The Generational Divide Is Thankfully Alive & Kicking In Our Street.

A week without a car brings lots of insight and conversations.

Our area has an unofficial neighbourhood watch ( and frankly I am just as guilty of it ) as nothing, and I mean nothing happens without someone noticing and commenting. Rather nice, I think.

Walking around the last corner up to our driveway, I saw our neighbour busy weeding his driveway. He hadn't seen me yet but I shouted a loud greeting and went over to shoot the breeze. When he asked me why I was walking, I mentioned that our chariot had been seen to all week. Oh yes, he had been wondering if Bob and I had gone away as our garage was empty all week!

We talked a bit more and then the generational schism or divide went from idling to second gear. His wife had come over to chat too and he went back to weeding ( in fact, he was pulling the bits of grass from the corners of each cobble stone ) with the same fervour that my generation uses to change the channel while lazying on the couch.

I have come to realize that there is no way I can glean as much happiness as my parents generation have in doing these odd jobs around the house and garden. Weeding, scraping, painting, cementing, excessive cleaning etc...My mum is still praying and hoping like mad that I will wake up one morning and decide to morph these chores into my favourite hobbies....Sorry Mum, I don't think it's going to happen...yet.

She had a brief glimpse of me being fast tracked into the Keep Everything Tidy State of Life, when Bob was first courting me. Bob is a typical Leo and very neat and extremely tidy in some aspects but in other's...not so much.

Anyway, I mentioned that when Bob had helped me wash dishes, he even wiped all the counters, hung the dish towel neatly to dry and put everything away in its proper place... My mum was convinced that I had met a perfectionist and that he would get my untidiness into ship shape. I swear, that I heard her chuckle and she might have mumbled a Hallelujah...Well, don't we all exaggerate our good points during courtship?

Through the ages, this divide has and will always be there I think. Phrases such as

" You know, in my day that would never have been..."

"Our generation still knows what it means to work hard. "

Each generation feels that inner guilt when we don't measure up to our parent's ideal and who hasn't done an extra bout of vigourous cleaning and or weeding etc when parents come around to visit? To try and forestall the...

" Oh, are you just going to leave it like that?"

Memories are short lived and even my parents jumped through the hoops when my Grandparents came to visit...

Biggi