From there to here in a breath
I was recalling the tales told to me by my grandmother. She saw the first cars and the space shuttle. She talked of the first planes made of paper, wood, wires and a propeller that crawled across the skies.
My mother talked of children playing in the streets without shoes, having their feet bound in rags for winter; of people being sewn into their clothes for winter.
I remember the milk and coal being delivered by horse and cart, the man coming round to light the street gaslights.
In the sixties the first computers the size of rooms running on cut-out cardboard.
Will there ever be a time when things have changed so much?
For centuries people went on doing things in the same old way. The pace of life was slow and change unheard of. Then the industrial revolution, invention and capitalism; the speed increased. It was all about progress – which basically meant someone making money. The rate of change has been stupendous. You blink and the world has changed.
Is it good?
From there to here in a breath
Form horse and cart
To space shuttle.
From dirt road
To motorway.
From stretched paper,
Line and prop
To turbojet.
From gaslight
To electrical appliance.
From unshod feet
To fashion shoes to throw.
From the soils of the earth
To the dust of the moon.
From an early bed
To late night TV.
From starving children here
To starving children there.
From one war
To a host more.
From a switchboard
And black Bakelite phone
To text and go.
From a letter on a horse
To an email.
From a reference book
To Wikipedia.
From a village
To the world.
It’s a long way to travel
In a single life.
Opher 18.4.2014
These are my six books of poetry. They are available as paperback or on Kindle from Amazon – all for under £5 for a paperback. You could buy the whole lot for just £27.62!!
They are not conventional poetry books. They are like you find on my blog with a page of explanatory prose followed by the poem. The prose is as important as the poem to me.
Codas, Cadence and Clues – £4.97
Stanzas and Stances – £5.59
Poems and Peons – £4.33
Rhymes and Reasons – £3.98
Prose, Cons and Poetry – £4.60
Vice and Verse – £4.15
I don’t think we are any happier, but we can’t stop change.
No. I don’t think it makes us any happier. It is a futile pursuit of progress that is a sham. What they really mean is money.
We can’t stop it.
You are right it is all about money and unfortunately it can’t be stopped. Every time I have to buy something like a washing machine its all technical and I just look at it and think why can’t it all be simple again. Look at that drone that hit or nearly did the BA flight, what bloody good are those drones why would anyone want one.
You used to be able to repair a car. Now even the garages have to connect it up to a computer to find out what the problem is. They make everything so complicated that nobody can repair them. There’s built-in obsolescence. You are meant to trade them in and upgrade to a newer model. Money, money, money.
That is appalling, it’s all a game with them everywhere you go you get less quality but have to pay more. I purchased a fruit loaf from a company called “Celtic Bread” don’t try it, via Ocado on Saturday at £2.99 so I expected it to be really lovely. Read the reviews good/not too good but tried it anyway. Had some Sunday morning, I could barely cut the loaf it was so hard when I finally managed two slices the inside was all dry so I thought I would toast it as recommended did have a nice flavour when you had to get through it’s toughness – £2.99 for a loaf, a joke and I should have known better but these companies get away with it. I am putting a bad review in. Hope your car repair bill was not too high.
Wow! What memories you must have at 103!
The car was a blocked oil pipe. The bill was £345. That’s a lot of blockage.
I tell myself that it could have been worse. The engine could have seized.
£345 is a lot these days, just had to spend £90 on a new hedge trimmer, could not get anyone to repair the one I had, nobody does repairs these days. It’s all money these days, this house just soaks it up, we try to get someone to do a job, the come to give quotation take one look at the size if the house, being large they assume “money” and up the price goes. All the same.
Certainly was a lot. More than I had hoped but then not as much as it might have been.
It’s a long way to travel
In a single life.
Love that line. You would probably love to have a chat with my oldest lady I visit, Eunice. She’s 103!
As they say nowadays … yeah, did we miss a meeting?
What do I mean, ‘they’? I’ve just said it myself …
Help!!!
I think you’re suffering from the same thing as me Dave!
Oh, that’s all right, then …
We’ll no doubt see where it takes us.
Then you were fortunate
That’s the best way to look at it!
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
The span of a lifetime.