Things I Miss: Gone but not forgotten

This could wind up being a long post because there are so many things I miss from the past. People and pets first of course. We all miss our departed loved ones and the pets we shared our lives with.

The most recent lost thing that I miss is my desktop HDD. It got lost a couple of years ago when I moved. I’ve never found it and suspect that a box that was meant for the moving van accidentally went to the Op Shop or the tip in the chaos of moving day. The reason I miss it most is that I had many photos on it. Luckily, I do keep all my old SD cards so I can probably (one day) get them back but I’ll have to sort and edit them all again. I’ve been putting that job off.

I miss travel the way it used to be. I miss travel for its own sake because I love to take trips near and far. We are starting to do that again now but the places I used to know are not the same. The last time I went back to my former home town, Adelaide, it didn’t look the same and it will have changed even more in the five years or so since I was there last. I miss the Pie Cart, a food van that used to park outside the Adelaide Railway Station every night. It was open all night and I would go there in my work breaks if I was on afternoon shift to buy a hot drink or a snack or if I was waiting for the last train home. The specialty was a “pie floater” a meat pie in pea soup. I didn’t get one often but they were an Adelaide tradition.

I have many happy memories of places we went and things we did when I was a teen, young adult and even in my thirties and forties.

I miss John Martins, our favourite department store in Adelaide and the many old buildings that have been demolished all over the city and suburbs. I miss them even more because the replacement buildings are so ugly. I miss our shopping trips to the city. Naomi and I used to go to Adelaide on a Sunday sometimes and spend hours browsing around the shops looking at books, records, toys, Knick knacks and all sorts of other things. We’d have lunch in one of the department store cafeterias or a food court or cafe. There were plenty of choices but John Martins Buttery was our favourite. We’d get roast lamb and veg and a dessert to follow. We still have such outings but most of the department stores have closed down since the 1990s and there are fewer things to look at it seems.

I miss the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix we used to love to go when it was held in Adelaide. I’m still sore at Melbourne for taking it away from us. I miss the steam train trips we used to do all around the South Australian countryside. We still ride on steam trains every chance we get but those country lines are gone, closed and pulled up.

Another thing I miss is the toys we used to have. Well actually, we still have a lot of them because we collect old dolls and toys but what I mean is I miss the way toys were made. The toys that we used to play with were made to look realistic while todays are largely made from brightly coloured plastic and don’t look in the least bit like the real thing. Barbie and Sindy dolls of the past had lots of lovely clothes and we spent hours playing with them. The fashion dolls of today have very few clothes and most are poor quality.

On that subject I rather miss childhood. It seems to me that children are being forced to grow up faster these days. I find it sad when I hear a six-year-old being told to get rid of their dolls because “you are getting too old for them.” I’m nearly 65 and I am not too old for dolls! Children can’t go off and play at the park or in the street the way we did as children either. That’s sad.

I could go on but I won’t. The world is a different place now. I liked things better the way they were. I guess I got old.