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Are we really the lucky generation?

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    Are we really the lucky generation?

    Mimi's post in the wee small hours this morning has struck a chord with several of us, so I thought it deserved a thread of its own. Mimi - I hope you don't mind.


    Feeling as mad as hell at the moment

    Apperently us ‘ baby boomers ‘ are now to blame for the housing shortage as we are ‘ are so selfish ‘ .
    Is there anything left to blame the over 60s for .
    Exuse me while I go and put my hair shirt on and bang my head constantly with a hammer 🔨 as punishment for being born when I was , how inconsiderate of me

    Right now Mimi , calm down , you are having your blood pressure measured this morning.

    Rant over




    My first thoughts were, yes we may have had free Uni education available, but most of us still couldn't afford to go because we needed to get out there and earn wages. My father died when I was 18 and my wages were spent on the mortgage and utility bills!

    And let's not forget we were the generation who if we were lucky enough to have a mortgage were at times paying 15% interest!

    Poverty in our day wasn't measured by how old our mobile phone was, but basics like having an outdoor toilet and no bathroom.






    "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognise how good things really are. "

    (Marianne Williamson)

    #2
    We were the lucky generation because we have seen so much more change and inventions than any other generation,
    As for anything else no we are not ,

    We have seen poverty and shortages on huge scale , wages were poor, Mortgage's & rents high , only the wealthy or those in small family's got to go to Uni where I lived ,

    We were a Shipyard and Mining town look what happened there , thousands of people out of work when they closed .
    We had a youth club if we were lucky , didn't have the money to do much else ,

    I see GS1 and his friends getting money every time they go out £10 hear £5 there it all adds up in the holidays , we wouldn't even dream of asking never mind getting anything ,
    No holidays abroad for us it was a picnic in the park or a very long hike to the beach

    We lived in for several years , our first house had a outside toilet ( rented) that froze in the winter , Coal fire no radiators , ice formed on the inside of the windows ,
    Its a crime to the young now if its not at tropical temp every time they walk through the door,

    This is a throw away generation and then they talk about the problem with the planets pollution .

    Oh I could go on and on about this subject
    Im not fat just 6ft too small

    Comment


      #3
      Don’t get me started!!

      we all worked d.......ed hard to get the little that we had. I can remember when we were first married, getting paid in a Friday and very often our meal on a Thursday would be beans on toast, how many of the younger generation would do that now! No, it would be a takeaway on the credit card. We were extremely lucky that we scrimped and saved enough for a deposit on a house and then scrimped to,pay the mortgage. No new clothes, no trips out and certainly no holidays. No central heating and no carpets for ages, ice on the inside of the windows. DH worked hard all week and then got a job in a pub at the weekends and evenings. When the children were born we had foreign students for years to help pay the bills. When I hear people complaining that “we had it easy”and then see them queueing up for the latest mobile phone, having exotic holidays I get so cross. I know it’s not every young person, but even my own DD has been known to say we had it easier than them. I keep it zipped 🤐
      "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." - Dr Seuss

      Comment


        #4
        I think we were the ‘ lucky generation ‘ . Young men were no longer conscripted into the forces, we had a good quality health service, schools and we were safe to play outside with fear of being snatched . Jobs were more readily available and foreign travel was just becoming available to anyone one on fairly good income. There was plenty of social housing and buying a house wasn’t only the option for the wealthy.
        Is this why we now get so much grief from younger people? It’s hardly our fault we were born when we were, what were we supposed to do back in the 50s and 60s say “ No thanks I won’t take advantage of the health care, education and job opportunities as it won’t be fair on the young of the 2000s !
        Its time they looked at what they have got now and stop complaining, after all haven’t they stopped to look at the impending doom that may well face us as we get older, haven’t seen the standard of social care for the older generation,
        Bring me sunshine in your smile.

        Comment


          #5
          Not sure which generation they think we had it easy. As you know I am much older than most of you and was born 1938, the youngest of six children. No holidays until I was 15, we went to Hastings. No car, no phone, frozen pipes, we did have an indoor loo but no hot water on tap to fill the weekly bath, we had to heat a copper and bale it in. Nobody has ever said to me that we had it good but then I wasn't a baby boomer.
          What is life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare

          Comment


            #6
            I'm a bit younger than you Plant, but we had no central heating at home, and I well remember ice in the bedroom windows in winter,and coats piled on the beds to keep warm! No phone until I was in my teens, and no car either.

            When my husband and I moved back to York with our baby in 1976, there was no chance of a council house - we were told it was a 7 year wait, unless my parents who we stayed with, made us homeless! No private landlords would consider us with a small child. Luckily both sets of parents, and my BIL helped us get a deposit and we bought a small house.

            I spent all my money on my children, new clothes, make up or anything else for myself wasn't on the agenda, as there was nothing to spare. Everything was kept between babies, and passed on to the next one. I don't know anyone in my daughters generation who do this.
            Things improved as the years went by and we became more affluent and had a 3rd child.
            I am not moaning, but neither do I consider myself particularly the lucky generation.
            Now at 63, and both myself and OH with health issues, it would be nice to have the pension, bus pass etc that those slightly older than us had from 60.
            “A grandchild fills a space in your heart that you never knew was empty.” – Unknown

            Comment


              #7
              No one would say we where poor in those days but we certainly did not have it easy when I was small,I was 5 before I saw my first Orange brought home by my dad when he worked on the docks,he shared it out into 4 equal pieces (I hated it but ate every segment) we had an outside loo but thought as well off as it had a light in it.
              My mum made all our dresses and ribbons even made my brothers trousers to make ends meet would they do that now I doubt it very much everything has to be bought now and pay later something my mum would never have dreamed of doing.
              When mine where growing up we also had mortgage payments up to 15% and hubby working 16hrs a day sometimes on a double shift (not allowed nowadays) just to pay the mortgage/bills/travel to work etc.
              I didn't get family allowance until my 2nd child in those days and had no income myself so had to manage very carefully with regard to anything I need for myself, we made it through by robbing Peter to pay Paul often by the skin of our teeth every month,no credit cards to buffer the blow in those days.
              Now we have never been so well off holidays 2/3 times a year good food never cold or worry about paying a bill when it comes in,able to help DCs and DGCs.
              Keep Calm,You're Fabulous

              Comment


                #8
                I don't see how the present generation think they are so hard done by, it they gave up the luxuries they think as normal, such as hair and nail treatments, expensive toiletries, eating out, luxury holidays, 2 cars, gym fees, latest fashion, they might be able to find the money for a deposit on a house.
                What is life if full of care we have no time to stand and stare

                Comment


                  #9
                  Plant, I agree about the younger generations don't know what is a luxury and what is not, but in part that's because the older generation have generated the wealth to raise the basic standard of living beyond anything we could have imagined in our youth. But even if they saved the money for a deposit on a house, unless they're earning considerable salaries they still can't get a mortgage and house prices won't go down while there's such a shortage of homes in the country.

                  I remember when one of my DSs started 'A' Level Sociology the teacher asked them what they thought of as 'poor'. My DS said not having money to buy someone a birthday card and present, other said things like not being able to buy the brand of trainers they liked, or go to the cinema, or go on a UK holiday. I wonder what we would have said when we were 16?

                  "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognise how good things really are. "

                  (Marianne Williamson)

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I also remember ice on the windows when i was a kid.We didn't have an inside loo.We had to walk to the bottom of the garden to the loo. Like Gem though,we did have a light in it.

                    When we got married, we had a 1 room flat for a week.Shared bathroom. Then for 4 months we lived in a private furnished house.
                    We were fortunate to get this house then.It was a council house at the time.(we did buy the house when Rght to Buy came in)All of our furniture was bought second hand,except for the bed which was brand new.
                    4 months later baby number 1 arrived.
                    Hubby wouldn't hear of anything on credit,(still won't)so he used to work double shifts,so we could save up to buy things.

                    Last month, our grandaughter and her partner moved into a new build they are buying. They insisted all the furniture and appliances had to be brand new.
                    No doubt this is all on credit, which i know is no business of ours.
                    But, when we lived with 2nd hand stuff many years ago, we could say it was ours and paid for.
                    Sometimes I forget to like posts,but that doesn't mean I don't like them.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Some of yo may have seen in chatbox this morning, i posted about my BIL turning 60 next week, and he is quite put out that he won't be getting the Winter fuel payment next year.

                      I have just applied for the married couples tax allowance. Will see if we are succesful or not.
                      Sometimes I forget to like posts,but that doesn't mean I don't like them.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        I’m speechless, cheeky s**s , we got our married allowance Nan2 did it online no problem. Everything has been said on here not much left to say . We bought a 2up and down with bathroom 15 % interest and when interest charges were changing we used to quake in our boots that we would be able to afford to keep the house. Both my DS and my Dd moved into 4 bed det when they got married, we used to think such houses were mansions how times have changed, good job we managed to look after our money as a lot of us would have been working and unable to look after our g/c so they can go to work and maintain the lifestyle we could only dream of

                        Comment


                          #13
                          i have done it online Qwerty. only took 5 minutes,if that.
                          Sometimes I forget to like posts,but that doesn't mean I don't like them.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by Nanto2girls View Post
                            i have done it online Qwerty. only took 5 minutes,if that.
                            👍🏻............

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I was very lucky that we always had a bathroom and indoor toilet, but certainly no central heating, phone or tv. My grandfather had helped my dad and mum and dad's younger brother to buy newly built 3-bed semis when they got married in 1936. But when electricity companies were being nationalised in 1948/9 my dad thought he would be made redundant, and not qualified for any other job he and mum sold the house and bought a corner grocery shop.

                              We lived behind the shop - kitchen and living room downstairs and 2 bedrooms, boxroom and bathroom upstairs. But he suffered from asthma and his chest got worse and worse, so 10 or so years later they decided to sell up, move to a bungalow in an outlying village and hope that the better air quality would help him. He was then going to get a job as an insurance man (collecting premiums door to door). Sadly, after we'd bought the bungalow on a bridging loan, and before the shop sale was completed, he fell ill and died. It was a nightmare on so many levels and I had to grow up very fast! I can remember one day being in floods of tears as I tried to do the stock take for valuation purposes, with no real idea what I was doing. My mum had gone back to work in the pottery industry to help finance the change, but she wasn't earning enough to get a mortgage, and I was too young to have one (you had to be 21). We were lucky we had a sympathetic bank manager and a good solicitor, and we got a bank loan for 3 years until I could apply for a mortgage, so we kept the roof over our heads - just. But there wasn't a penny left over and in addition to my job in local government (as a very low-paid junior) I started teaching typing two nights a week at the college where I'd trained.

                              I learned very quickly how to change washers, mend fuses, do the decorating, run the bank account and anything else like that that my Dad had always done. So, no, I don't think I had it easy. On the other hand there were lots of people who had it much harder than I did.

                              Where people of my age have 'gained' I think, is in the retirement stakes. Many of our friends of our age got early retirement at 50, and my OH retired at 59. He had to wait until 65 for his State pension, of course, but he got his redundancy pay and at 60 his work pension. I was lucky to be born in 1943 so got my pensions at 60, and I'd always paid my full NI stamp. I was lucky not to be born those few years later, and I feel it's very unfair that so many of you have had your retirement ages pushed further and further away.

                              But I do think the younger generation don't understand that we haven't always had it easy, and some of us still don't.
                              "Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognise how good things really are. "

                              (Marianne Williamson)

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