The Good Old Days.
I was in a coffee shop the other day. Coffee #1 in Shirley, Southampton, in case you care. While trying to edit an hour of video footage into a 37-second segment, I was distracted by an old couple at the next table.
A gentleman had been sitting there for a while, slurping a massive bowl of coffee-flavoured milk. Then a lady walked in. Similar age. Pushing one of those shopping trolleys my Nan had.
“Oh, ’ello Victor,” she said.
“Art-er-oon. You ready for Christmas?” he replied.
“Nearly. But it’s not like it used to be.”
“Oh, I know. Too commercial these days.”
And off they went, down the well-worn path of memory.
“In my day, we’d get an orange and a peanut in our stocking,” she said.
“Same for us. And it was the only day of the year we got a hot bath,” he added.
I must say, I’ve forgotten the exact details, but it went something like that. I’ve heard variations of this conversation so many times over the years that I could probably recite it back to them. It used to do my head in.
Listening this time, it struck me that the “good old days” aren’t really about things being better. They’re about remembering a time when what you wanted roughly matched what you could afford.
The orange and the peanut weren’t the point — they were the measure.
And maybe that’s the point. When Victor says Christmas is “too commercial these days,” what he’s really talking about is how far affordability has drifted from reality. Media and business crank Christmas up from October because it’s their biggest chance to squeeze a bit more.
So perhaps I get it.
But these things are also about perspective. I’m 52. And Christmas has always felt much the same to me. Lunch two hours later than promised. A big tree. Lots of presents. Waking up early — either as a kid or with kids. The occasional trip to church to remind ourselves what it was about before Coca-Cola got involved. And The Great Escape on the telly.
Which brings me neatly to my own version of nostalgia.
I used to love flicking through the Radio Times, working out what films were on and when. When was The World’s Strongest Man scheduled? When exactly did Steve McQueen make his run for it on a motorcycle?
I have warm memories of that ritual — but if I’m honest, it was also a bit rubbish. You watched what the BBC or ITV decided to put on, when they decided to put it on, and you often sat through a small mountain of adverts to get there.
Maybe the good old days haven’t gone anywhere. Maybe they just change depending on who’s remembering.
Right, I’m off to watch The Great Escape.
Merry Christmas everyone.
All the best
This Week’s Links:
In case you missed it 🙂 My latest video
And
The best Christmas movies for interiors lovers.
Main Image credit: The good old days… now streaming on demand. (ChatGPT)
