FF – The Good Old Days
A day later than usual, here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was supplied by Al Forbes. To read this week’s other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Al Forbes
As he drove back from the motor show, Terry reflected on the good old days. He’d driven those cars for real, once. Sure, they were a little out of date even then, but common enough not to be a curiosity. Real cars for real drivers!
Ah, the wind in your hair, the flies in your eyes, the freezing winter air ripping through you. Every bump a nightmare, every junction a challenge, every corner a danger.
He adjusted the climate control, told his stereo to change tracks, switched on the heated seats and smiled. Progress isn’t all bad, he thought.
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Friday Fictioneers
draliman on life 
Old fashioned, traditional is great, but you can’t knock comfort!
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Hear hear 🙂
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Not all was good with the old days I guess… yet I climb on my bicycle to work every day,
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I bet it’s more comfortable to ride than a penny farthing, though!
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Ha ha! Fun stuff… funny how that works… reminiscing about the good ole days as you use today’s comfortable inventions…
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Very few people who lament the good old days would wish to go back there, I feel 🙂
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Methinks you are right… Could not see myself taking a bath only weekly…😉
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Me neither. Yuck 😦
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with all these conveniences, the good old days are really getting old.
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Ha, yes!
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I love your story’s ending! The good old days weren’t all that good…not only for creature comforts but for social progress, or lack thereof.
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Very true. I guess they call it “progress” for a reason.
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Dear Ali,
Terry’s a smart man. There’s nostalgia and then there’s just uncomfortable memories. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
That’s a great way to put it. I’m all about the nostalgia but if I went back there all those uncomfortable memories I’ve selectively forgotten would come back to haunt me!
Ali
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We just slogged a couple of hundred miles through driving rain. Never been so glad of modern improvements like windshield wipers! Another good one.
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Yes, imagine doing that with no roof and solid tyres! It would be worse for the chap running along in front with the flag though I guess.
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But the old cars are going up in value, and his current car? I enjoyed the twist, and I do like comfort. Damm it that’s why I sold my 1949 series 1 Land Rover !
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Oh no! And they’ve just ceased production of Land Rovers too. Old cars are a good investment 🙂
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Hooho. One day in the distant future when self-driving cars had gone main-stream and several generations had pass, we all may not even remember what a steering wheel looks like.
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That’s a scary thought to me right at the moment!
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There is nothing quite like trying to drive when you can’t feel your fingers because it so bloody cold! Great story. ❤️
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Yeah – even these days it’s pretty bad but at least it warms up after a couple of miles. Oh, for a heated steering wheel 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
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No progress isn’t all bad at all.
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Sometimes, but progress is inevitable!
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Quite true.
That was supposed to echo what you wrote in the story. It should have read, NO, progress isn’t bad at all.
Don’t think I made any sense oh boy.
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Ah, a missing comma and I read it the opposite way 🙂
In that case I heartily agree!
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🙂
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I am reminded of the good old days every time I get in my 20 year old car. At least it’s easy to change the phonograph record while I’m driving…
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And I bet with those solid rubber tyres it skips quite often!
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Which reminds me, it’s about time I traded my penny farthing in for a one of these new-fangled bicycles.
Visit Keith’s Ramblings!
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No, that’s a classic 🙂 Though the cycle helmet probably looks a bit weird on the top hat.
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Excellent story; very funny! Yeah, and cranking the engine (for the really old ones), the lack of seat belts (which you see in even our 1955 Chrysler), the lead additives (for fueling)–those are a pain, and dangerous, too. Once upon a time (before children), my husband and I ‘collected’ antique and classic cars. But then there’s that beautiful chrome; the (noncomputerised) workmanship of something like a Duesenberg (including the racing car nicknamed the “Mormon Meteor”), Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Bentley, Tucker, Studebaker, the beyond-gorgeous Kaiser Darrin with the sculpted shell-shaped grille, and I could go on; and, finally, that ‘old car’ smell inside. Of old wood, I guess is the closest I can describe it. Anyway, the past’s not *all* bad, just a large part of it is. 🙂
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Those old cars certainly had (have) beauty and the knowledge of the care that had gone into hand-making them. Then, like you say, there’s the lead, the lack of seatbelts, the cranking… 🙂
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Hey, Ali, how about the best of both worlds, making a solar- or hydrogen (or whatever the upcoming tech will be) antique car? A real hybrid … The scaffolding of a Rolls, the tech of a Tesla (or something like that)?! 🙂
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That would be cool, like (classic) Dr Who’s car, Bessie 🙂
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Yeah, that’s a neat car. I can’t think of any other doctors really using cars so much, at least not like Pertwee did. As for sorta-vehicles/sorta-not, I really like K-9 also.
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Sylvester McCoy used Bessie once that I remember, in “Battlefield”, but that was about it!
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People call them the “good old days” but anyone going back would realize the hardships that existed then. I remember the days before antibiotics and what I went through–what my mother went through. Well done. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks! Yes, I only tend to remember the good things rather than the bad when I think back 🙂
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LOL! I agree! We have it good compared to the “good ol’ days!” 😀 Wonderful story!
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There’s nothing like a good bit of modern comfort 🙂
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Yes! Exactly! 🙂
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We do tend to romanticize the past eras, don’t we? ‘Flies in your eyes’ said it all!
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The whole Jane Austen/Downton Abbey world looks great, but behind the scenes… 🙂
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Romance without plumbing, hot water, dental hygiene, sewage/waste disposal.. Okay I made myself feel ill.
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Ick 🙂
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No it isn’t… but we sure do like to see a thing of the past every once in a while. 🙂
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Yes, I love seeing a vintage car or steam train go past once in a while 🙂
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Nice idea wind in your hair but too much air and I sneeze! Not very romantic
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I’d never buy a convertible. Especially in this country!
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No one died… Are you feeling alright? Should we be worried about you?
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Perhaps I’m saving it all up for a big massacre story 🙂
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You can’t beat the good old days, except with the good new ones. Nicely done.
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That quote would make for a good internet “meme”!
Thanks!
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Great piece, Ali. I love the description you gave of the driving in the old days. That was perfect. The flies in your teeth! That heated seat sounds really nice though!
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Thanks. Old days driving was certainly an experience I bet!
I always considered heated seats a bit of a gimmick until I had them. They’ve lovely on a cold morning 🙂
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Such a contrast! I’m glad he saw the truth of it. So many people look at the past with rose colored glasses and don’t appreciate what they have.
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Exactly. All I can remember for the “old days” is fun and happiness, but I’m sure there was more to it than that…
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Nostalgia should always be tempered with an acknowledgement of modern comforts! Great story, Ali. 🙂
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Very well put and absolutely true!
Thanks 🙂
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“Ah, the wind in your hair, the flies in your eyes, the freezing winter air ripping through you. Every bump a nightmare, every junction a challenge, every corner a danger.”
And therein lies a tale!
Well-told story, and nicely done about-turn early in the first sentence.
Yes, progress is not half-bad, is it?
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Thanks! Yes, progress has a lot going for it for sure.
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Life looking back always seems a little better than it was?
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Always. Rose-tinted glasses!
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Yipee for progress. I can’t imagine life without all the ‘mod cons’ we enjoy today. But I do enjoy delving into the past now and then. I really liked the way you wrote this story, Ali. It gave me a few smiles, tht’s for sure.
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The past is nice for reminiscences and old steam trains journeys and whatnot – but I wouldn’t want to live there! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
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