SANDRAPAUL

1st Observation:

When I was a lad our local village had a tennis court. It had nets. Next to this was a playground. In around 1970 the vandalism of the tennis court got so bad (numerous sets of nets were stolen) that the surface (ashfelt.tarmac) had to be lifte anf the whole thing filled in. Over the next 5 years all the items in the payground had to be removed one by one.

That was the MY UK when I were a lad.

Canada now 2006. There is a net and it has been there since we arrived. It is used. No one vanadlises it as no one has even considered this as an option. I have sopken to many many people as my business involves a LOT of networking - they all look at me bemused as to why on earth would anyone want to rip the nets apart.

2nd Observation

When I were a lad in the UK our doors were never left open long. In fact the area we lived in was not very smart, mainly council houses, and if anything was left out showing it went missing very quickly. That was back in the good days of the 70's. During the 80's both our cars were done over, we had things stolen from the back yard and the door was never unlocked. During the 90's many of our neighbours were buglarised and wrecked.

Here in Canada we walked past a garage being re-painted. It took a week. Whilst that was going on the entire contents of the garage was outside. That included a blooming great big canoe. Fishing gear, shelves, lawnmowers - the lot. Not one item was touched. And this house is on a busy off-road. I/we are uterly amazed. When again re-telling this to all who listen they just look at me as though I am mad. You can see in their innocent round eyes that this is just 'normal'.

I know crime is apparent. Plenty of murders in this town of London. Crime for sure. But then again it is a city.

But it does make you sit back and think.


Respect. That is what it is.

iaink

Thats why you see pickup trucks everywhere here and not in the UK. If you chuck something in the back of a truck here, theres a good chance it will still be there five minutes later.

Of course the more Brits we let in, the less likely things are to stay this way Maybe we should stop now

joelsa

I was thinking the exact same thing!

Going back to the OP's comments, our local childs play area got some brand new toddler swings after 9 years of not having any, one by one they've all been destroyed, they lasted all of 3 months

Jo

dingbat

You know what I still laugh at - all the "sidewalk sales" - racks full off stuff out on the open unguarded pavements...and the supermarkets with pallets of stuff outside that you just help yourself to. I have a bet on with my eldest that it would have taken the scallies where I used to live in London less than a minute to rip off a whole pallet of bottled pop.

Butch Cassidy

Yeah and you want to go back!!!!!

hot wasabi peas

But dingbat, have you looked at that stuff? Even petty thieves have standards... the local Sally Ann's probably don't even want it!

Craftybanshee

Beaverquest

i remember when i were lad, we used to swim naked in the canal after a twelve hour shift at the tannery, mothers would take turns in coming down to feed us homemade lard sandwiches (none of your pret nonsense in those days) washed down with a brew or some dandellion & burdock pop
as a special treat we'd catch tram into town to see george formby playing at the astoria & mam would buy us a jellied bun and a 10 of woodbines if we were good
we'd sing all the way home, to our corporation cottage (we could'nt afford doors in those days) to find bino the local hound had got into larder & demolished our stock of bamcakes
but the thing is we still managed to all laugh about it, & gather round the transisitor with an ovaltine to see out the night with formby un-plugged at the hacienda

those were days

- seriously though agree with all you say- hence reasons to jump ship & hopefully give kids a better future - i too played in playgrounds in early seventies & have seen our values & behaviour decline
- people then would chat to their neighbours & strangers at bus-stops
now that's almost a no go, but texting crap/pointless mobile calls/reality tv/chat-sites like this one, wait a minu

mjanovitz

I use to leave my bike on the driveway back in the UK, not for long periods of time just the odd hour or two, and it was always there when I went back to it.

I cleaned it all up ready for shipping. It was wrapped, packed and loaded and I waited a good 10 weeks for it to arrive in Canada. When it arrived I went out for a ride and it got a bit muddy so when I got back to the apartment I left it outside under our window while the mud dried.

Went back to it an hour later and it was gone!!!!

I over estimated what a "nice place" Canada was which was a mistake I won't be making again. My first reaction was disbelief that this could have happened here, it was a bit of a wake up call.

Don't get me wrong I don't regret comming here, but I now have a new bike and I wouldn't even leave it outside with 10 bike locks on or store it in the underground garage!! It is happily living on the balcony.

Incidently if anyone sees a green, black and silver Carerra Gryphon Hybrid bike in the Leaside Toronto area then I would be obliged if you could let me know.

I know this isn't quite within the original topic but it seemed a good place to mention it.

Mark

SANDRAPAUL

Like I said - crime does exist.

Sorry you lost your bike. Not a nice feeling. I am sure if I moved to a bigger city things would be very different. No different to any other large metropolis. I am just waiting for this small size city to join the league of lock your doors, avoid staring at anyone, keep out of the streets at night and be ever watchful.

It will come I am sure.

I just hope it takes a long time. But at the moment we are just happy to be where we are.

But in the UK we actually lived in a very small village which makes what happended even more surprising.

Tableland

Thirty years ago twice as many people died from circulatory diseases, there were no real health and safety regulations in the work place, there was an oil crisis that led to rationing, there was widespread and overt racism, infant mortality was much higher, life expectancy was lower, we had the notorious three day week, 24% inflation in 1975, and much higher unemployment.

MarkG

Yet, at least seen from the viewpoint of a kid growing up in the 70s, most people in Britain seemed much happier than they do today.

SANDRAPAUL

Off subject but not surprising really.

BTW. So was everywhere else.

Tableland

It's to tell though, isn't it? When you're a kid your parents keep the crap out of your life (or they should), and all your only problem is what sweets to buy. I have no idea how to judge the 1970s (not old enough), but the above is fact, and I do wonder sometimes if we demonise our present a little. After all, life back then (and earlier was even worse) wasn't a bed of roses. There has been a great deal of improvements in working conditions and healthcare, etc., and I don't think people ever stop to think about this. They just get off on the standard "this bloody country's going hell bla bla bla, not like when I was a kid and all the adults skipped to work with rosy cheeks and bits of straw in their mouths."

And No, it was not off subject. The question framed was to highlight discrepancies between the eras. Predictably, this turned into a "life in the UK is crap" thread quite quickly.

AnyaT

I am a bit surprised nothing was taken. To me household goods spread out on the lawn means they are throwing stuff out and are giving people the chance to take it before it is carted off to the dump. I got a nice microwave once that way.