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The Mammy · **Posted: 07-11-2008 , 10:24 PM** #1

Hi All
I've been thinking about old times and you know....
Recycling and being GREEN is not new, back in the 60’s and early 70’s we were environmentally friendly without knowing it, But really that was the way things were…. We ,as children spent all day Saturday calling to neighbours to collect any old lemonade bottles, we would then take them to the local shop ( on foot…no carbon footprint…) where we would receive If my memory serves me, an old penny for every bottle…The shopkeeper would then bring the bottles back to the Glass bottle company and they would be washed and re used…
We also collected old newspapers (‘’Press or Herald’’)from our friends and families and when we had a large pile of papers we’d borrow someone’s silver cross and wheel them to the local paper recycling plant on the canal and get paid per pound weight..A nice little earner for an 8 year old…

The milkman delivered our milk, Door to door in an (early electric "green" vehicle!....quiet and non-polluting) We left our empty milk bottles out at night for the milk man to collect early the next morning and deliver our supply for that day.

The rag and bone man came around once a month to collect old clothes and gave us a yoyo or some goldfish in exchange for the clothes, ( we raided my mothers drawers for anything we could find, Ha Ha…)

We had plenty of Bicycles as not many could afford cars, and we played with the old tyreless bike wheel rims, rolling them down the road and racing each other..(no wii or DS or playstations)…Our play stations were made from old bits of wood and cardboard.

We were great at conserving water as ‘’The Mammy’s’’ only washed the clothes once a week…( not because they were water conscious..because we really did not have that many clothes)What clothes we did have were ‘’Hand me Downs’’ but we did get a new set every Christmas and Easter.
We walked to school where we used small blackboards to write on and shared our text books between 8 of us in a class of 45 ( very little paper used)

We Had a bath once a week and our hair was washed with soap…no fancy shampoo or conditioners to wash into the drains and pollute the waterways.. Maybe we did smell a bit but then probably, so did everyone else….

We had Penny Dinner’s for The poor children, which was really environmentally friendly as the convent Nuns cooked for 40-60 kids at a time in Very large pots, and they used vegetables that they grew themselves, ( no pestasides or sprays) No capuchino or Latee coffee’s there..

Those that were lucky enough to have a TV had to wait till 6pm for RTE to broadcast in Black and white…No Flat Screen 42’’ and SKY HD box;s…Rabbits ears were used usually with many swear words until the proper signal was found…

Well enough of My ranting and raving about ‘’The Good Old Days’’, I just wanted to let you all know, we’ve been Reducing Re-using and Re-cycling for many many years now and Honestly when I think back it was fun……

What was our Carbon footprint back then I wonder?
Regards
The Mammy

	Posted: 07-11-2008 , 10:24 PM #1
The Mammy Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Clondalkin, D22 Posts: 656	The Good Old Green Days Hi All I've been thinking about old times and you know.... Recycling and being GREEN is not new, back in the 60’s and early 70’s we were environmentally friendly without knowing it, But really that was the way things were…. We ,as children spent all day Saturday calling to neighbours to collect any old lemonade bottles, we would then take them to the local shop ( on foot…no carbon footprint…) where we would receive If my memory serves me, an old penny for every bottle…The shopkeeper would then bring the bottles back to the Glass bottle company and they would be washed and re used… We also collected old newspapers (‘’Press or Herald’’)from our friends and families and when we had a large pile of papers we’d borrow someone’s silver cross and wheel them to the local paper recycling plant on the canal and get paid per pound weight..A nice little earner for an 8 year old… The milkman delivered our milk, Door to door in an (early electric "green" vehicle!....quiet and non-polluting) We left our empty milk bottles out at night for the milk man to collect early the next morning and deliver our supply for that day. The rag and bone man came around once a month to collect old clothes and gave us a yoyo or some goldfish in exchange for the clothes, ( we raided my mothers drawers for anything we could find, Ha Ha…) We had plenty of Bicycles as not many could afford cars, and we played with the old tyreless bike wheel rims, rolling them down the road and racing each other..(no wii or DS or playstations)…Our play stations were made from old bits of wood and cardboard. We were great at conserving water as ‘’The Mammy’s’’ only washed the clothes once a week…( not because they were water conscious..because we really did not have that many clothes)What clothes we did have were ‘’Hand me Downs’’ but we did get a new set every Christmas and Easter. We walked to school where we used small blackboards to write on and shared our text books between 8 of us in a class of 45 ( very little paper used) We Had a bath once a week and our hair was washed with soap…no fancy shampoo or conditioners to wash into the drains and pollute the waterways.. Maybe we did smell a bit but then probably, so did everyone else…. We had Penny Dinner’s for The poor children, which was really environmentally friendly as the convent Nuns cooked for 40-60 kids at a time in Very large pots, and they used vegetables that they grew themselves, ( no pestasides or sprays) No capuchino or Latee coffee’s there.. Those that were lucky enough to have a TV had to wait till 6pm for RTE to broadcast in Black and white…No Flat Screen 42’’ and SKY HD box;s…Rabbits ears were used usually with many swear words until the proper signal was found… Well enough of My ranting and raving about ‘’The Good Old Days’’, I just wanted to let you all know, we’ve been Reducing Re-using and Re-cycling for many many years now and Honestly when I think back it was fun…… What was our Carbon footprint back then I wonder? Regards The Mammy