A Kinder, Gentler World?

When I was a kid most Vancouver neighborhoods had back alleys. Us kids carried paper bags of refuse out back to the cans permanently stationed at the lane and once a week, a truck lumbered down the alley and men emptied out the refuse from the cans. Way in the future would be hydraulic squashers to flatten the debris and the Man From Glad with his sanitary non biodegradable plastic bags.


Parental supervision wasn't in anyone's vocabulary and we played in vacant lots where we made forts, dared each other to touch a passing garter snake and occassionally jabbed at dead rats that had succumbed to the poison left out for them. This was a seaport town remember.
Now the kids have playgrounds where someone else has figured out what they can play with and how safe the equipment is. And who ever heard of play dates?


Mail was delivered to our door six days a week. Six. Now its five days and forget about mail pickup at the mall mail boxes on weekends. My mail box is stationed at the end of the block and I miss the sound of mail plopping to the floor from the slot in the door.
You gotta love that walk to the box on blizzardy days, but curiosity always gets the better of me. It's like hearing the phone ring--it might be someone other than a telemarketer.


In a lot of ways, we had better services but we were tightly reined in about who the neighbors could be and aside from the standard "white bread" restaurants there was a smattering of Chinese and no take outs.

I miss some of those "perks" but today is better. Trust me on this.