storytime

Today I was told a story.

A story I can’t seem to get out of my head for various reasons. A simple story, but effective nonetheless. It goes like this:





My teacher- we'll call her Mrs A- was at her cousins wedding, a wedding she didn’t maybe want to go to as much the cousin of the bride should. But after the ceremony, at the Reception she was sat next to a woman who was in her 90’s, teetering on the brink of being a whole Century old. So they got chatting, and this aged individual mentioned to Mrs A that she remembered her Auntie telling her that she remembered being told the outcome of The Battle Of Waterloo.

Said Battle concluded in 1815.

196 years ago.

Mrs A said when she was told this, she thought the whole world could have heard the crash as her chin contacted with the floor. So utterly aghast was she at the fact that she was speaking to someone with a direct contact to an event that we in this modern age consider, not just to be old, but positively ancient! How time flies, eh?


How time flies. Its one of those sayings that we commonly use, yet its one I’ve never actually really thought about. I don't remember being young. I remember snapshots, pictures in my head of parks, paddling and youthful innocence. I remember songs- lyrics and tunes very well- recently I found an old tape of my favourite children’s songs and couldn’t resist replaying it for old times sake (yes, I sill have a tape player…). Remembering nearly every beat, every pause and every word brought back a long forgotten world never allowed to openly show its foolish, juvenile face to any self respecting human being after the age of 10. Whenever I talk to someone about anything to do with their childhood it’s as if we were in a different era on a different planet!

So when Mrs A was told the story by her lunch companion, it almost shocked me in a way. We look back on our own lives 10 years ago and it seems like ancient history, but this story really put human lives into perspective, with just how much has changed and how quickly this new world is developing.

The Auntie in the story, to me, is, I think, 5 generations my senior. Within 5 human lifetimes the world has seen the invention of electricity, the car, TV and a thousand other things we see as normal today. Things we probably would say nowadays we couldnt live without.
Astounding, if you reflect on it.

But just think- if we look at technology and skill in the world now as astounding, what on earth have we got to look forward to in 4 generations time?

Jx