h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'The Good Old Days' - A87882925
Author: SashaQ - happysad - Editor - U9936370

Here's another collaborative Entry.

Contributors:
Feisor - -0- Generix I made it back - sortof ...
Bluebottle
Baron Grim
Wand'rin star
You can call me TC - Happy New Year everyone
SparticusLegs - Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side...
paulh. the ghost of Christmas comic relief
Teasswill
winnoch2 - Better late than never
Hypatia
Icy North
MMF - Keeper of Mustelids, with added P.M.A., is now in a relationship.
Rev Nick
SashaQ

This is great, Sasha, perfect EGE material

>>To me, 'the good old days' was the title of a of the music hall programme broadcast by the BBC from The City Varieties theatre in Leeds in the 60s and 70s.<< too many words there "of a of the"

and in fact when I saw the title I thought it was going to be about that show! (which I barely remember, of course)

I am surprised no-one mentioned driving. I think of the good old days when every driver used their indicators and gave way to other drivers, politeness was the unspoken rule of the road. Now it is just rudeness, cut-you-up, turn without indicating, ooh I got a phone call which can't wait!!! You have to be a mind-reader and have your wits about you all the time!

GB

There was less traffic about

Once I managed a drive from Marlow to Cannon Road London 32 miles in 32 minutes.
It was 10:28 am to 12:00 interesting journey

I happened by here thanks to Bluebottle. Lovely work, you people! And you made me laugh.

Yay! I've been on h2g2 for almost 19 years and I've finally had a use

<BB<

You're the most monumentally useful person I can think of...sort of like a babelfish...

Thanks GB and DG

I added in a section on transport

I like the idea of Bluebottle as the winged equivalent of the Babelfish Monumentally useful indeed

I had a thought yesterday – in the Good Old Days there were stars in the sky. Nowadays on a clear night less than 20 are visible. Last year I did actually get to see the constellation of Orion once, but most of the time light pollutions drowns out almost every star leaving nothing but the moon.

<BB<

Certainly, there were to see.

There were also more wild creatures and flowers too. It's ages since I've seen a live hedgehog and lapwings, sky larks and even thrushes have declined The birds of prey, on the other hand, seem to have increased since DDT was banned.

When you do the 'Bad Old Days', give me a holler. I can tell some tales of getting caught in DDT clouds. Driving through Mississippi was an adventure.

We have a hedgehog living in our garden but to busy for lapwings, but we did have a wild falcon take a bird from the bird table last year

It looks to me like Dmitri is volunteering to start a 'Bad Old Days' collaboration - well done

<BB<

I'm afraid you'd have to wait a long time. Sorry, but I'm kind of overscheduled right now. (Maybe it's still the Bad Old Days...)

Reguarding driving, indeed most drivers were far more courteous. And such little things as a knob on the steering wheel and studs in winter tires were real nice. Mind, the 4-by-60 air conditioning wasn't as helpful in the thick of summer when passing through small towns or in a parking lot such as our Trans-Canada highway near Toronto.

Starlings and blackbirds could be seen in the garden, nowadays it's just crows and magpies. Not that the starlings were a "good thing" - my parents used to hate them. (Pam Ayres did a poem about the starlings, then in latter years she did another one because of the change in the starling population. If anyone is interested enough in that, they will find it themselves!)

I see <BB< was being a "buzzard" to Dmitri again, but only in a "Touché Brutus" sort of way

I wasn't sure about whether to put light pollution in, as it depends where you live, I think. I have streetlights outside my house, but I can still see Orion at least...

I did the RSPB Birdwatch at the weekend, and that was good - we have Jackdaws but also plenty of sparrows and blackbirds. My parents have a hedgehog house in their garden, which is well used, but admittedly they do have more birds of prey than thrushes...

I couldn't drive without a steering knob (as it means my other hand is free for the brake/accelerator), so they are still around, but perhaps marketed more as accessibility features than for general use.

I just thought that Dmitri had had a really good idea and was merely enquiring whether he was pursuing it further

<BB<

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