A LOOK BACK.

Joined
May 6, 2010
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15,670
THE '50s...SCRAP ALL THE MODERN TECHNOLOGY I WOULD GO BACK IN A MINUTE......READ THIS....QUOTE....
Being Green I REALLY LOVE THIS ONE !!!!!!

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief ? (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mom?s into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 3,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then? UNQUOTE.
 
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
15,670
In grammar school we had ink pens..... then when i went OTJ in '68 NYC still had inkwells at the Housewatch desk but not w/lever/bladder ink pens...we still had quill pens ....1 for red ink & 1 for blue ink from the inkwells...one time we had no more shafts for the tips  & LT John G... RIP (WW2 Vet) took a 2 foot sawed off piece of broomstick & attached the pen point to it & wrote on the side "FUN CITY SPECIAL JOHN V. LINDSAY MAYOR"....when the Deputy came to qtrs & sat down in the housewatch to "take a mark" in the Co Journal he could not believe it ...we subsequently adopted the "fun city special jv lindsay mayor" slogan & wrote it in chalk on all the crap spares we received.       
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2007
Messages
1,512
Thanks 68jk.... now that's a great Inside Story.
@
If I remember correctly, alarms of fire and all entries made by an officer ( other than roll call) were made inall red ink.
 
Joined
May 6, 2010
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Housewatchman used blue ink for all their entries including alarms... Co Officer or visiting Chiefs  used red ink. 
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2007
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Mack you just get it right! Son working over the holidays @ L15? hope for a quiet shift and a good cook! Pats 34-31, Tom told Payton I will spot u 24 and still win!!
 
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
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FDNY BOOSTER LINE HISTORY .....FDNY Pumpers of different makes made from 1958 to 1986 had 200 ft of red rubber 1 inch diameter hose known as booster hose on a reel originally mounted on top of the Rig then later mounted below the hose bed @ the back step...it had a "Navy" nozzle attached which was a combination coarse fog or straight stream & also could have a fog applicator pipe attached if needed by removing the coarse fog tip & inserting the roughly 5 foot slightly bent applicator pipe...these are pictures of the nozzle...the small open hole is the straight stream & the coarse fog tip on the chain unscrewed so you could insert the extended applicator if needed... www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ROCKWOOD-SPRINKLER-CO-HANDLE-NOZZLE-/111283578828?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19e904a7cc .... the booster line was used primarily for Fires involving car's ,rubbish,brush etc & although it was not supposed to be used for structural Fires there were occasions that i was at where a nearby Pumpers booster line saved the day....there was also a fitting available where if you had all 200 ft stretched to lets say a car Fire off the roadway you could use the fitting to add a length or 2 of 1 3/4 @ the front end to reach the Fire.....the earlier reels only had a manual crank pictured here www.ebay.com/itm/Hose-reel-handle-and-holders-for-a-fire-truck-/251452272175?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a8bb92e2f to rewind the hose but later models also had an electric rewind (that worked most of the time) .....starting w/the '87 Macks w/the extended front bumper & side compartments the booster line was discontinued on FDNY Rigs....this thinking came about a few years after the death of FF Tony Shands RIP of ENG*297 on 11-20-84  who was in the rear of the Rig feeding booster hose back onto the reel @ the backstep after an ADV Fire on 20th Av in the area where the Whitestone Target Mall is today when a drunk driver pinned him to the Rig.....there was also a FF named Joeseph Kanavan RIP from ENG*228 years earlier on 1-25-76 who met the same fate....after the Tony Shands death the policy was instituted that no ENG was to operate alone on any roadway & must have a LAD to block traffic.... shortly after the policy was instituted ENG*297 was once again @ the same 20 Av location extinuishing yet another ADV when another drunk hit the LAD blocking ENG*297 no Members were hurt this time ....i was a LT in ENG*332 & we had a new '87 Mack w/no booster line...we had many ADV & rubbish Fire's in ENY @ the time & we were regularly wearing out the length of 1 3/4 in the front tray....i sent a report stating that i was requesting to have a booster line reel retrofitted above the hose bed as i had never seen a booster line wear out or burst no matter how often dragged thru glass,rubbish etc...i also said that i realized their thinking behind removing the booster hose & reel but i also felt that disconnecting ..draining & repacking 1 3/4 @ the front bumper took longer than the electric rewind of the booster line which did not have to be drained or disconnected  exposing the Members for a longer time.....they did not agree & as a solution sent 10 lengths of 1 3/4 & said "wear out as much as needed we have more"....i still think (JMO) that the reel could be used safely w/the LAD blocking of course.....maybe some day in the future we will see a return of the booster reel to the FDNY.


 
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