MetRoebuckVille
Late last fall, back when HellTerm 3000 was still in full swing, I posted a short piece about the permanence of self-constructed furniture.
Specifically, I mentioned a little wood cabinet that I put together 50 years ago in grade 9 woodworking class that our youngest now carts around everywhere she goes.
Anyway.
The discussion that ensued was very lively, not to mention enjoyable.
But I missed a late comment from longtime reader 'TB' that also included an important reminder:
Late last fall, back when HellTerm 3000 was still in full swing, I posted a short piece about the permanence of self-constructed furniture.
Specifically, I mentioned a little wood cabinet that I put together 50 years ago in grade 9 woodworking class that our youngest now carts around everywhere she goes.
Anyway.
The discussion that ensued was very lively, not to mention enjoyable.
But I missed a late comment from longtime reader 'TB' that also included an important reminder:
We landed penniless in Canada in 1974.Our first furniture was an 8 ft piece of plywood mounted on birch log cutoffs.The same piece of plywood still exists as two guest bedroom side tables though the original stain is now painted over with the colour of the day.In 1978 I purchased a well used Coldspot upright freezer which I replaced last year for a more compact model!FWIW , I still have the same wife for nearly 50 years but I don't think I will replace her or even give her a fresh coat of paint!To be honest she does most of the painting..Life is good.Especially in Canada.TB
Hard to argue with that I reckon.
Including the parts about who does the painting and the stolidity of an upright freezer built before the days of the offshoring of any and all manufacturing...
.
8 comments:
great story. Yes, many who came to Canada had to be inventive in how they furnished their homes. Love the freezer! I remember those models and yes freezers used to last almost forever, now every 5 years a new appliance.
Keeping a spousal unit is a good cost effective method of saving. divorcees are so expensive. If a spousal unit paints, definetly a good thing.
Now this is a blast from the past. My family had a Coldspot refrigerator/freezer. My parents bought it before I was born and it lasted until I was well into my teens.
I also remember the Coldspot that essentially lasted forever. On a slightly different note I recently had to dismantle a 100+ year old Heintzmann piano, and burnt most of it. No one wants old pianos.
@ Chuckstraight
As an antique dealer, it is a shame that vintage pianos are more and more being reduced to produce. I know of a player piano that ended up in pieces because the owner could not give it away.
The sad fact our Ikea furniture culture added to shoe box size apartments has made most vintage furniture unwelcome.
I grew up with my great grandmothers furniture, including book cases, desk and china cabinet, which none of my children want.
Sadly our particle board reality has numbed our kids ability to realize what quality furniture is.
Our throw away, cheap Chinese made culture has turned us into consumer zombies, where people buy more items they need, which end up at garage sales or the tip.
In the basement I have a mahogany stereo cabinet made by a family of famous decoy carvers, my dads shop project from the 1930's and my bookcase made in shop C. 1973.
Sadly the Boomers, seem the last generation to know quality and good workmanship and even more sadly it reflects who we elect in politics today, as well!
@Evil Eye
It made me sad to dispose of the old piano,however some of it turned into shelves. The online Castanet had about 3 pianos for free a day or two ago. I completely agree that our current society largely doesn’t seem to value the old stuff. Seems the other keyboards are slightly more popular!
@ Chuckstraight
Our children, Gen-X and millennials and the rest, have been brought up on "quantity" and not "quality". This has lead to the "he/she who has the most toys when I die, WINS!" condition.
On soapbox:
We now live in a more; bigger; most expensive society where frugality is frowned upon.
The current "housing crisis" has been created due to big corporation demanding more and higher profits and what better way to make profits is to increase the value of land.
This daisy chain of up-zoning, increasing land value; increasing taxes; increasing rents; creating unaffordable housing; creating tent cities; creating despair; creating drug use all to make more profit for land developers, land speculators and unfortunately their politcal puppets and ultimately American Hedge Funds.
The government is caught between a rock and hard place as they try to satisfy, fewer and fewer, but richer and richer supporters.
This is what the globalist, throw away economy has created and now we live in it because was once the norm, thrift, is now the abnormal.
My kids call me Mr. Analog because I ignore the newest tech and still rely on what once was. We do not have a dishwasher or should I say, I am the dishwasher; at 68 I still mow my own lawn because I do not hire a lawn maintenance company; I do not spray weedkillers or use any harsh chemicals as i pull my dandelions manually; and more.
I call it as i see it and I don't mince words as I believe politcal correctness has all but destroyed our society because it prohibits one from expressing opinions. It is my believable that the rise of politcal correctness also fueled the rise of Trump.
sigh..............
Off soapbox.
Some years ago I explained to my daughter that that, as one of the first baby boomers, circa 1946, I had grown up in a world where there were but only three TV's in our street and that my first bicycle was rebuilt by myself .
She retorted that she had compassion for my early years and that she had 'only' a Sony Walkman with which to listen to her music!!
I shudder to think just what, outside our household, infected her to strive for such excess?
My original words to her were meant to temper her her desires of grandeur and to appreciate the real riches of life!
My world of living within my means , paying as I go and being as debt free as possible is now an antiquated ideal.
We now live in 'The age of subscription' where we own little but owe most of our lives to the system/ ideology?
We have become little less than slaves to capitalism.
If you owe monies , you are a slave/serf..
TB
Evil Eye and Chuckstraight bring up interesting points. If any one is wondering how we got into this pollution mess, enviornmental crisis, climate change, just look at what we throw out, how much we ship from overseas when a lot of those things were once made in Canada. Vancovuer actually used to have furniture making companies. Dishes were made in Winnipeg and Alberta, Clothing in Montreal and Winnipeg........
"collected made in Canada mid century" including tools.
People thought it was less expensive to bring things in from countries which made workers nil to almost nil and had horrible working conditions. None of it was cheap or helped us save money. Just look at the problems we're paying for today, that we created because we wanted more and less expensive. Not working too well from what I can see
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