Growing Old in England

Dawn French Fan Club

Growing Old in England
Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favourite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called "at home,"' I explained. 'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
By this time, the other person was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it:
- Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis, never set foot on a golf course, or had a credit card.
- Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was.
- All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers. Funny English Joke - Window
- We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem.
- My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).
- I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone was on a party line.
- Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
- Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies.
- There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.
- If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
- Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?