My wife and I will celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on the 26th. This coming milestone has caused me to think back about things and I discovered that there isn't much that's really new.
In 1962 we moved into our first home - a two bedroom apartment. You would recognize the kitchen - gas range (our home today has electric but when we replace it we'll probably go to gas again) 2 door over/under refrigerator today we have a side-by-side. Two slice toaster, electric knife (I hated it then and won't have one in the house today). Mix master, blender.
The bath was virtually the same, commode, vanity sink, tub shower (tile rather than plastic one piece).
The living room - convertible sofa/bed, recliner chair and two other chairs, coffe table and a lamp stand. Television was 23 inch black and white. Stereo Record player and changer that I could put 8 33 rpm records on and it would play for about 4 hours before the were all finiished. Today our living room has virtually all of the same stuff, CD player instead of a record player - sounds about the same. We do have a big screen TV and it is color but chairs tables etc are about the same.
Bedroom we had a bed, two dressers and two night stands with a full length mirror on the door. Today we have a bed 3 dressers 2 night stands and a full length stand alone mirror. We have much more closet space.
I drove a car powered by an internal combustion engine, it had a V-8, power steering, power brakes, am radio, automatic transmission. If you got in it today you could go anyplace today's cars will take you. Mileage was about 17 mpg and there was a lot more maintenance needed but essentially it was the same as now.
I am reminded of a book I once read, that said everything was invented by 1950 and that since then all we've done is refine things. The author had a pretty good point. Think about it....What is truely new.
Telephone
Television
Electronic Computers
Automobiles
Airplanes
Space rockets
solid state electronics (transistors)
microwave ovens
washers
dryers
refrigerators
freezers
electric typewriters
air conditioning
gas and oil furnaces
Practically everything in our home today had it's beginnings between 1900 and 1950 - what a generation of people they were.....
In 1962 we moved into our first home - a two bedroom apartment. You would recognize the kitchen - gas range (our home today has electric but when we replace it we'll probably go to gas again) 2 door over/under refrigerator today we have a side-by-side. Two slice toaster, electric knife (I hated it then and won't have one in the house today). Mix master, blender.
The bath was virtually the same, commode, vanity sink, tub shower (tile rather than plastic one piece).
The living room - convertible sofa/bed, recliner chair and two other chairs, coffe table and a lamp stand. Television was 23 inch black and white. Stereo Record player and changer that I could put 8 33 rpm records on and it would play for about 4 hours before the were all finiished. Today our living room has virtually all of the same stuff, CD player instead of a record player - sounds about the same. We do have a big screen TV and it is color but chairs tables etc are about the same.
Bedroom we had a bed, two dressers and two night stands with a full length mirror on the door. Today we have a bed 3 dressers 2 night stands and a full length stand alone mirror. We have much more closet space.
I drove a car powered by an internal combustion engine, it had a V-8, power steering, power brakes, am radio, automatic transmission. If you got in it today you could go anyplace today's cars will take you. Mileage was about 17 mpg and there was a lot more maintenance needed but essentially it was the same as now.
I am reminded of a book I once read, that said everything was invented by 1950 and that since then all we've done is refine things. The author had a pretty good point. Think about it....What is truely new.
Telephone
Television
Electronic Computers
Automobiles
Airplanes
Space rockets
solid state electronics (transistors)
microwave ovens
washers
dryers
refrigerators
freezers
electric typewriters
air conditioning
gas and oil furnaces
Practically everything in our home today had it's beginnings between 1900 and 1950 - what a generation of people they were.....