The Autumn Statement 2016.......... and magically, a drop in the standard of living!!

A Letter published in a daily newspaper  this week, from a Mr Michael Clemson in Kent, rang a bell with me, when the words ",,,,, led to believe that our standard of living is back to the way it was in the Twenties".  That's the 1920s for younger readers.  He then goes on to say that his own memory only stretches back to the 1940s. and then he lists the things he remembers from that time.

In bold italics are my own memories of my childhood.....

His father a factory manager on a modest income
My father, an upholsterer on a modest income

One holiday a year at a bed and breakfast
Our annual holiday was only once spent in a B&B; thereafter, camping or hired caravan 

Little cash for luxuries
Little cash for luxuries (in fact if I saw Jaffa Cakes on top of the groceries, it was holiday time)

So far, so similar.

And them Mr Clemson goes  on to comment that now most families own at least one car, several TV sets and the games that go with; children have mobile phones, computers and the games that go with them.  Continental holidays are the norm, and supermarket trolleys are piled high with the weekly shop.

We had a second hand car, but outside of large towns and cities now, bus services are nearly non-existent, so a car is necessary to get to work perhaps 30 or more miles distant.

I was about 10 when we got a TV - just the one, black and white. 

Games were things in boxes you got out of the cupboard.  They had names like Monopoly, Halma, Snakes and Ladders,  Cluedo, Ludo.

To make a phone call you made sure you had loose change and walked to the phone box.

Apart from fruit and veg, our groceries were delivered by the grocer on Friday nights, and my Mum got meat from a butcher next door to the Grocer.

So we get to the end, and its still a similar list!!

 I have all the trimmings now, but not everything that's on offer of course, I don't want it all.  But  a PC with a keyboard is a great thing to have, because I am a professional typist, and I have a lot to say!!  I take a couple of holidays every year, sometimes they are biggies (but not always!).  We have a mobile/cell phone each, and a land line.  So all in all, my circumstances are way better than they were in my childhood.  I know things are different now,  I just wish everyone didn't think they needed so much!

Is this Bah Humbug! from Mrs Mac?  Nah! it's only November she says, *laughing*!