Back to the Future

Good Monday Morning!  I hope you are ready for the week ahead, because ready or not... 😁  My work week is starting off with a bang.  I have a full schedule, so I am trying to get my Blog done, before I move on to the next thing.  If you are having a day like me, just take one task at a time and try not to worry about what is next on the list.  Enjoy each moment.  I know, easier said than done, but if a task is worth doing, enjoy doing it, because it will be an accomplishment when you finish.

In today's blog I want to do more than think about life in the 1747 rural areas, small towns and villages of England.  I want to Time Travel back to present day.  I have spent much of my last few years researching and imagining what life was like back in 18th century England.   I thought today I would like to look at what's been going on in modern times, and compare some of the differences.

Look at the picture above.  The area surrounding the road, probably would have been much the same. There is a good chance the road has remained in the same place, but it certainly wouldn't have been paved.  A road back in 1747, would most likely have been a dirt road, full of stones and holes.  Most roads would have been like this, unless, it had been paved with cobble stones, still a bumpy ride.  Cobble stone roads, would probably have been reserved for bigger towns, though.  Sometimes, we may get the experience of a dirt road, but the majority of our traveling, is not so primitive.  There certainly wouldn't have been a car or any motorized vehicle.  Wagons, horses, carts, boats and walking would have been the modes of travel.  The amount of effort and time to travel, would have been a major task.  Even a trip to the next town could have taken a day or two, maybe more.

The first train wasn't even around, until the 19th century.  We complain about waiting at a stop light for a couple minutes, well, some of us do, but traveling for us is really very easy and inconsequential, compared to how it was done in 1747.

Let's talk about shopping.  For most of us, getting groceries, supplies, clothes...just about anything we want, can be accomplished without even leaving our house, if we want.  Back in 1747, everything you needed to survive, took time and physically hard work to obtain.  There were a few exceptions, those born into money, could live a life of ease...sort of.  

If you enjoy camping, you may find cooking over a fire fun, but I doubt most of us would want to do that everyday, with no other options.

Today, most of us may look at a field with sheep grazing and think, "How picturesque!  Where's my camera!"  Back then, this view would have meant, food, clothing, a means of bartering or making money.  This harbor would have been filled with fishing vessels, some for travel or ships full of goods for import and export.  Although there are still sheep farmers, merchants and fishermen at work, there are many of us today out on the water, or taking in the scenery, just for the fun of it.

No air conditioning, no electricity, indoor plumbing was just starting to make the scene and was the exception, rather than the rule.  Certainly, our hygiene habits today are much more thorough than they were back then.  The life expectancy was around 40 years old.  Today, our life expectancy is around 85 years old.  Hmmm, I wonder how we are using our extra years.  Are we wasting them?  Are we making the most of them?

                   

Some people may look at this second picture and say, "This bathroom is too small and too dark!"  Look at the outhouse.  Many people around the world today, still have bathroom situations like that or worse.  Personally, I am extremely thankful for modern bathrooms and in America, public bathrooms we don't have to pay to use.  

Our medical advances are too numerous to even begin to talk about, but there is a good chance I would have died giving birth to my first child, much less giving birth to four of them, without a miracle and that was in the 20th century! Today's medical advances are astounding.  Back then, many believed bathing more than your face, arms and legs was dangerous.  Be thankful...very thankful...for our modern medical knowledge.

Wow, I need to take the kids there, we could have fun playing in that!  Um, in 1747 that may have been someone's bathtub or water source.  

I would love to go visit North Yorkshire, England one day, but it won't be the way I have imagined it for so long.  Some things have probably stood the test of time, but so many things change, so I would still have to use my imagination to "see" what life would have been like there in 1747. 

 What have I learned by coming Back to the Future?  I have learned that we have been blessed in so many ways.  Was life all bad back in 1747?  I don't think so.  In fact, some things may have been much better.  A slower pace, less hectic living, and more of the beautiful world not covered up with progress.   I think we can benefit from comparing present day to times past.  Real people really lived then.  We can still learn from them, what to do or what not to do.  Let's learn our lessons well.  Make the most of what we have been given today.  The hard work of yesterday, helped to make it possible for you to enjoy the life you live today.  What kind of life are we building for those who may come after us?

I hope you will look around you today and be thankful for God's many blessings.

In Christ,

Sandy

*Please push that FOLLOW button and SUBMIT your email.  I would love to have you be a part of my Writing journey.  Also, I would love to hear your COMMENTS.  Thanks for coming and I hope you will join me again next week. (Lord Willing) 😄