When I compare my life in the 50s to the lives of young people today, the two are very different. For my generation there were more restrictions, less entertainment and travel and more ‘do it yourself’ type fun than there is today.
Almost all girls left school around 15 or 16 and were married between 20 and 23 years of age. You stayed at home until you were married and then went on to look after your husband and children (though women were just starting to re-enter the workforce as secretaries and factory workers).
I began a checkout job in Woolworths when I was 15 for the school holidays and eventually worked my way up to working in their offices ( where I met my husband). We started going out and I was so besotted with him I never went back to school ( which my father was furious about) and got married at 21. I look back at it now and think how bloody stupid I was, but that was just how things were back then.
My grandparent's wedding- 1951.
Not many families had cars in the 50s, so young people either walked,rode bicycles or relied on public transport. There were no traffic jams like there are today . I remember there was no public transport on Sundays and the shops would close on Saturday at 12 noon and stay that way until Monday morning.
Shopping was so different back then! Rather than big centres- each city had a main shopping street. You couldn’t go to a food store and serve yourself- all the items were displayed and an assistant behind the counter got the items for you. You had to trudge from the butchers to the bakers to the deli to the fruit shop.... there were no supermarkets like today.
The only takeaway around was the local fish and chip shop.
For housewives like myself life was much less hectic but more labour intensive than it is today. Things were certainly very different!
Grandma Dot and her work friends.
