Luxuries we take for granted
Discussion
It is cold and windy outside yet my house is equipped with good insulation, central heating and underfloor heating so we are very comfortable. It has indoor toilets (plural!), a supply of clean and safe drinking water and showers/baths.
For my father and grand parents almost all the above were unthinkable luxuries. They may have had running water but none of the others.
For many people around the world the above are also luxuries. When we lived in NZ I was shocked at how crap the housing was, with insulation and central heating being rare. The kiwi are equivalent of central heating is putting on some extra jumpers!
Do we appreciate the luxuries we have today or do we take them for granted? Probably the latter. Probably worse if you have never lived without them (a bit like good health - you only know what you had when you lose it).
What other luxuries should we be more grateful for?
For my father and grand parents almost all the above were unthinkable luxuries. They may have had running water but none of the others.
For many people around the world the above are also luxuries. When we lived in NZ I was shocked at how crap the housing was, with insulation and central heating being rare. The kiwi are equivalent of central heating is putting on some extra jumpers!
Do we appreciate the luxuries we have today or do we take them for granted? Probably the latter. Probably worse if you have never lived without them (a bit like good health - you only know what you had when you lose it).
What other luxuries should we be more grateful for?
Getragdogleg said:
The security in feeling confident that it's unlikely a missile or bullets are going to be coming my way anytime soon and that the chances are high I'll see all my friends and family again soon.
I'm also warm, dry and not hungry.
Isn't that confidence waning, according to the press and an unusually grave Andrew Marr on LBC this week I'm also warm, dry and not hungry.
I don't have hot water in my flat apart from the electric shower.
Boil a kettle for washing up and clean hands in cold water.
I find it surprising that in friend's houses, hot water is literally on tap
Edited by croyde on Saturday 23 November 12:28
Agree with this. People moan but we have it a lot better than almost any human that ever lived.
I'm grateful I'm not in a war or a uniform. Healthcare and hygiene is better than it's ever been. Painkillers and antibiotics.
To me, most people don't have a thought about the war side of things, that's the big one for me.
Things should be a lot better admittedly but still.
Thanks for making this thread I had an idea to do it some time back, I don't think we think about this stuff enough.
I'm grateful I'm not in a war or a uniform. Healthcare and hygiene is better than it's ever been. Painkillers and antibiotics.
To me, most people don't have a thought about the war side of things, that's the big one for me.
Things should be a lot better admittedly but still.
Thanks for making this thread I had an idea to do it some time back, I don't think we think about this stuff enough.
Agreed, too many people forget all this and think they are hard done by because someone on Tik Tok has a new Range Rover and they don't.
I honestly think that people are more miserable than ever because they have little to worry about anymore so they think more about what other people appear to have, even though this is usually an ilusion.
Comparison is the thief of Joy.
I honestly think that people are more miserable than ever because they have little to worry about anymore so they think more about what other people appear to have, even though this is usually an ilusion.
Comparison is the thief of Joy.
croyde said:
Getragdogleg said:
The security in feeling confident that it's unlikely a missile or bullets are going to be coming my way anytime soon and that the chances are high I'll see all my friends and family again soon.
I'm also warm, dry and not hungry.
Isn't that confidence waning, according to the press and an unusually grave Andrew Marr on LBC this week I'm also warm, dry and not hungry.
I don't have hot water in my flat apart from the electric shower.
Boil a kettle for washing up and clean hands in cold water.
I find it surprising that in friend's houses, hot water is literally on tap
Edited by croyde on Saturday 23 November 12:28
croyde said:
Isn't that confidence waning, according to the press and an unusually grave Andrew Marr on LBC this week
I don't have hot water in my flat apart from the electric shower.
Boil a kettle for washing up and clean hands in cold water.
I find it surprising that in friend's houses, hot water is literally on tap
You can get under sink in line hot water heaters for about 125 quid. I don't have hot water in my flat apart from the electric shower.
Boil a kettle for washing up and clean hands in cold water.
I find it surprising that in friend's houses, hot water is literally on tap
Might cost a bit more to fit but they do work.
Despite what the naysayers in NP&E would have you believe, we have it unbelievably good in this country.
We have a stable government who’ll happily move aside when they lose an election.
We have schooling and health services provided for free (at point of use)
We live in a benign area of the world where extreme weather is extremely rare.
We live in an area of the world where earthquakes, tornadoes, etc do not happen.
If you can’t work, monetary support is provided.
Crime is pretty low and serious crime is pretty rare.
Corruption isn’t really a thing.
No mad generals waiting to take over.
We are very rich compared to an awful lot of the world and opportunities are there to enrich yourself further if so desired.
Sometimes you have to take a step back, look at other non-western countries and consider yourself fortunate that you were born here.
I’m moaning to the wife today that the drains are playing up again. I forget that I have clean water, good food, a decent house (drains notwithstanding
) and can walk around my house in a T-shirt despite it blowing a gale outside without a second thought. Yep, we have it good alright.
We have a stable government who’ll happily move aside when they lose an election.
We have schooling and health services provided for free (at point of use)
We live in a benign area of the world where extreme weather is extremely rare.
We live in an area of the world where earthquakes, tornadoes, etc do not happen.
If you can’t work, monetary support is provided.
Crime is pretty low and serious crime is pretty rare.
Corruption isn’t really a thing.
No mad generals waiting to take over.
We are very rich compared to an awful lot of the world and opportunities are there to enrich yourself further if so desired.
Sometimes you have to take a step back, look at other non-western countries and consider yourself fortunate that you were born here.
I’m moaning to the wife today that the drains are playing up again. I forget that I have clean water, good food, a decent house (drains notwithstanding
) and can walk around my house in a T-shirt despite it blowing a gale outside without a second thought. Yep, we have it good alright.sofiaror said:
Totally. It's easy to forget how good we have it. I grew up with central heating, but my grandparents didn't. The difference is HUGE. I think we should be more grateful for reliable electricity and readily available food, things we just expect to be there.
I grew up in a house with no heating except a coal fire with a back boiler for hot water. My job as a kid every morning was go outside to the coal bunker, bring a bucket full in, light the fire using a newspaper to cause a draw of air to get it going, then have a wash in still freezing water. Ice on the inside of single glazed windows was normal.We went from this to electric storage heaters and an immersion heater, but after the first electric bill came in, that was severely rationed.
It was a revelation in my teens to get gas central heating.
We basically all lived in one room where the coal fire was located, the front room was out of bounds. No fridge either, just a pantry with it's wall to the outside of the building acting as the cooler. I remember clearly toasting crumpets on the fire under candle light in the evenings.
When phones arrived, that had a lock on the dial.
We take lots for granted right now, the drive for net zero is making it far more difficult to maintain this advancement, especially if living on a low income.
Terminator X said:
Inside toilet. Pretty sure you only need to go back to (my) grandparents when they all seemed to be outside. Can you imagine, out in the wind and rain just to have a piss.
TX.
My dad would be 76 if he was alive and he didn't have an inside toilet until he left home at 18.TX.
By the time I can remember (mid 70s) his parents still lived in the same house but a bedroom had been converted to a bathroom. This meant my grandmother's brother moved to live in the "parlour"
All very four yorkshirmen, but not really that long ago.
sofiaror said:
Totally. It's easy to forget how good we have it. I grew up with central heating, but my grandparents didn't. The difference is HUGE. I think we should be more grateful for reliable electricity and readily available food, things we just expect to be there.
In 1967 my parents moved into their first house (a new build). It didn't have central heating, just had an open fire in the living room. My mother said the winters were brutal, especially as it had single glazing and no insulation to speak of.It did have gas to the property though, so after a few years dad fitted central heating.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff