Random thoughts

What feet have trod these paths I tread? This was the thought that came to my head - rather surprisingly I might add - as I walked from my office to collect the mail. To my left was the site of the former Queen's Park School (now the library) and just ahead on my right was St Mary's Church. Both places have historical significance and would have attacted thousands of people over the years.

I began to think about the people who walked this path before me and the lives they might have lived and what they did to sustain themselves and their families. What did they do to keep themselves occupied and what sort of work was available? Jobs would be quite different to what is around today. I am very interested in social history but not particularly knowledgeable so I could really only make assumptions as I pondered the questions.

Mankind needs to work to survive. It's not just a way of earning money although I think in modern times that it how it is seen by many. But work (either paid or unpaid) gives a purpose as it has an outcome by which you can measure success or achievement - whether it be growing food for the family or earning enough money to pay the mortgage. It seemed to me that hundreds of years ago most families (all members) would be kept busy growing and harvesting their own food whether it be crops or stock (or both). Surplus would be sold off or traded. Supermarkets were not needed and certainly never imagined. However, I can understand how they evolved as the social structure of our society changed.

On that train of thought, I went in another direction and wondered what changes would be in effect in 200 years time. Would people still live their lives as we do today or would the comparison be the same as 2010 and 1810? Would they go to work each day? What clothes would they wear? Ahead of me were two young girls wearing short tight skirts, tops which left their midriffs bare and jandals on their feet - clothing that would have been unimaginable even 50 years ago. What would young people be like in 2210? Would the earth be as we know it now or would global warming have changed it completely? So many questions and of course I will never know the answers. Neither will anyone else that is alive at present.

As a society, we have a responsibility to ensure we leave the planet in the best possible condition and with as much information as we can for future generations. We know so much more than our forefathers (and mothers) and even in my relatively short life time, I have seen major technological changes. We could probably compare the last 50 years with the industrial revolution but on a far greater scale.

These were just random thoughts as I wandered through town and back again. No conclusions were reached..... but I enjoyed the journey :)