So where are they and what are they doing? (page 15 of 33)

hi,

It’s not at all behind us—COVID keeps coming up in conversations, along with vaccine side effects,

I’m totally clueless about this. Do people around you talk about it?! Do you think this vaccine has more side effects than others?

this period isn’t at all over (it’s obviously only in France where this topic is TOTALLY taboo).

I don’t hear about it at all around me. Then again, I’m a bit cut off from civilization.

Anyway, this ties into another post about COVID—has it changed how we travel?... Personally, it’s mostly my view of others that’s completely changed. Knowing that a friend can turn into a paranoid snitch overnight, and vice versa—someone I didn’t particularly like showing kindness and tolerance...

Are you talking about on VF or in everyday life? As for me, I don’t think I’ve been the target of snitching, but it’s possible I wouldn’t know. Either way, no consequences for my life. In my village, we’ve always helped each other... And we kept living like before.

My grandmother worked her whole life for an average salary but admits that things were simpler back then. They could afford housing and travel

Mine crossed all of Europe from east to west... not for fun. She was made to retrace the journey by train in the opposite direction but never returned. 🙁 Otherwise, I don’t think our grandmothers—most of them, anyway—traveled much for leisure!

My father was born in March 1940 in the south of France. They had to flee on foot from Alsace. He was born in the seventh month of pregnancy and was so small he fit into a shoebox.

I knew my great-grandmother until I was six. When there were thunderstorms on summer evenings and everything was shaking, it was something to see her in front of the candles, expecting to be struck by lightning at any moment and praying to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

It’s certain that in the 60s, the very first family vacations in a Peugeot 404 all the way to the Côte d'Azur were an absolute blast. It’s crazy how much I loved the smell of the 404’s plastic under the sun.

I had a great idea opening this thread. Anyone else want to share their story?

I had a really great idea opening this thread. Anyone else want to confess?

That’s totally it!

So you knew a world where everyone knew that next year, their salary would be higher, where everyone knew that if they wanted to change jobs, all they had to do was ask, where, with inflation helping, bank loans allowed you to build a house that you actually paid very little for. Years of consumption, of innovations that drove purchases.

It’s certain that from 1 to 10 years old, I asked myself all these questions...😄

I knew a world dominated by AIDS, mass unemployment, and the hangover from the early Mitterrand years. I knew a world where retirement went from 60 years old and 37.5 years of contributions without penalties to 64 years old and 43 years of contributions with penalties... (Maybe even more, since I still have a few years left to work)

To have experienced bombings, our respective parents would have had to live in very specific places,

Dieppe and Alsace... Very quiet places...🤪

with inflation helping, bank loans allowed you to build a house that you actually paid very little for.

And what if you weren’t a homeowner?

Years of consumption, of innovations that drove purchases.

Black-and-white TV until 1981, no phone before 1976, an apartment that stayed the same in its decor until 1989... A Simca 1000 for the whole family. Come on, we had a state-of-the-art hi-fi system!

And above all, we went on vacation... That was the main difference between my parents and my grandparents. But going on vacation meant saving more... More ants than cicadas, but not quite there yet.

Consumption came later. In 1970, we were equipping ourselves. In 1990, we were consuming. In 2020, we’re overconsuming.

they played at changing cars often to have the nicest one, the latest model

I have absolutely no idea.

don’t tell me there was no ready-to-wear.

There was, but not Shein or Temu... It was sturdy, long-lasting, stuff you bought at the start of the school year and wore all year... But for my parents’ generation, the Singer sewing machine worked just fine...

There were no cultivated fears

Oh really?

And what about the Cold War?

The big bad communist wolf versus the big bad capitalist wolf?

the media still had opinions

Do *L'Heure des Pros* and *C dans l'air* push the same ideas? Have you read or watched all the print newspapers, TV, TikTok, YouTube, etc.? Is it the same narrative everywhere?

I don’t get that impression.

For retirement, just wait a bit—you’ll see the travel budget! 😛😉

There are tons of discounts for seniors! 😛

But for skiing, you’ve gotta wait until 75 or even older to get a seriously cheap—or even free—pass...😕

Must not cost them too much!😏

My father was born in March 1940 in the south of France. They had to flee on foot from Alsace. He was born at 7 months and was so small he fit in a shoebox.

We have some things in common...

By the way, this has nothing to do with it, but I was wondering,



Was it after your last trip to Thailand that these signs were put up?[;]

Now that’s a full-on attack if I ever saw one! 😉

First off, there’s a mistake—it’s langurs, not rangurs (though that’s not unusual). But more importantly, I have no idea why you’d need to be wary of the most peaceful monkey I know. You just have to avoid giving them peanuts because it gets them way too hyper. Actually, I suspect that food is harmful to them.

I have absolutely no idea why we should be wary of the most peaceful monkey I know.

I don’t know either—they’ve been really quiet! !

But for skiing, you’ve gotta wait until 75 or even older to get a truly cheap—or even free—pass...😕 It can’t cost them too much!😏

good evening, who offers these kinds of discounts? It’s not a bad idea, actually—it’s a solution for the retirement problem. At 75, you go skiing, have a serious accident because you’re not in the shape you were at 20, end up in the hospital with an open fracture, it gets infected, and you kick the bucket right after—ha ha ha 😛

Well, the ski area...

Ben, the ski area.

The info is cut off, and the local source corrects it: While resorts often offer free passes for those over 75 (and I admit it can’t cost them much), most of them give discounts starting at 60—can’t wait!

Hi

Your childhood was in the 1970s. You lived in a world where everyone knew their salary would be higher next year, where changing jobs was as simple as asking, and where, thanks to inflation, bank loans let you build a house that you’d actually pay very little for. Those were years of consumption, of innovations that drove purchases. Your neighbors probably weren’t much different from mine—they loved switching cars often to get the latest model. Don’t tell me there wasn’t ready-to-wear fashion back then. Like me, you had measles and chickenpox, encouraged to "get them over with" at the age when it was normal. To have experienced bombings, our parents must have lived in very specific places—Brest, Lorient, Dunkirk—and reconstruction was mainly needed to keep up with population growth. There were no cultivated fears back then. The media still had opinions, and the sinister, soon-to-be-misused "precautionary principle" hadn’t yet become dogma.

Hmm, my most striking memory of the past is the *obligation* of human interaction. Even if it was superficial or scripted. I still can’t get over the fact that outside my circle of friends and family, all I deal with now are FAQs and an endless maze of voicemail menus. It feels like I’ve landed in some shriveled-up sci-fi novel (a genre I’ve never liked, by the way).

Catherine

Well, good for you. As for not hearing about it around you, honestly, it doesn’t surprise me... we’re in France.

there are discounts starting at age 60 in most of them; I can’t wait!

Yeah, but it’s not a big discount like it is for seniors. 😉

For example, in Tignes, you save 72 € if you’re 65, but 426 € if you’re 75... (for 7 days)

You still see some seniors on skis, though. (I go off-season)

But I don’t think they’re skiing non-stop from 9 AM to 5 PM in all weather!

where, with inflation helping, bank loans allowed you to build a house that you actually paid very little for.

And what about the work needed in that house 20 years after buying it? 🤪 This logic made sense 20 years ago, but now it's completely outdated. The simple reason is that if you buy a home, not only do you have to do renovations years later, but on top of that, you have to bring it up to code just to get a good Energy Performance Certificate (DPE). Without a DPE with a good score, you’ll sell your home for next to nothing and lose all the money you’ve invested. And if you want to do any work, the cost of a tradesperson today is obviously not the same as in the 70s.

Meanwhile, there was a generation that had easier access to stability, less unemployment, and a retirement.

This generation was born before, during, or just after the war.

Personally, I’d rather have lived through the AIDS years, unemployment, and a reduced pension than have had to experience war, the Nazis, and reconstruction.

My father used to fetch coal from the cellar, and the toilet was on the landing. My mother survived because she won the "Rh factor lottery," but her brothers and sisters died because medicine was powerless back then.

I’ve always had a bathroom (which wasn’t the case for everyone in my generation...), I never heard bombs, and medicine saved me from a heart attack that would’ve been fatal just years earlier. I had access to a checkbook without asking for permission, I could choose my profession, and my generation had access to the pill and abortion.

There are plenty of advantages to being part of Generation X, Y, Z, or even Alpha.

And if older generations are often better off, it’s also because they were much more ants than grasshoppers. Back then, if you bought clothes, you made them yourself or bought them to last a lifetime. Same for everything else—which explains the overwhelming decor in some properties for sale... No flight tickets, no vacations if you didn’t have money. It was considered total luxury. Same for TVs, phones, etc. You housed yourself, heated your home, ate, dressed, and walked way more than today. Entertainment was more about conversation by the fire than the latest Taylor Swift concert. And the Livret A savings account grew...

Consumer society exploded in the 90s. And brought resentment with it.

Hmm... Real estate has only gone up, and young people can’t afford housing anymore—that’s real. Unemployment is skyrocketing.

My grandmother was very young during the war; she doesn’t remember much.

My mother struggled a bit, but less than my generation and the ones coming after. Etc.

True, traveling is easier now—that’s at least the positive side!

A woman’s independence, medical advances, technological innovations—none of that matters compared to the fact that real estate is more expensive now?

In the Middle Ages, a roof probably cost less too, but weirdly, I’d still rather live today.

(After the war, you couldn’t find housing either because of all the destruction... And then the repatriates from Algeria must’ve been *thrilled* in their shantytowns...)

You’re so focused on real estate that you’re forgetting everything else, like it’s some kind of given.

And anyway, the baby boomers are a dying generation. Soon, you won’t have anyone left to envy.

In the Middle Ages,

Let’s not dismiss the Middle Ages! It was a period of history that left us Notre-Dame de Paris, among so many other things. Over a thousand years, the men and women of the Middle Ages had plenty of time to create and invent!

And then, baby boomers are a generation on the way out.

Thanks for the reminder! 😎

You won’t have anyone left to envy soon

Yeah, yeah, don’t worry—we’ll be clearing out soon enough. Haha! 😛

In a thousand years, the men and women of the Middle Ages had plenty of time to produce and invent!

Maybe, but people didn’t live long back then. And, much more than today, you had to win the birth lottery...

Thanks for reminding us! Cool

My turn will come next, then Miranda’s.😉

At least, that’s how logic would have it.

Though I might end up being the next Jeanne Calment, or you might become a super-centenarian.

I’m not sure if that’d be good news.