I’m a big fan of pondering about recent and distant past times. I do it a lot. I make comparisons about how stuff has gone or is going. It’s fun to do and it’s mostly where my daydreaming head goes.
This time yesterday… after big occasions
This time last week…
This time last year…
I used to wonder what the year 2000 would be like. It is now 23 years after the year 2000!
This time just three weeks ago, we were all celebrating bringing the New Year in and most peeps had a day off work to look forward to, as the first day of 2023.
Even this seems ages ago.
If I want to look back on something, I usually watch tubeyous or pick up books/magazines of the time, so much more accurate than reading some peaky-blinder-wannabe who has been paid big money to write a book, with their slant on things. Far more accurate to read what was available during the time period.
I used to get the occasional Giles cartoons, when the paper could be prized from dad’s grasp, just before it was used to dampen the fire (old peckers will know what I’m on about).
So I’ve managed to pick up his editions, that cover 1968 to 1980.
I’d love to be able to scan some of his work in and upload it. The similarities with today are striking.
Today, nurses are striking because they are “struggling to eat” (using foodbanks we are told).
There are several cartoons I could show, which state exactly the same thing (striking nurses that are struggling to eat) only it wouldn’t be from 2022/23, they are from late 1968!
Today, we see striking railway workers, Giles did cartoons on this also, but his work comes from the early 70s.
There are numerous other examples, from the costs of living to how families live and work, many are just as relevant in today’s world.
There’s something reassuring about reading/listening/watching things from times past.
Simpler times they were and the world was an easier place to be a tiny part of.
I would love to visit the past, just for a day, even if I could only watch and listen and not interact. Back to the real world, not this space cadet age we have now.