I moved up and down the aisles of the auction, doing my Friday morning preview. Tucked under and neatly lined up in a row on the floor beneath a table were nine early glass milk bottles. Since milk now comes in either plastic or cardboard containers, glass bottles have become a collector's item. ( I know milk still comes from cows. That hasn't changed... yet!) As I turned to move on, the toe of my shoe hit one of the bottles, tipping it over and most of the others too. No broken glass or chips, but it did attract a bit of attention from the others in the room. Being sure there was no damage, I lined them up and moved away quickly to avoid another scene. But the milk bottles got me thinking.
There are many things you just don't see anymore. I can still remember the days when the milkman delivered milk to our home every other day, in glass bottles and placed them in a …..milk box! Becker's Dairy in Roseland, New Jersey. You may also not remember the bottles that had the cream at the top. Today that would probably be considered a health hazard.
No more home deliveries and it's too bad. There were some great one-liners about the milk man and why little Johnny looked 'different' than the rest of the kids in the family. You know, the old milkman thing, delivering more that just milk!!
In addition to milk deliveries, there was also the bread truck. Wonder Bread! Today we wonder if it was really bread at all, all gummy and chewy, but back then there was nothing better than Wonder Bread with peanut butter and jelly. There was always a special treat from the driver, if you had been especially good that week. He would pass out those packages of little chocolate donuts that tasted like freshly melted wax. You can still buy them in a store today and they taste exactly the same, like melted wax.
A younger generation may not recognize steam irons for pressing shirts and skirts or tire chains for snowy days. The old black Royal typewriters, fountain pens, dictionaries and the encyclopedia have been replaced by computers and cell phones that can do almost anything.
Rotary telephones, black and white televisions, record players and 8 track tapes have also joined the lists of has-beens.
Fewer and fewer newspapers and magazines are published as the Internet has taken over the way we get our news and information and if you are not sure about the gathering information piece, you may want to contact the NSA about that..I have heard they are very good at it.
In addition to the home deliveries of milk and bread, there are other services that are no longer part of our life. What ever happened to the gas station attendant who not only pumped your gas, but also washed your windshield and checked the air pressure in your tires, or the doctor who would make home visits if you were too sick to come into the office. Interesting though, in New Jersey you can not pump your own gas. There are still attendants on duty. I think it's called job creation. But do they wash windows?
As towns look to cut cost, curb side garbage pickup has been reduced to fewer days per week or maybe even eliminated altogether.There are some places where you can pay to have your trash hauled away, but why pay when you can go to the 'dump' and not only get rid of your garbage but also hear the latest town gossip. Who knows? It could be about 'you'. And by the way, a few years ago they had been called sanitary land fills. I am still trying to figure out what is 'sanitary' about a land fill. Today they are called transfer stations.The meaning behind a 'transfer' station. Transfer to where?
Going on a trip? You won't see the cigarette smoked-filled passenger terminals, or smoking sections on planes for that matter, or those those heavy and cumbersome suitcases without wheels. Moving the suitcase has become easier, but I am not sure that air travel has. (The ban on smoking?...That's been a good change.)
There is talk of doing away with Saturday mail delivery. That might not be so bad if it means less junk mail, although even junk mail is changing as it now appears as spam on my computer screen instead of my mail box. Where is that spam control setting on my computer?.
What about customer service in general. There was a time when you made a call and you actually spoke with a real person rather than a machine. Push '1' for option '1' and if you don't like that option, push '2' for more options.
Sometimes I feel sorry for the younger generations. There are so many thing we grew up with that they will never have the opportunity to experience. As Bob Dylan once sang... ”the times, they are a' changin'” and he was right. It will be interesting to see what changes are in store for the next generation. Could it be...beam me up, Scottie?
Bob Dylan! Who's Bob Dylan?
No comments:
Post a Comment