarnorth said:

I remember a similar thread a few weeks ago ( or was it years ago ? ) I went to Brighton as a Rocker on my Norton and you had 20 mirrors on yer scooter , is that about right ? More later.

Nooooooo, there was us and them in the Mod era...No mirror crap for me...

[toofarnorth]

1 hour ago, transam said:

Sure, the Dinosaurs used the planet until the planet (nature) did it's thing...The planet (nature) will do it's thing again, could be nature or man made stuff that ends humanities rein....We ain't been here long enough to know which way it will go...

Here we are agin transam . I think it was Tony Robinson who had a programe about the death of the dinosaurs and a theory was the sea warmed up so much from volcanoes the methane gas from the sea bed rose to the surface and caught fire , skies went black for a thousand years and the dinosaurs pegged it.  Gues what ...the methane is still down there and in a couple of degrees rise in sea temp.................WALLOP all over , time for my TW to kiss my arse goodbye .  I can't bend that far.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

Here we are agin transam . I think it was Tony Robinson who had a programe about the death of the dinosaurs and a theory was the sea warmed up so much from volcanoes the methane gas from the sea bed rose to the surface and caught fire , skies went black for a thousand years and the dinosaurs pegged it.  Gues what ...the methane is still down there and in a couple of degrees rise in sea temp.................WALLOP all over , time for my TW to kiss my arse goodbye .  I can't bend that far.

Who knows, but one things for sure, nature took the dinosaurs out....Earths nature did that...Not man.....Hold on......

[toofarnorth]

38 minutes ago, transam said:

I had an problem with a cop there in l think 1965 .....

I had a problem with my Sunbeam S7 in '65 , chased out of town by a bunch of Gippoes and the 'beam running on 1 cylinder ( dreadfull bike ).

[Brunolem]

1 minute ago, transam said:

Who knows, but one things for sure, nature took the dinosaurs out....Earths nature did that...Not man.....Hold on......

Well...the most credible theory is that it was a meteor, so not Earth, but rather space that erased the dinosaurs.

Now, Earth may well take care of erasing humans, or at least massively culling the herd...

 

[transam]

2 minutes ago, toofarnorth said:

I had a problem with my Sunbeam S7 in '65 , chased out of town by a bunch of Gippoes and the 'beam running on 1 cylinder ( dreadfull bike ).

As a teen Londoner I had to climb out of a bog window in Wales to escape decapitation.........

[toofarnorth]

7 hours ago, MaeJoMTB said:

When I was 50, if you had asked me about my future, it would have involved me, my English wife, our country cottage and our grandchildren. Now (10 years later) I married to a Thai lady half my  age, living in Thailand with new children.

 

I can't even predict 10 years in advance .................. enjoy today, and maybe the next week.

The last line MaeJoMTB . " Can't change the past , can't predict the future but today is a gift , that is why it is called The Present "

[bazza73]

4 minutes ago, transam said:

As a teen Londoner I had to climb out of a bog window in Wales to escape decapitation.........

The Welsh have long memories.

[transam]

3 minutes ago, bazza73 said:

The Welsh have long memories.

I know about Tudors....

[toofarnorth]

6 hours ago, transam said:

Yes it is on line now which is why the new generations have become house bound, couch potatoes, fat, useless..

I recall a youthful highlight was going to a record shop, meet up with mates and the birds, listen to a record in a booth before buying...Just a minor thing but was fun and got us out the house...

We even had many dance halls with live bands nearby for the Saturday night out that cost pennies, all regular face to face stuff...

Thankfully as l got to be an old guy and l still think much younger than my years, not gone all miserably like many folk l meet, and thoroughly enjoy thinking about what l got up to way back then..

Still here transam ? Damn it man you must be about 70 + or - a year or 2.

 

Just what we did. In West St. Dorking there was the HiFi Centre , bought all my Lonnie Donegan records there , some at 78rpm.  Opposite was the Neptune fish and chip shop.

Saturday night the Teenbeat rock club , Screaming Lord Sutch and the Savages or maybe Johny Kidd and the Pirates .  All on 3 bob pocket money.

Oh oh I have a scooter now , 300cc Forza , respek man innit.

[MaeJoMTB]

1 minute ago, toofarnorth said:

Just what we did. In West St. Dorking there was the HiFi Centre , bought all my Lonnie Donegan records there , some at 78rpm.  Opposite was the Neptune fish and chip shop.

I lived in Dorking (just outside in Capel) 1986-1995.

Dullest place I ever lived.

[transam]

Just now, MaeJoMTB said:

I lived in Dorking (just outside in Capel) 1986-1995.

Dullest place I ever lived.

Probably would have been during 1986/95....

[jenny2017]

 

 

  Oh god!! Yep, what nice times when neither mobile phones, nor Hello Kitty bs and other stuff distracted our friendships.Home from school and to our place with a huge football field.

 

    The Beatles, Stones, the Doors and Hendrix and all the others were part of my life and it was so normal. Jobs were everywhere and when i didn't like the one job, i took another one.

 

  Cars were dirt cheap, an old Benz with a broken engine for a few bucks, a friend then changed the engine and ready was my saloon with a nice stereo and leather seats.

 

 When I see a whole group working on their mobile phones without talking to each other it's obvious. I wouldn't like to be young now and live such a life.

 

  If I were younger now, perhaps I'd have come to LOS way earlier. When I was young.

 

I smoked my first cigarette at ten and for.......well, memories, memories, memories...