We dealt with it.

[jimv7]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem .

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits/legal from these accidents .

We played with worms(well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned

HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL!

[Thos]

Well, I was born in the twenties and I can't quarrel with most of that. I have to say though, that life expectancy is extending year by year. Medical advances or what?????

Thos.

[andsome]

All very true.

[Tankus]

Got to wonder if this generation will last as long as yours... Thos

medical advances not withstanding , we will not be able to afford them, The NHS will not exist in its current form , only a relatively small minority living in armed and mine protected gated communities will have made provisions for their own pensions , the rest of us will be using soup kitchens to feed and stay warm .(with food donated from the Norwegian corn and wheat belt )

Genetically modified food ,BSE , and a result of recreational drug use (such as Ecstasy) accumulative effects will be more apparent and disabling , requiring unfordable extensive care , heat wave deaths common in summer (feb to late Nov) , electricity far to expensive to "waste" on AC , Aids tuberculoses and malaria now very common ,brought in on waves of environmental refuges from Africa ,and southern the EU countries .

Less space to house us all due to coastal flooding.

Our transport , sanitation and clean water supply systems will have collapsed . Scotland rebuilds Hadrian's wall and electrifies with oil powered stations running on the remaining Scottish liberated national oil pockets left in the N sea.

Air travel only now has das uber rich class and is vertical take off from the gated enclave's to gated enclave . ( heathrow was bought out by the El passo Ronald Mc chickin'likin coke haliburton weapons ltd, an turned into a Monsanto battery chicken farm , fed of the sewage works near by, the 4 winged and eight legged colonel spider cubic chikinders thrive on it )

The remnants of the EU fishing industry start to fail as the whole Eurocontinetal sea shelf becomes a dead zone .

US and Icelandic fishing waters will be patrolled by armed boats with a shoot to sink policy .

Spanish boats regularly get sunk of the Malvina's ( It got retaken by the argies after they realised that Tibet had a bigger Navy than us , we were unable to defend it )

Famine becomes a regular occurrence in the united federation Europe

The King now lives in Scotland

Sharia law and public executions commonplace in parts of London and the midlands

The police has been privatised and funded by multinationals , A ronald McDonald Mc cop (armed with antipersonnel gherkin guns which squirt chili and pepper sauce , and shout "are you lurving it" every time you pull the trigger ..!) will be on record as stating that Yellow boilersuits for a uniform are one thing , but the bloody shoes make it very hard to chase criminals .

Skiing will become an historical wonderment only seen on old 2 d films .

Dead bodies will be mulched rather than buired (one step from soleyent green...?)

These are the golden years for oldies ....methinks ...Thos ...... !

[andsome]

Could be too near to the truth to be funny.

[nellie2]

Scarily... the majority of that doesn't seem that far fetched. :(