Thread: A good spot in time

I was born in 1948 in Christchurch New Zealand, it was good time and place to grow up. Life was simple, good food was dirt cheap, jobs were plentiful, crime was almost unheard of.
On Sundays we would go for a drive in the country to get our fresh produce for the week.
In most cases you brought from an unmanned shop, selected what you wanted and then left the payment and took your change from a cardboard box.

We had a fishing site with caravan setup near a a river, go there for holidays, you would normally count on getting at least 2 to 3 large rainbow trout every morning, that took care of breakfast, in the evening you would fossick around the rocks or drop some cray fish pots and come home with 20 odd decent sized Crayfish, that took care of dinner.

On the way home my ol man would open up the 3 Litre Austin Westminster we had, cruise home on the long straight empty roads in the South Island at 100 MPH.
We would wind open the sunroof and see how long we could keep our heads out in the airstream. No traffic to speak of, certainly no cops, the only downside was my Mum whinging like fvck for him to slow down but if you went fast enough with the sunroof open, it drowned out the noise.

The only entertainment was that which you made for yourself, hunting climbing and fishing. When I was 9 yrs old I started going off for camping trips into the bush by myself.
Load up my bicycle with fishing gear, a 22 rifle and head off for a week, while I am no outback woodsman, I could live quite easily off what the forests and river could provide.

When I was 12 years old I got my driving Licence and first car, in those days you could get a licence if you had an "address" in the country.
It opened up a whole new world and got me to places a lot further than the 100kms I could manage with my bicycle.
It was a good time and place in which to grow up, no TV, no PC gamers and no Mc Donalds, no drugs or Terrorists.

For me I guess where we now live in Rural Thailand, recreates for my kids the simple but abundant life I had in my youth. Clean air, safe envioroment and without the overbearing regulation of the West.

Born in 1948 on what day?

Originally Posted by peterpan

come home with 20 odd decent sized Crayfish

You'd get arrested for that now.

Originally Posted by peterpan

at least 2 to 3 large rainbow trout every morning

And with no license? You'd get arrested for that too.

Originally Posted by peterpan

When I was 9 yrs old ... a 22 rifle

Originally Posted by peterpan

When I was 12 years old I got my driving Licence and first car

A world away...

Originally Posted by Plan B

Originally Posted by peterpan

When I was 12 years old I got my driving Licence and first car

Just looked at the licence and it was issued in Feb 1961 so I was 13 years old not 12.

Memok: 17th Feb 1948, why do you think I may be yr Dad or something?

Peterpan, I'm not as old as you but I have some memories of times like yours from the US. I sure miss those days. My hometown has become a shoppingmall strip crowded and congested. As for the kids of today, sadly the world we have today will be the type of memories we have. They will look back to this time as a sort of perfection compared to the future world they will live in.


It's amazing that in the past there were roads like you described all over the place where you could go and be alone. I don't know how they built them back then because it seems that nowdays they have a hard time just paying for them to be maintained.

I personally believe that the only way to have a better world at this point in time is to go back to the past by reducing the world's population. If people around the world could embrace the idea of smaller families, someday our ancestors could live the lives we once did.

Reading TGS's internet shop thread started me thinking, because in the village near where we live there is a shop, we stop and have a beer some nights. I needed to take a leak so went down the back to the toilet. In a darkened room with 12 monitors there were 12 kids banging away on keyboards. I never knew they were there as I hadn't seen any kids come & go while we were sitting there.
I thought it was a bloody sad life for kids that have nothing to do after school other than sit in dark crappy room for hours on end playing "blow them away " games.

It just started me thinking, I think was lucky to be born at the time I was.

You were. Nowadays you can spend your whole week without touching soil. I want to see the stars crshing down from the sky at night. I haven't seen a real starry sky in years! I want to spend some time away from people in the mountains. Concrete walls are best used in prisons!!! Well at least where I grew up.

A nice OP PP!

This is exactly why I have plans to move back to the country. Living in Bangkok just makes you (well, me) lazy and complacent. Why on Earth would you want to bring your kids up in this concrete and filth environment is beyond me. All of my students spend their entire lives either at school or at home. There are no green, open spaces for them to run around in. Where are they supposed to go cycling? This is not just about Bangkok, but pretty much any urban area.

Sadly, it's going to take me a year or two before I can de-urbanise myself.

Yep PP, I was born in 1934 and grew up in a sawmill/Cattle town of maybe 3000 people, High country with trout streams running thru town, a Dam not far out and only 1 paved street in town that was also the state hyway thru it.
So I know exactly what you are talking about.
As far as smaller familys goes, Singapore is bitching about low birth rates and needing more kids so they can grow up and fill the jobs so that outside people will not be brought in, same with China today, need more young to fill the jobs that outsiders now fill.
Then there is places that have all the people and none of the jobs,, no end to that problem tho.

Originally Posted by blackgang

same with China today, need more young to fill the jobs that outsiders now fill.

I find it hard to believe that China has a shortage of people. Maybe it has a shortage of skilled people, but not general workers, no?

I was also born in 1948 in Christchurch, New Zealand...

My dad was in the Air Force so I was a Wigram "base brat"...

We used to go everywhere by bike...and I mean everywhere. Rabbit shooting in the forest out towards Weedons...swimming at Sumner beach with the ride over the summit road...
We never had a TV at home and it was never a problem because there was always something to do...

Good OP PP...makes me a little nostalgic...

funnily enough I was thinking about ChCh this morning cause it's the first time I've ever driven to work in Bkk through FOG...not exactly a pea-souper but enough to make me think of cycling to school and not being able to see the back wheel of my mates bike a couple of metres in front of me...

i too and my wife, both RAAF brats, transfered around ozzie, i born 59 but as above have stated no modern gizmos to entertain, watching my older cousins tinker with motorcycles and then one gave my first air rifle hunting rabbits out the back of my folks place,the speedway, the vietnam war, wondering will i go too, now well i suppose every generation says the same thing ..in my day.. but i truelly believe we were indeed lucky, i don,t remember kids having adhd, or the parents or coppers for that matter not being able to kick you in the arse when you were in the wrong,, a mate of mine said it all went to shit when the kids were,nt allowed to be disaplined

^ basically my view too. A list my father drew up (when I was a kid)

1. you cannot talk to a child as if you were an adult, you're not
2. a family is not a democracy. I'm not running for political office.
3. Shit happens in life, like most other things in life you might as well learn it from me.
4. if you want something in life, earn it. I'm not in for this instant gratification bullshit.
5. I'll walk to the end of the world for you. I don't necessarily expect you'll always love me, but if you live in my house I do expect you to respect me.

Yep, thats the way my dad put things into prospective too.

Just thought I would add this one to make Klongy all teary eyed

Taken on the Port hills with Christchurch down in the back ground and the foot hills of the Southern Alps in the far back ground.

hey PP that looks like a nice road to go for a hot rod on.. nice lookin gangsters too ! they look happy,,, cold but happy

Nice one PP. My story almost the same. The changes to the world in the relatively short lifetime of folks our age is absolutely astonishing. I often wonder if our children or grandchildren will look back at their youth with such nostalgia when they are 50 plus?

Pre & early teens it was our favorite skateboarding area, flying down there weaving thru all the Grandads out for a sunday drive was exhilarating, till you fell off the hill.

KlongM, you had a bike? 555 I walked a couple of miles to school with friends in minus 40 weather in the winter. We played hockey at an outdoor rink with no padding. Summers, we climbed down a ravine to go swimming. At 12 or so, I knew how to shoot a gun and won the city cup in ballet (came in last in tap dancing). Was a really good weed picker, but was scolded for staying inside reading when it was "a beautiful day."

In Christchurch in the 50's everyone had a bike, the city itself is dead flat and the weather mild.
The main roads were packed with bikes in morning rush hour.
Its a great pity now for such a bike friendly place to see it packed with cars.
The city once had a great electrified Tram system but the myopic administration of the 50's saw it torn up to make more room for cars.

I guess I was part of the problem as I started to drive my car to high school, it was not done fora student to drive at time when most of the teachers rode a bike.
Now in the sme school the students car park is way bigger than that designated for teachers.

Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

I walked a couple of miles to school with friends in minus 40 weather in the winter.

This reminds me of what I used to tell my kids when they complained about how tough things were for them. Told them, "When I was a kid in Canada, I walked five miles to and from school, up hill, against 50 mph wind, in -40 degree weather.

Originally Posted by peterpan

Memok: 17th Feb 1948, why do you think I may be yr Dad or something?

Nah just thought you might have been getting all nostalgic because it was your 60 birthday today, not too long to go though!

Originally Posted by MeMock

not too long to go though!

I thought he'd had his 60th years ago.

I don't do reds but now fvking tempting isn't it?