Tuesday, September 23, 2008

NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY

Blackpool last Saturday afternoon







May I recommend for quality gift cards Wendy at wonderwend-@hotmail.co.uk Wendy makes the finest hand made gift cards in the world, if you ever need anything for that very super special occasion and can't find anything at all from Thorntons to Harrods Wendy is you lady, for special xmas, birthday , thank you or anything, she is a regular columnist in craft journals and a world leader, you all know I don't recommend lightly. Based now in Ireland its not a problem posting across to UK etc.
Friday id looking a more likely day for my truck filming if the forecasts holds good till then, and what about the weekend, at present they are predicting the sunniest Showbus in years and entries are already over 500 and that’s ahead of last years entries. Make it a memorable end to the year, copies of my book will be on sale, signing after 12 when the Bristol run has arrived, until then I'll be stationed on Spencer's Mound at the entry gate, waves and smiles for the camera please.
Last night I got the covers finished for the Dorset and Blackpool programmes which have been added to the list. I shall shortly start selling on Amazon, I'm getting everything coded up with car code numbers which is a requirement to have a listing ion their pages, this is all well under way and is an antidote to EBay which I can't stand.
I am still hoping to start doing a regional bus archive on Merseyside, North Wales and Cheshire for sale at the Wirral rally week after Showbus. Also planned North Lancs and Isle of Man for launch at Boyle St. Possible S West and Channel Islands for sales at LOTS. Eastern England for next spring, Central Southern next summer, Yorkshire by autumn 09 and remainder of Scotland before next Lathalmond Aug 09.
derived no doubt from the US and doctored but quite valid
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s probably shouldn't have survived, because . . . .

Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint, which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no child-proof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent “clackers” on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air-bags; riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have PlayStations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends- we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again. We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue, and we learnt to get over it.
We walked to friends homes.
We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school, we didn’t rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
We rode bikes in packs of seven and wore out coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!!!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors ever. The past fifty years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

And you’re one of them. Congratulations!!!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren’t old enough, thought you might like to read about us.

No comments: