Depends on the workload. What are you getting at, pal? I ainât complaining that my job is way too tough or that it takes up way too much of my time. All I said was that I donât like doing what was work shared for two people, one of whom was a grade above me and thus far better paid. As I said, Iâd rather Iâd been born in the 50s. Or failing that, I wish my father had ushered me to join the civil service the moment I left school.
But do you think that everybody lived in brand new houses 40 years ago?
[quote=âHis Holiness Da Dalai Lama, post: 853615, member: 1503â]Teacher was a cushy number back then. You were not rich, but you lived in a decent house with a decent wage and more importantly you were psychologically buffeted to large extent from the the economic uncertainties and tribulations that the unemployed, working class and small farmers (which combined made up most of the population) had to deal with with.
The other? Doctors, Bank Managers etc⌠they were a step below the landed gentry. There was a world of difference from everyone else.[/quote]
Donât think wealth stood out as much anyway. Few had luxury cars like today or even two cars and houses were much more modest. Went to school with plenty from all backgrounds and back then nobody really looked all that rich. Might have been more comfortable but thatâs harder to quantify and its one way the world has changed. The rich have definitely got richer.
Seems most agree the poor have also got richer so I suppose the obvious question is - is our current political and economic system all that bad? Most of us would instinctively say its terrible.
I think itâs legitimate circumstances for a bit of a whinge.
[quote=âTheUlteriorMotive, post: 853598, member: 2272â]quality of life was better in many ways in the 1980s (if you had a job) - in my estate it was generally one car per house but all the dads cars were home by about 5pm - the evenings they would be involved in community activity - building local GAA club, training football teams, cutting grass on the estate etc
In the summer there would be organised activities for the kids - mini leagues etc
People had more time in the 1980s but less money - a foreign holiday was out of the question and I wasnât out of the country until I was about 16.
In the 1980s most homes didnât have gas or oil central heating - they had back boilers at most which depended on a fire. I donât think people had electric showers until early 90s in most homes.
We always ate well as my folks made it a priority but I know lots of people who rarely ate meat
Eating out was a luxury that we rarely did - occasions maybe and takeaways were rare - McDonalds was a real treat
People generally stayed in the same house and there was no property ladder or push to move to a bigger and better house
To go back to the 1980s way of life would be hard for most people - a lot of creature comforts and experiences we have now they did not have but they probably had more free time/work not as pressurised[/quote]
I agree with this, the standard of living was worse in the eighties in absolute terms.
I went to what is now classed as a disadvantaged school in Kilkenny Citown and I still remember how poor some of the people in my class were. Half my class had no lunch coming to school- the school gave out sandwiches, tea and soup everyday as a matter of course. The smell in the classrooms was awful at times from unwashed clothes and bodies as some of the older local authority housing was in an awful condition and the newer houses hasnât been built.
Our school was next to an outdoor ballalley and it was constantly in use by local men as unemployment was high and it was free.( As an aside, it fell into disuse and was largely used for knacker drinking and then buying and shooting up heroin until the Eastern Europeans came and claimed it for racquet ball . )
The classrooms were packed and there were few or no facilities.
[quote=âMidshipman Asha, post: 853664, member: 1508â]I agree with this, the standard of living was worse in the eighties in absolute terms.
I went to what is now classed as a disadvantaged school in Kilkenny Citown and I still remember how poor some of the people in my class were. Half my class had no lunch coming to school- the school gave out sandwiches, tea and soup everyday as a matter of course. The smell in the classrooms was awful at times from unwashed clothes and bodies as some of the older local authority housing was in an awful condition and the newer houses hasnât been built.
Our school was next to an outdoor ballalley and it was constantly in use by local men as unemployment was high and it was free.( As an aside, it fell into disuse and was largely used for knacker drinking and then buying and shooting up heroin until the Eastern Europeans came and claimed it for racquet ball . )
The classrooms were packed and there were few or no facilities.[/quote]
Isnât that the school where Martin Comerford started off. No wonder they nicknamed him Gorta
Yep, 'tis, I think they calked him that because he was so skinny but its definitely where he learned âto look after himselfâ
[quote=âcaoimhaoin, post: 853549, member: 273â]
Stable home life, Free time, enjoyable job, no big loans, good friends and health. These are what I would say are the things were should aspire to.[/quote]
Boom!*
With the exception of health, Iâve a fine gut on me.
I canât believe I missed all this today. Top quality all round.
Highlights have been;
-the âstormâs a cominâ brigade (Fagan, daly lama, et al) who remember having to eat only cornflakes and then use the box for clothes.
-Limerick having always been a shithole by all accounts.
-Thrawâs tales of his legendary pappy.
[quote=âJuhniallio, post: 853705, member: 53â]I canât believe I missed all this today. Top quality all round.
Highlights have been;
-the âstormâs a cominâ brigade (Fagan, daly lama, et al) who remember having to eat only cornflakes and then use the box for clothes.
-Limerick having always been a shithole by all accounts.
-Thrawâs tales of his legendary pappy.[/quote]
Fucking eejit. The cornflakes box was used for covering schoolbooks.
Apologies Fagan, by my time schoolbook covers were made of wallpaper. Weâd no idea how lucky we were.
Was using Wallpaper an eighties phenomenon?
Boxty was right, they are as soft as fuck nowadays. Glas is exhibit A.
When did you retire from the NYPD?
[quote=âThrawneen, post: 853629, member: 129â]Ah, but I wouldnât have known about them, and what the mind doesnât know, the heart canât yearn for.
My oul lad went to see Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy, Horslips, Planxty, Dr. FeelgoodâŚregularly! He got to buy Dylan and Neil Young LPâs when they actually came out. My oul pairâs first date was seeing John Martyn in his pomp in Liberty Hall. Thatâs a high standard of living, in my eyes. They went on one holiday to Spain. Then they saved like Jews to buy a house and could do so quite quickly. I struggle with rent. I do two peopleâs jobs due to cutbacks in the civil service. Itâs frowned upon to drink at lunchtime.[/quote]
Maybe your old man had a better work ethic than you have? Maybe he didnât piss his 20âs away?
Itâs called an efficiency Thraw.
He probably did. Though he hated work and retired as soon as he could.
But they could afford things back then. And things were simpler. Less rules and fucking regulations. He did his drinking, same as I did. And when one night one of the lads came home pissed without a key and smashed the glass on the door to get in, the old landlady just came along the next day and said âWill you all just leave, pleaseâ. And they did, and they found another place and everything was fine. Nowadays that kind of shit would be in court. It was simpler times and it was better times by the sounds of things. Iâm trying to organise an overdraft and organise a move of house at the moment and the amount of fucking paperwork and garda verification and fucking phonecalls and emailsâŚchristâŚis that a better standard of living? I donât think so. Iâm looking forward to a kip on Friday night already and not going to the National Stadium to see Phil Lynott.
Are you mildly retarded?
Wind your neck in, judge judy. Manyâs an hour has been whiled away in amusement at thrawâs life experiences/tribulations. His life has certainly not been pissed away.
Anyway, who would you wanna be Hunter S. Thompson* or mother Theresa?
*I realise Thompson never worked in the civil service, but Thraw recently encouraged someone to become a dolphin, which is pretty hunteresque.