Riposte

I RECENTLY revealed the surprise I felt when my young grandchildren had no idea what paper currency was, which highlighted the impact of them only seeing card purchases.

It was a bit disconcerting to be honest, but it seems there are many things that, while common knowledge for me and my children, are mysterious things for my grandchildren’s generation.

Like, it’s weird when they don’t know what a DVD is. I kid you not. CDs are an unknown thing too (because you get music via Spotify etc on your phone now) and this all came to light when my granddaughter came across a DVD and had no idea what it was. Was it a book or something, she wondered.

My daughter explained it was how people used to watch movies. Anyway, for a child who has grown up with everything under the sun available at the press of a button on the remote for the smart TV, I suppose a DVD and player would seem weird.

I can’t imagine what she’d think if she ever came across a video.

I can remember my sister and I asking our grandmother about things in the “very olden days” (her youth) and I can understand now why she looked a bit blown away for a moment. I mean, who wants to hear their salad days referred to as “very olden”?

But it has made me think; what other common place things which have been a general part of my life, are going to leave my grandchildren mouth-agape? Should I tell them about dial phones?

Or maybe the telephone exchanges that were still in use in a few rural towns up until the 1980s?

I remember seeing the three-page telephone book (it was dated 1987) for one of them, which also included the instructions on how to use the “new” automatic telephone service.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t mention them yet. Why blow their young minds at this stage. I’ll wait a couple of years and then entertain them with these stories.

And they will be entertained, just like my sister and I were, about things like ice chests (before electric fridges), the clothes prop man and some of the strange gadgetry my grandmother kept in her kitchen drawers.

And black and white televisions with only three or four channels (and no such thing as “catch-up”) with a dial to manually change from one channel to another because there were no remotes.

Although I do remember one model, from when I was very small, having a cable that ran from the TV to a gadget that allowed you to change a channel from a lounge chair. The cable was really short however, so you’d have to sit very close to the set. I don’t think they really took off. I know my own kids thought these were hysterically funny (and to be honest, I did too).

But they were also intrigued with my electronic typewriter, wondering what kind of computer it was.

I know, right? But they thought it was “really cool” when I explained what it actually was because they had never seen a typewriter.

All these years later, they still think it’s cool. Perhaps I should show it to the grandchildren. Roll a sheet of paper into it maybe?

But how “old” do I want to feel?