Of times past

Yesterday I collected a Mac from a chap. He said it wouldn’t get up. but I thought I might be able to coax it into life....no joy as yet.

On the way home from collecting the computer I visited my cousin Val. We talked lots and I asked about a house the family lived in in East Perth. It was a semi detached house of around 1870 vintage. owned by the government Railways and rented to railways employees. Peter, Val’s husband, worked for the Railways.

Val told a fascinating story about the neighbors and the ongoing family strife all around them. Later at home I thought about the story and rang her to suggest that she write her story. Hope she does as it has the makings of a movie. I could see the story being written by Tim Winton or the late Tom Hungerford; both wrote wonderful pieces about suburban life.

Sometimes when I think about times past I remember how we, without Google, the universal encyclopedia, got information. We weren’t wealthy enough to have set of encyclopedia and to be honest, I doubt we would have used it had we owned one. Most of what I knew then was from questioning others who did know lots more than me about most things.

I also remember the horrific arithmetical disaster of the old currency...Pounds, Shillings and Pence. Cruel teachers would set some long division ‘sums’ and whilst kids worked through them go on a world trip.

An example of a ‘keep ‘em busy’ maths lesson would be like this........

£17/13/11 ÷ 27

For the younguns, that reads seventeen Pounds, thirteen Shillings and eleven Pence divided by twenty seven. Nasty teachers could add a halfpenny to the eleven pence.

Given that there are 20 shillings in a pound, 12 pence in a shilling, there is a whole lot of ‘carrying on’ to be done.