I was at the till in the supermarket recently ,the young whipper snapper cashier suggested I should bring in my own bags because plastic ones weren’t good for the environment . She then went on to say “that’s our problem today , your generation did not care enough to save our environment for the future generation you weren’t green!”

She was right about one thing we didn’t have the “green” thing in our day,so what did we have ?

After thinking for a moment I told her what we DID have…..

Back then we returned milk, fizzy pop and beer bottles to the shop and the shop returned them to the company ,where the bottles were washed sterilised and refilled , so the same bottles were being reused repeatedly so they were recycled . But we didn’t have the green thing !

We walked upstairs , because we didn’t have escalators and lifts in every shop or office building, we walked to the shops and didn’t climb into a 300 horse powered machine ,every time we wanted to go two streets away. She was right we didn’t have the green thing in our day !

Back then we washed babies nappies ,we didn’t have the throw away kind . We dried our clothes on a line not in an energy gobbling machine burning 240 watts ……wind and solar power really did dry our clothes !

Kids got hand me downs from their brothers or sisters and not brand new clothing every time. But she was right we didn’t have the green thing in our day .

Adults we had our shoes repaired by a cobbler rather than buy new ones all the time, but we didn’t have the “green” thing.

Back then we had 1 TV or radio in the house not a TV in every room and the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief not a screen the size of Wales !

In the kitchen we blended or stirred by hand , we didn’t have electric machines doing everything for us.

When we packed a parcel for posting it was wrapped in old newspapers , to protect them not polystyrene or bubble wrap .

Back then we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass , we used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to the gym or health club to go on a treadmill burning more electric but she’s right we didn’t have the green thing.

Back then we drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a plastic cup or bottle every time we needed a drink. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying new ones , and we replaced blades of a razor instead of throwing away when they went blunt, but we didn’t have the green thing back then.

Back then people took buses and kids took their bikes to school or walked instead of mum being a 24 hr taxi service.

We had only 1 electrical outlet in each room not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances, and we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellite 2,000 miles away in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

We had one phone not 5 that constantly need charging. We watched programmes on the tv when they were on we did not need a device on 24 hours a day to record them.

When many things were broken we repaired them, we did not buy new and throw the broken item out.

But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we older folk were just because we didn’t do the green thing !!

If the cheeky little buggers recycled HALF as much as we did the world would not be in this mess.

Please forward this if you wish another selfish old person who needs a lesson in recycling from a smarty-arse young person can read this. !