The way things used to look vs. today

Yes, ha! Actually, I did not see McDonald's to age 22. My mother still has not!

Photograph, in 1996



And Now

 

You always post such amazing pictures, Koryssa.

 

Thank You! )) I am happy you enjoy.

Of course, I like it now more to 1996! I remember when a child, long times with no electricity, terrible storm and only small candle lights, it was scary.

 

i don't know. the mall i grew up going to was pretty shabby even by 80s standards. i don't think i've set foot in a mall since about 2005, but the last one i was in didn't look that different from the big city malls i would occasionally venture to as a small child.

yeah, my mom grew up in the country. now the house she grew up in is a bank across from a mall on a 6 lane road.

 

Too bad more of our buildings are not built up rather than out. We would have a lot more space.

 

I always had a fascination for older building styles so I'm kind of prejudiced here. Some new styles I dig, most seem inspirationless, repetitive and mostly functional indeed. I guess I just prefer more attention to detail in contrary to all this large fixed and static lines. Probably will change again in a few decades (or so I hope)

 

Did people see in black and white before colour TV came along?

 

Yes...

 

yes. and before tv they could only hear.

 

I certainly agree! Too many of today’s structures lack the character and distinction of those built only a few decades ago.

It does appear that most of today’s tradesmen and craftsmen have lost the sense of pride once so prevalent. While not defending or justifying the lack of such pride seen too often these days, one should examine all of the reasons. Sure, one big reason is simply a lack of respect for the product of one’s own hands – the principal of meeting the lowest acceptable level of quality. Sadly, another reason is the lack of appreciation of real craftsmanship – few are concerned with much more than what might be termed “instant gratification”, i.e. the lowest possible price. However, the single most important reason for the lack of true craftsmanship is that there are so few real craftsmen. Too many trades and crafts are becoming lost because an inadequate number are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to learn a trade to the craftsman level.

While the “old ways” were not always better, the old principals were: as papa wolf states: “only the right way would do”. Though advances in construction technology have produced many better methods and materials than were available only a few years ago, the same advances have unfortunately resulted in too many construction products that were/are intended to speed construction without the skills of knowledgeable and experienced tradesmen.

The blame for lack of construction quality cannot be completely dropped at the feet of the construction industry: that industry, as with most industries, provides what its clientele or market demands. Today, too many buildings are constructed without the intent of use for what shouldbe the useful life of such structures – again, meeting the lowest acceptable level of quality rather than producing a lasting product. The residential housing market has and does suffer greatly much for this reason.

There is certainly enough greed to be spread fairly around: Designers (architects / engineers) are pressed to provide their product, i.e. the design at a lower price. Can they expend adequate time to produce the best design while maintaining a cost effective and profitable business? The designers’ product, i.e. the design must also be the least expensive to produce and the firm producing the end product (constructing the building) is most often chosen by having submitted the lowest bid. All things considered, the building owner may be the greediest of all – for he expects the best at the lowest price.

 

I think it's a little of creativity, intelligence, and pride missing into today's world. It's all about "me" and money. If it doesn't fall into either one of those categories no one is interested. It's almost like sitting back and watching a de-evolution.

 

When I was younger, I lived in a small town in Tasmania as a kid and loved every second of it because of it's whole back-in-time vibe, as well as the crazy weather. I lived in a house beside a church and behind that is a day care center one of my aunt's used to work with.



There's still a shitload of natural beauty, none of that's changed. That's one thing I do admire about Tasmania... it's just stunning. I visited there months back and was just elated to see that almost everything was the same in that teeny town; maybe apart from a closed down shop or two.


The same with another small mining town I lived in right way out in the middle of the wheat belt middle of no where. There was, and probably still is less than 100 people living there. I recall that there were less than 20 kids in the entire school and my class consisted of kids from years 4 till 7 or 8 seeing as there was only two classrooms, a library, little quad and this big ass oval. We had a little bell we'd all take turns in waving around when it was time to take breaks.

Cause the place was so small there was liturally almost nothing to do unless you went for walks, climbed trees, played with skipping ropes, swam (I remember catching these massive tadpoles which we'd keep as class pets). I used to go after bobtail lizards with a few old friends and we'd pick ticks off of their scales. I went back there a few years ago and abnsolutely nothing at all has changed.

It must be a small town thing. :2thumbsup: