Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

A. G. Maisey · 26th August 2007, 01:00 AM

Ferrylaki, it seems to me that times in the past always seem to be better when we remember them.
We tend to give those times a value that maybe they didn't have.

I can remember when I was a kid I could wander around the area where I lived with a rifle dangling from one hand, or slung over my shoulder. I could walk into the local general store and buy an ice cream, or some acid drops with my rifle in my hand. I could walk out of the general store, cross the road, and take a shot at something. Nobody noticed. No Men in Black dropping out of helicopters. No tactical response police. Just dusty roads and a barefoot kid with a .22.

In 1955 I could ride a pushbike along a major highway for 12 hours and when I got where I was going I could announce that I'd counted a hundred or so cars that had passed me during the day.At that time only three people we knew owned motor vehicles.

But in 1950 my father earnt somewhere around the equivalent of $10 per week. There were no refrigerators, we used iceboxes.No washing machines. If your family owned a radio you were doing OK. If you owned a windup gramaphone (record player) you were considered to be fairly well off. Milk was bought in a billycan from a man who brought it to the door. Shoes were for special occasions, and never worn during wet weather. Christmas time and birthdays you got clothes and books. In coinage there were pennies and half-pennies, and they did have value.You sold old newspapers to the butcher for one penny per pound.

I bought my first bicycle at age twelve from money earnt doing jobs for neighbours. Took me about two years to save up for it. It cost twelve pounds, present day coinage, about $24. This was roughly equivalent to two weeks pay for a qualified tradesman.

This was working class Australia circa 1950.It was not some developing country.

If people were not materialistic it was because they did not have anything to be materialistic about. Going to bed warm and with a full belly meant you were doing pretty good. But that did not mean that we did not know the value of money.

I suggest that all memories of the past are distorted by time:- I remember that I could walk around the neighbourhood taking shots at birds and rabbits : I forget that I went barefoot and was invariably and constantly cold in winter.

If you have a longing for Solo during the late 1960's and early 1970's, I suggest that perhaps you might give a little thought to some of the slightly less desireable aspects of life in Indonesia at that time. There were many, and if you think 1998-2000 was bad, have a talk to somebody about the mid 1960's.

26th August 2007, 01:00 AM	#10
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,700	Ferrylaki, it seems to me that times in the past always seem to be better when we remember them. We tend to give those times a value that maybe they didn't have. I can remember when I was a kid I could wander around the area where I lived with a rifle dangling from one hand, or slung over my shoulder. I could walk into the local general store and buy an ice cream, or some acid drops with my rifle in my hand. I could walk out of the general store, cross the road, and take a shot at something. Nobody noticed. No Men in Black dropping out of helicopters. No tactical response police. Just dusty roads and a barefoot kid with a .22. In 1955 I could ride a pushbike along a major highway for 12 hours and when I got where I was going I could announce that I'd counted a hundred or so cars that had passed me during the day.At that time only three people we knew owned motor vehicles. But in 1950 my father earnt somewhere around the equivalent of $10 per week. There were no refrigerators, we used iceboxes.No washing machines. If your family owned a radio you were doing OK. If you owned a windup gramaphone (record player) you were considered to be fairly well off. Milk was bought in a billycan from a man who brought it to the door. Shoes were for special occasions, and never worn during wet weather. Christmas time and birthdays you got clothes and books. In coinage there were pennies and half-pennies, and they did have value.You sold old newspapers to the butcher for one penny per pound. I bought my first bicycle at age twelve from money earnt doing jobs for neighbours. Took me about two years to save up for it. It cost twelve pounds, present day coinage, about $24. This was roughly equivalent to two weeks pay for a qualified tradesman. This was working class Australia circa 1950.It was not some developing country. If people were not materialistic it was because they did not have anything to be materialistic about. Going to bed warm and with a full belly meant you were doing pretty good. But that did not mean that we did not know the value of money. I suggest that all memories of the past are distorted by time:- I remember that I could walk around the neighbourhood taking shots at birds and rabbits : I forget that I went barefoot and was invariably and constantly cold in winter. If you have a longing for Solo during the late 1960's and early 1970's, I suggest that perhaps you might give a little thought to some of the slightly less desireable aspects of life in Indonesia at that time. There were many, and if you think 1998-2000 was bad, have a talk to somebody about the mid 1960's.