Missing The Days of Yesterday

[jeepnewbie]

Just about everyone here probably knows I spend a lot of time in Antique stores, and Flea Markets. While I love the convenience of digital stuff of today (dvd, computers, etc) I must say I miss older items like VHS tapes, typewriters, actually going to a bank to check your account, etc.
Why you may ask I like the durability of tapes over a dvd, I have to constantly clean dvd's from kids fingerprints. PS3 wouldn't start playing after I cleaned a dvd tonight until I did a hard reboot. It then went into a scan to check the system to ensure it was still running correctly, never had an issue like that on a tape player.
When typing on a typewriter I didn't get as distracted as I do on a computer. Granted without a computer I wouldn't have meet all you fine folks. However we always have to be careful on what sites we visit to keep from getting our information hacked. We use to have to go to the bank to check our account status, and withdraw money. I do enjoy banking with USAA since I'm military, but still have to be careful due to jerks fishing out there trying to get my bank info over the net.
I miss folks cooking on cast iron with that distinct taste, versus all this newer "non stick cookware". Folks just wanting a easy way of cleaning dishes, or easier way of cooking. I see it as a lost art of cooking on cast, I love cooking on it. However my wife hates cooking on it, she wants to cook on this 200 dollar (I think) set I got for her. It does works nicely, but not for me.
I miss nice hardwood furniture, not this particle wood stuff being mass produced today. I miss dressers that could actually hold stuff and not fall apart when your family likes to cram as much clothes in them as possible. A nice solid wood desk with little draws and shelves on it that wouldn't chip off a huge chunk when you try to move it from one side of a room to another. As a not I have a metal and glass desk, but buying up hardwood lumber to build an desk into my wall that holds my mac and books and pipes.
Having a car start up easy in the dead of winter is nice due to the fancy electronics. Not being able to do the work on it that I can on my old carb jeep, or s10 I use to have sucks a lot. Now I have to take them into a shop only to be told whatever is wrong with it is going to cost 200 plus dollars.
Maybe I'm just on a nostalgia kick. When I pass a stack of vinyl and 8tracks, I think back to setting around listening to them in the house with family or being in my granddads truck with a 8track player. Passing other items such as the massive two person saws for downing trees or cutting logs, or looking at the jukebox makes me think I was born in the wrong century. There are many other things I see that bring back memories, or have me thinking of what things were like before my time.
While out in Arizona I'm always carrying my revolver in a cross draw holster (I feel like I'm in a western). I long to be riding a horse out through the open desert just roaming around with nothing to do and camping in a different spot every night. I do a lot of camping while I'm out there, just not on horseback.
If my words make sense does anyone else feel like this? I'm not that old I grew up with the age of computers becoming mainstream in schools. What are things you all miss that have slowly faded out, due to "new and better" tech?
I hope my kids coming up in this age have some great memories like I did growing up.

 

[jeepnewbie]

Looking at the pictures of the AMM I could see myself doing something like that.

 

[mcitinner1]

Ever since I got old enough to think about how it was, I've wished I had been born pre 1890-ish so I could have gone to the 1904 World's Fair in St Louis. 8) That would have been a completely different tobacco era too. ::

 

[stephenw]

I miss being able to go into the local drug store and being able to select from a large selection of very good pipe tobaccos and being able to see rack upon rack of Dr. Grabow or Medico or Missouri Meerschaum corn cobs. I could pick up many classic tobaccos at any local store, tobaccos like Flying Dutchman or Amphora or the original Borkum Riff. If for some reason I left the house without my pipe, I could get a decent one for about $5.00 and then light up while in the store. Paper matches were free for the taking.

 

[kaboom]

I'm only 28, I do like, take advantage and enjoy modern technology but very, very often I feel like I was born 30-40 years too late and missed the second half of the 20th century, which i would have loved. technology advanced enough not to die from the flu but nowhere near the crazed world we live in today.
Societies still held some values back then, too...

 

[newbroom]

I miss clean water, wholesome food, independent farmers, a sense of community, and the spirit of Christmas.

I miss the point, the big picture, and anniversaries.

 

[freakiefrog]

I think we as pipe smokers crave for a time gone by. When brandy and cigars after dinner was the norm, things were hand-crafted and made to last. I personally think my kids will miss out not knowing what a joy it was to walk into your local Blockbuster Friday after school and hunt down the endless aisles of video entertainment. I remember renting beta machines to watch with my mom and dad and when we got our first VHS player OMG we had arrived. It's why I love my local B&M they still use an old time balance scale to weigh out the custom blends.

 

[tbradsim1]

I will be 72 in March, I remember when we got electricity and Lo and Behold all the soot from the kerosene lamp amazed my Mother as she was a cleanliness freak. Watching the carpenters build our house without electrical tools, the head carpenter smoked a pipe, sawdust, tobbaco smell it was just wonderful. The first TV we had we bought in Brownsville Texas as we had moved there when I was in 4 th grade , Father ran a fleet and shrimped, back to the TV, we switched channels with a pair of pliers as channel button was missing, moved back to La and Father had the first Radio in the neighborhood and Inner Sactum, Fiber McGee and Mollty played while our porch was full of Neighbors listening thru the screen. The Bouchorie in the Fall, time to kill a pig, shoot em in the head, cut the throat, save the blood for blood boudin , all wonders for a small boy . I was the wood man to the crackling fire to make in a huge pot cracklings. The fifties, beautiful cars, fast, music in the south, best in the world, Cajun, Blues, what a time, deals were made by a hand shake. Farmer fell sick we gathered at my Grandfathers farm to A Coute Mah. That was a helping hand, people say the South was bad for the blacks, maybe so, bit I remember our Black neighbor breaking his leg and the assembly to help him was no less than for a white man. Work hard all week and Man O Man you went to the dance on Saturday. Rock and Roll, the Blues, you danced all night , It started to change in the 60s people were less tolerant of others, I joined the Navy, went off to do Uncle SAMs Bidding in S E Asia. Came back and was not the same, Lights, Microwave, cell phones , social media does not make a life better is what I have found. Easier but not better. Forgive my ramblings.

 

[lawmax3]

I mostly miss the days when there was no such thing as a blasted cell phone.

It is impossible to talk to anyone any more because they only want to text or play "candy crush" or some other game.

It is like being around a bunch of zombies who can't concentrate on anything but their phone addiction.

Just can't fully express how much I hate those things.

 

[freakiefrog]

TBRADSIM1 - I can remember growing up while now quite as seasoned as you I did spent my summers, holidays and every free time I could make on a dairy farm that my grand parents had. Papaw was a 3rd gen. dairyman. In fact being in North MS and involved with 4H my grandfather helped Elvis learn to show cows in 4h. I miss summers pulling three strands of barbwire and fishing in the evenings. I miss the smell of my grandfather, Old spice, tractor exhaust and field dirt. I miss my Grandmother, who always did her hair even to go to the drugstore. She was as tough as they come and as kind and sweet as you'd want. Handmade biscuits, eggs in bacon grease, hot coffee and home made jelly and preserves. I milked cows with everyone in the morning and before dinner every night, we pulled calves when needed and rode bareback horses to get where we needed or walked.
I miss Saturday morning cartoons, the good ones like Bugs Bunny and elmer fudd. sigh

 

[mso489]

Yes, I miss many things from the first half of my life. Computers and their word processing functions (that's

even an old time term these days) have displaced typewriters. I love/loved my old manuals for the percussion

they created that accented the expression of language they generated. The long string of used cars my family

owned with their buttons to shift, levers to shift, and other odd controls. I do remember that with alarming

rapidity, today will be yesteryear and contemporary annoyances will be treasured memories. If you take a large

series of photos of your local area and preserve them well, on some format that can last, and probably in hard

copy format as well, in about twenty to thirty years, whether you are here or not, you will have created a historical

treasure. Good clear photos or videos of your kitchen, your downtown, people in current fashions, and the inside

of a local restaurant will all be wondrous mementos of the past.

 

[misterlowercase]

Forgive my ramblings.

Bradley,

them ain't no ramblin', it's the good stuff, and you gave some great descriptions putting pictures in my head, and conjuring up some of my own memories - i especially liked how you talked about hard workin' folk rockin' and rollin' all night on the weekends.
It blows my mind to hear how much has changed in our beloved country.
I have a couple of old school books from the 20's/30's that have stats on how many people in the USA had electricity or indoor plumbing; I was astounded by the high numbers of people living with neither!
My dad's best friend Mr. Dean is a WW2 vet who saw time on the ground in the Pacific theatre, he don't talk about it much, but when the mood might strike, I've heard some doozies that dropped my jaw --- the gooks were mean and cruel, and tough fighters.
I listened a lot to my Aunt Emmie when she was livin' with us toward the end of her life, talking about the radio, going to dances with a boy, many other things, and how she started workin' at the cotton mill when she was like 13 or 14, got called a linthead by the more well-to-do folk 'cause millworkers always came home with cotton lint in their hair.
My daddy grew up in a millhouse in Scottdale Georgia, I'll never forget sittin' on toppa this big 'ol gas heater that was in the living room with my paw paw, he died when I was 4 and I still remember his arms around me when it was cold outside but our rumps were oh so warm from sittin' atoppa that thing,

it looked something like this:

The first funeral I ever went to was the one for my paw paw, I still remember feeling so small amongst the adults, so confused, so sad to see him laying unmoving there in that goddammed coffin....
...and now I am crying so I'll end it here.

.

.

m e m o r y

m a k e s

m e
me​

 

[johnnyreb]

We still cook with cast iron skillets, Dutch ovens & a griddle. And stainless steel stock pots. No Teflon in our kitchen. I have the old wood cook stove that came out of my grandma's house. I had it restored a few years ago and it now sits in my enclosed porch. We cook on it from time to time in the summer. It's great when boiling something and you don't want the heat in the house.
Still have a stereo component system with turntable so I can listen to vinyl anytime I'm in the mood.
Still have horses on my farm (3 belong to my DIL) so ride somewhat regularly, but must admit the RTV is easier on my Ol' back these days.

 

[framitz]

I remember ration coupons horse delivery of milk practice air raid warnings. My grandfather as airraia warden lie and gold starred flags in windowax.

Party line phones candlestick phones and 78 records. After the war my grandparents had the first tv on

Our street hop long Cassidy and wrestling

Shel

 

[phred]

We as humans have a tendency to remember the past fondly and compare it glowingly to the present (and the approaching future). As a history major, I'm a little dyspeptic about the practice, as it's always been with us, and the stuff that we're remembering so fondly now was, at the time, someone else's consarned new-fangled gimcrackery that was destroying the country and polluting the precious bodily fluids of our youth... :D
Personally, I'd much rather wipe the fingerprints off of a DVD, or even polish out a scratch, than try to repair a VCR tape that has exploded out of its case. I rather enjoy having an internet connection with a web browser available to me during a conversation at a restaurant, so that we can look up the name of that actor in that movie that we sort of remember. I like being able to create a playlist out of the three or four good songs on an album, and never, ever having to listen to that godawful cover on side 3 of their double live recording.
And yet at the same time, I do enjoy hearing about what other folks remember fondly from their particular set of "Good Old Days". It reminds me that some people had a good time growing up, and are working to make sure that their own kids have "Good Old Days" to remember fondly.

 

[warren]

If we could only go back in time and live the way we picture life then, not as it was. I too miss certain facets of earlier days. I do not miss wide spread polio and other childhood illnesses. I would have loved to have lived the life of the old time cowboy, but I hope I would have resisted participating in the near extermination of the American Indian.
I do not miss having to try and snake the tape out of the mechanism of a cassette player. The old Admiral TV kept me enthralled for hours. But, I do so enjoy the picture on a hi-def, big screen, TV. I can travel with a huge library in my pocket.
Not that many years ago I had no idea that fruits and vegetables could taste good. Everything was shipped to Alaska via slow boat. Most veggies and fruits came in cans. Then, in basic training in Texas, I was first exposed to fresh produce. Wow! Now in Alaska, everything is flown in fresh, or nearly so, and that's an improvement.
The one thing from the past I do not miss is the idea that 20 was pretty much middle age. I really like the idea that I have great chance of seeing the middle 70's, possibly even 80, before I eat the dirt sandwich. And at 68 today, I am in better health than most 40 year-old people would have been 100 years ago. Or, even 50 years ago.
I like the idea of self-sufficiency up to a point. But, I love the way a seriously injured person can now be air lifted to a hospital instead having to lay by the highway, bleeding out. And, the EMTs on the heli are more knowledgeable and better equipped than the saw-bones of 50 years ago. With today's communications they are plugged into a trauma center miles, perhaps time-zones, away
I was going to say I do not miss the old "party-line" telephone but, we still have that, what with texting, twitter, forums and the like. Oh! And hacking! There is no such thing as a truly private electronic communication.
No, times change and we tend to learn of the past from reminisces, books and movies what life was like in days of yore. I loved hunting when I was younger. It was a happy and hardworking week or so. But, to live that way 24/7 for life? Life was simpler when we were younger and mom cooked, while dad kept us on the straight and narrow. We hadn't a care in the world, life was a lark and we never thought of the toll on our parents and grandparents.
Indeed, I would chose 1880's America for my reincarnation. But, only if I could be healthy and never age past 25, forever young and robust. Sleeping under the stars, rain or shine with nary a thought to rheumatism or arthritis. Beef steak always handy, tough and flavorless, but always handy. When schooling was purely hit or miss and, with a good mind and a bit of greed, you could still be "successful."
Nostalgia is a wonderful thing and I would only really want to go back to another time if, the life I would have to live, was the life of my favorite author's and Hollywood's imagination. Only the good stuff and none of the bad. Mix and match as it were. All of the fun and only very little of the hardship and pain. With just enough of the downsides to make the good parts more valuable and enjoyable.

 

[misterlowercase]

We as humans have a tendency to remember the past fondly and compare it glowingly to the present (and the approaching future). As a history major, I'm a little dyspeptic about the practice, as it's always been with us, and the stuff that we're remembering so fondly now was, at the time, someone else's consarned new-fangled gimcrackery that was destroying the country and polluting the precious bodily fluids of our youth...

Good point Phred.
For some reason, it immediately brought to my mind the maniacal Dr. Fredric Wertham; whom spearheaded a campaign against comic books, mostly based on the popular crime books, and the whole cast of EC stuff; and it ultimately all ended with the Comics Code Authority coming into force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent
:

:
...and the James Joyce obscenity trial sprang to mind as well:

:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._One_Book_Called_Ulysses
:
::

 

[jmill208]

Not to get all philosophical and shit, but daydreaming and longing for the "good ol' days" is a waste of time and energy. While you're whiling away the hours wishing about what you once experienced or once had, you're missing out on NOW.
Fond memories are great to cherish but the object of the exercise is to keep making those memories until your train runs outta track...

 

[phred]

the maniacal Dr. Fredric Wertham

Oh, yeah - "Seduction of the Innocent" is a howler. I read it in college and just couldn't stop snickering.
And music, too - the first time an orchestral piece included a trombone slide, the critics howled in outrage about the "obscene" sound, and the saxophone was derided as "The Devil's Flute" after its invention.

the object of the exercise is to keep making those memories until your train runs outta track...

Agreed. Speaking of which, I think I'll go load up a pipe and take a walk. ::

 

[indianafrank]

At 12 years of age, back in the early 60's, riding boxcars, and getting chased by the Bulls. Playing cowboys and Indians using BB guns. Staying out until 11pm. Never having to lock the doors. School dances. Drive In Restaurants. Drag racing downtown.