In her comment yesterday Jenny mentioned the sound of her door closing being the same sound the original owners would recognise from over a hundred and something years ago. This got my little mind considering the sounds and indeed smells that greeted peoples in differing ages. Jenny lives in the centre of the big city, very different from my surroundings but many similarities would be seen. The noise of doors is just one, doors being better made then!
The pub pictured above for instance, this has been a hostelry for some time, the first publican I found was noted in 1793 and the building dates from that century. Outside you note the road sign offering directions, a car is parked, usually several are found here, and the road itself suffers constant traffic, sometimes quite heavy. The air can fill with fumes, children pass in droves from the nearby school, shoppers swarm daily. The ambulance station further up offers blue flashing lights and sirens, as do the occasional police vehicles. Little aroma is offered, unless you stand close to the chip shop or Chinese take away. Nothing is noted of any vegetation, only the farmers compost from distant fields once or twice a year fill the air. This then is the normal traffic of a small but busy market town.
Compare the picture below, dated to the early years of the 20th century.
In the far left just behind the pram stands the Inn. No traffic passes, not even a horse! Carriers left daily from here for local villages or London, each day a different direction. This was the only means of trading goods until the railways arrived. Coaches taking passengers at six miles an hour shook them up all the way to distant places, also leaving from the various Inns around the town. The noise was less, the smell of horse and carriage would be notable, as indeed would the carrier himself be! Gardens close by would offer fragrance from flowers, next door the bicycle makers would give the sound of metalwork and accompanying smells. Men with shirt sleeves rolled up would finger the watchchains on their waistcoats waiting for their lunch break in the pub. Somewhere dogs would bark and a gardener would ensure the horses leavings would aid their crops in the back garden, in spite of that aroma. Smoke from chimneys may well rise lazily into the air, the distinct smell not being noticed by nostrils taking it for granted, they would notice it when rain brought it down upon them, leaving soot on the buildings and her washing on the line. No radios blare, no car horns or engine noise, no army helicopter noisily heading for Colchester, no adolescent deafening himself with lousy music at a hundred decibels, no woman pushing a pram while checking her mobile, though she may well be talking loudly into it!
The sound of silence at night would be manifest to the modern ear. Animals in the distance would be heard, the factories working nights would make noise in the distance, a train puffing along would be a sound remaining in the mind for ever to those who heard it. The depth of the darkness around would shock while it would enable a clear view of the stars above, unless it rained! Streets lights, gas lit later in the 19th century, would only exist in town and the surroundings would be very black. The main form of transport would be coach, or bike, however by the early 1900's a car may be occasionally seen ruining the atmosphere. Most would still walk everywhere while trains would be used for longer distance.
Sometimes looking back the world appears easier back then. We ignore the rickets, five and a half day working, at least, ten or twelve hour days, washing by hand for a large family, what several children could do to a mother, if she lived that is, poor pay and real class distinction. We really are better off today, so why are so many having to use 'food banks?' It would be glib to say we have a Conservative government but that clearly plays a part. The outfall from the 2008 collapse affects us still and many suffer. Some of the diseases that endangered the children in the postcard view may well be a danger today! That aside life is better for the majority now than it was then. The vast majority are in danger of being fat and all the attendant problems this brings than they are in danger of hunger. The minority require food banks but I can tell you how close that is to us all. A disease, redundancy, and a badly managed recession can put anyone in that danger. For most of us however we will look back on the past and say "It was better back then!"
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