Nostalgic November 5! 1957... Nostalgia

Howde Folks!

This is my last week with you before 'she' returns. I hope you've enjoyed my trip down memory lane. I thought the perfect place to finish would be with 'her' nostalgic look back to when she was 6 and life as she remembered it in 1957. Also, I liked her pretty pic of the old bus in Malta! (originally published 03/03/2011)

Sofia!

Hello Everyone!

After declaring my new age as '6', I thought I would roam down memory lane to 1957 when I was 6 the first time round and better behaved! This photograph was taken in Malta but the bus brings back memories of the old school bus chugging down the lane of our little village to collect us and take us to the junior school in the next village at a speed of about 20mph. These buses still operate in Malta and you wonder if you are ever going to arrive at your destination but like so many things of yesteryear they are more reliable than modern day ones.

1957. . . milk was delivered in bottles by the milkman - not bought in a carton at the supermarket. . . there was a conductor on the buses called a 'clippie' who gave you a ticket and the driver just drove. . . there was no second class mail . . . the moon was a place of romance and mystery, no one had walked on it. . .

Computer? What's that?

Mobile phone? Pardon? Nintendo DS? iPod? Microwave. . .

Televisions, fridges and cars were luxury items.

So, 1957, what can you remember or are you too young?

'January: Sir Anthony Eden resigns as prime minister because of ill health. He's succeeded by Harold MacMillan...

March:The treaty of Rome is signed in an attempt to cement relations in Europe...

October:THE SPACE AGE HAS ARRIVED! The Russians have launched Sputnik 1 into Space; it's the first time anyone has attempted to place a satellite in orbit round the earth. The first "flying saucer" has travelled round the earth at 17,000 miles per hour. The Victorians would never have dreamed of such an event but now the race between America and Russia to put a man on the moon has begun...

In South Africa and America the black communities continue with their struggle for equality with whites. Martin Luther King has impressed people with his successful bus boycott and has founded the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) as the focus of his civil rights movement...

In the USA, nine black students attempted to enrol at the all-white Little Rock Central High School; initially, they were barred on the orders of the State Governor...'

Taken from Charlotte's diary in Time and Tide.

Personally, when I think back, the main thing I remember is that everything was much slower.

Today, we are obsessed with speed. Also, in those days, goods were made to last. Now, we have become the 'throw away' society. Goods are not made, either to last for years or to be repaired, but to be recycled and replaced with newer models. The fifties in Britain were austere years in the aftermath of the war and times were hard but there was a community spirit which seems to have got lost somewhere along the road of progress.

Do you hear me sigh for the 'good old days'? I will leave you with this thought...

Thought for the week: Tomorrow, today will be 'the good old days'!

So, bye for now from myself and Donald. I guess we can disappear and enjoy ourselves again. Have a great Christmas next month and all the best for 2014. I'm sure we'll be with you again then.

All our love, Sofia and Donald xxxx