Tuesday 4 February 2014

THE BODY ACHIEVES WHAT THE MIND BELIEVES

I  am going to add James Ketchell's blog http://www.jamesketchell.net/blog/ to my read list.  What an inspiration that young man is. He has just returned from an epic journey rowing 3000 miles across the Atlantic, cycling 18,000 around the world and climbing Mount Everest despite once being told that he would never walk again following a serious injury.  When questioned about this he humbly said "the body achieves what the mind believes". That totally blew me away.

Then there was the National Health News!  Totally uninspirational. A report suggests that if the NHS doesn't change outdated practices it will go bankrupt.  There is a culture of lack of care, cover ups, mismanagement, low morale levels resulting in more and more funding being needed to cover up the cracks.  'Nuf said.

A very good friend of mine sends me wonderful titbits that he come across.  Here is his latest and I love it. How true, but maybe you have to be of a certain age to appreciate this?

EATING IN THE FIFTIES

Pasta had not been invented.

Curry was a surname.

A takeaway was a mathematical problem.

A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.

Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.

All French fries were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on or not.

A Chinese chippy was a foreign carpenter.

Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.

A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.

Brown bread was something only poor people ate.

Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking

Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.

Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.

Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.

Only Heinz made beans.

Fish didn't have fingers in those days.

Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.

None of us had ever heard of yogurt.

Healthy food consisted of anything edible.

People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.

Indian restaurants were only found in India.

Cooking outside was called camping.

Seaweed was not a recognised food.

"Kebab" was not even a word never mind a food.

Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days, and was regarded as being white gold.

Prunes were medicinal.

Surprisingly muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.

Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real one.

Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it they would have become a laughing stock.

The one thing that we never ever had on our table in the fifties .. was elbows!

11 comments:

Gone Back South said...

Love the food memories. I grew up in the 70's and back then our diet was definitely much more limited and plain. Spam featured - ugh. Chinese takeaway did exist, but was considered exotic, rare, and only enjoyed about once a year!

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Great to see your food list. Husband loves things like that so I will have to print it off to show him.

I agree with you that James Ketchell is a true inspiration on "never giving in".

A x

many thanks for your comment at my place!

Anonymous said...

Brown bread if you're poor? It is funny how things change. I wonder what the list will look like in 50 yrs!

Linda said...

Wonderful post and I love the list. Your header is beautiful. Warm greetings from Montreal, Canada.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Oh GBS - please don't dis spam. I love it. It was manna from heaven in my childhood. That and powdered eggs which were sent over from our friends in America during the second World War. I particularly love spam, beetroot and mayo sandwiches. Mummmm!

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Oh GBS - please don't dis spam. I love it. It was manna from heaven in my childhood. That and powdered eggs which were sent over from our friends in America during the second World War. I particularly love spam, beetroot and mayo sandwiches. Mummmm!

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

And thank you for your comments too Anne xx

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

Yes,I remember when white bread was first introduced! I can't believe how I got to be so old.

www.retiredandcrazy.com said...

And warm greeting to you in Montreal Linda. That's a place that I have never been. Must add it to my bucket list.

Eddie Bluelights said...

Where have I been Ann?
These posts are sheer gold!!
ROFL

SandyCarlson said...

This was fun. How times have changed!