How times change

And how, will never be the same again. Thank you for the great link Philip. I will sit back and watch now. Morecambe and Wise - comedy at its best.

This 10 year old topic got me thinking. You are right, times do change!!! To fill my 55ltr tank with diesel costs today £100.10 (£1.82 per ltr). That equates to £8.27 per gallon.

Not only has our petrol and diesel increased in price astronomically over the years but we forget that less than 40 years ago we bought our fuel at a variety of smaller filling stations and garages, not at supermarkets. In the early 70's I would use the garage at the top of Parkville Highway at the junction with Nunts Lane, was it Gulf petrol there? It soon closed and was replaced with bungalows. I also used the garage in Wheelright Lane just over the railway tracks, the one in Foleshill Rd opposite to Lythalls Lane, the one in Radford Rd where Aldi is now situated, plus the two in Foleshill Rd by Eagle Street, one either side of the road, was one called Petropolis? There were so many places to buy fuel that a lot of the time you just stopped at somewhere convenient on your journey. The other day I had to make a special journey to the supermarket for my 55 litres of diesel at £1.89 a litre but the pump stopped the transaction at 52 litres so as not to go over the £100 limit which there must be for 'pay at the pump' transactions. Today I would have got even less fuel because the price is £1.94 a litre.

My first car cost me about 12s 6d to fill up in 1969. The petrol tank was about 2 gallons capacity (BMW Isetta bubble car). Before that we used to ride our bikes from school to the Esso petrol station near the roundabout next to “The City Arms” (was that the name in 1969?) on Earlsdon Avenue South to try to collect the “Tiger Tails" to embellish our handlebars. Just remembered "The City Arms" was always referred to as "Ma Cooper's"

My Mini in 1963/4 would cost me £1.2.0 to fill up. I bought a MG5EV 15 months ago and costs me under £10 to travel 200 miles of mixed driving. My previous MG3 would now cost me over £45 for the same distance on today’s prices.

Now there's another time changer. Electric Cars!!

They'll be having electric vehicles next to deliver milk

I have a lot of sympathy and self pity over the cost of living crisis but we have a tendency to take what we now enjoy for granted. There is no physical aspect of life that I can think of that is not better than our ancestors, including travel. A life trip was a pilgrimage to places like Coventry! As the rest of the World catches up with us we can't assume an unending upwards trend. Inflation is partly due to short term problems but also long term, inevitable trends. We know that we sit on large gas reserves but quite possibly oil reserves too. Due to concern over global warming we are not exploiting them. Which is a bit like thinking that eating out is less fattening because eventually you'll run out of money. True, but undesirable. When I read/hear about wills from a few hundred years ago, I'm dismayed by what they left to their families. A few items of clothing. A chair. I explore early properties of even wealthy people and by modern standards they had nothing. I visited Dover castle and you get to see what Henry II enjoyed as a palace. I wouldn't swap. Gaudy decor and a big uncomfortable chair. The bed didn't even have a memory foam mattress. We don't have to slip backwards but we have to be realistic about how pious we want to be in the face of global disregard for the same issues. Recognising that the highest Global living standards have to be earned and not awarded as a right.

Hi Helen Having worked hard for the last 56 years and not being left anything in a will, I don't take what I currently enjoy for granted, but I do consider that I deserve it. You say that inflation is due to "inevitable trends". I personally would not call a war inevitable. I also think exploiting the oil, gas and coal reserves is a lot more to do with money than global warming.

I would very much hope that the war and the pandemic are short term, 'short' being relative. Exploitation of our fossil fuels is a mix of denied permission and taxation that makes exploiting them undesirable. Decisions have been made by those who are ignorant of engineering/industry/low income. They are of the 'let them eat cake' mentality. That's not a knock to any political party but most of them.

Could not agree more!!!!!!!!!!

This one is so obvious. Yesterday my wife went into town and forgot her mobile. So I said to my 2 youngest, if she wants us she will find a phone box. That got me thinking, and I asked my 24 year old if he had ever used a phone box. "No" was his immediate reply. I then asked my 15 year old daughter the same question. Her reply was to wave her mobile at me and ask "why would I need to?". Says it all.

Hmmm, it makes me feel like I have been born in the wrong period. It’s all so sterilised these days.

I dunno. The past is a great place to visit but I'm not sure I'd want to live there.

We watch a lot of old black and white films and you realise how grotty things were then. It all looks very romantic, I agree, but some of the places must have been awful to live in. I only have to look back to my early childhood. Although we had a normal reasonable terraced house for the time, I can remember washing days with the boiler going and the dolly tub and mangle. I put my washing in the washing machine and think how lucky I am. Try watching an early ‘Last of the summer wine’ and see the development through the years of Ivy’s cafe! Saying that, I love the architecture of old, not just like bricks and concrete of today, I love Art Deco.