On this lazy Easter Sunday, I started to get a bit nostalgic. Thinking back to the 70s and 80; the happier times of my childhood and teens.
I love technology and all the advancements there have been since my youth, but I also hanker for tradition and those little things that keeps me
anchored to my roots. I'm a hoarder, probably compulsive, and I tend to keep objects that hark back to important junctures in my life. I know that,
mentally, it's not a healthy thing to do as it can condition your life going forward.
I think that it is linked to the realisation that things we are accustomed to and comfortable with, will one day disappear. Technology has a way of
making older things obsolete pretty quickly, and consequently, making us feel obsolete as well unless we keep up.
Anyway, I got to thinking of what I use daily, which has not changed over my lifetime. Then I realised that the humble battery has always been there
whenever I needed it.
There have surely been advancements and myriads of shapes and sizes, but some haven't changed since their inception.
The AA battery was born in 1906, the AAA in 1911 and the 9V in the 1950s. There are still too many applications for these humble batteries and I'm
confident I won't see their demise, at least in my lifetime.
I recall in the 80s and 90s when solar panels became all the rage. They were on calculators, digital clocks and some toys. However, the hype didn't
last long and batteries are still required in almost every electronic gadget.
So, to conclude, of all the things that I hoard to keep a foot in the past, I know that I won't have to with traditional batteries, that I'm sure
will never abandon me.
As I wrote this I remembered a fantastic movie that I must watch again:
Oh yes! Until the pen leaked and left a huge ink blot on your shirt. That's when it was time to get even more nerdy and use those plastic pen
organisers to keep all the pens straight. The more pens, the smarter you were. That's until the Bic 4-way colour pen came out... it was a must-have
and that's another thing that has withstood the test of time and is still available.
but overall nostalgia smells like mothballs.
Unless it smells like Frankincense. Then the older the better. There's something old that's always new. It's ancient but it doesnt have the mothball
vibe like that movie...
Anyway, I'd recycle those batteries. I like to burn old stuff. It really is refreshing but I let go couple of old tools I'm missing. Like that old
wooden hand plane. What was I thinking? Next time I'll wait until I have a new one π
Loved that movie, went looking for another old classic the other day and watched it again.
Nothing wrong with hoarding old stuff so long as you live clean and it is not overly cluttering you, after all were would antiques be if people did
not love old stuff.
And have you seen the value of some of those old games consoles today?.
In case you just hanker for the song.
edit on 4-4-2021 by LABTECH767 because: (no reason given)
Wow, that's an interesting bit of trivia. I'm happy to see he was credited. Many novelists have their ideas hijacked and never given their due
recompense.
I missed out grabbing some old tools after a relative died over a decade ago. He was a shoemaker in a small town in Italy. He had a chest full of shoe
making tools, along with wooden feet used to model the leather. I believe he had used the same tools for his whole life.
Thanks a bunch! You got me shedding a tear or two.
Yes, collecting old stuff, especially if of an antique variety is a great idea. My problem is that what I hoard has no value, neither economic nor
practical. I keep things like nuts, bolts, odd mechanical innards of things I dismantled when I was a child. I keep little rocks that I've found
during my travels that just appealed to me at the time. I can't throw away corks from wine or champagne bottles from certain times in my life.
The list goes on and on. Fortunately, because I've been a hobo most of my life, making my home wherever I lay my hat, all these knick-knacks fit into
a couple of shoe boxes.
Then they mean more to you than just stuff, they are like you taking your home with you a link to childhood and remembered stability when parent and
home meant the same thing.
Places are often not our home but our mother and other close family often are.
A place without family can be the loneliest thing in the world but good family even without a place is always home, they are your root's.
I remember though something Jesus said,
βFoxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.β