What era fascinates you?

I was born twelve years after WWII. That put me front and center to watch the 60s. My first memory of world events was the Cuban missile crisis (when the grown ups are afraid the world might end, you tend to pay attention).

But my aunts and uncles were alive and vigorous during the Depression and the war. Life on the home front was often discussed and it fascinated me. That's what I'd like to experience.

My grandfather was an air raid warden during the war. We live 450 miles from the Atlantic coast, but they still had blackouts and air raid drills here. Once I asked Grandpa why all the precautions. After all, the Germans would have to launch their bombers from Philadelphia to hit us here in the Ohio Valley. Grandpa said he also patrolled the river banks for enemy naval craft. "Grandpa!" I said "There weren't any Nazi submarines in the Ohio River!" "I know!" he answered "I did a damn good job keeping them out!"

we had an underground missle base in the town i grew up in.
In my elementary school, we were told that there was a map hanging on a wall in the Kremlin with our area circled like a bulls eye. We were told that the Russians wanted to knock out our heavy industry first by obliterating Pittsburgh and its environs.

I would sit in class and imagine the MiGs flying low over the hilltops and strafing our playground. I knew where our school's air raid shelter was. It was stocked with 55 gallon steel drums painted olive drab and filled with drinking water and soda crackers.

My Grandpa (the air raid warden during WWII built a bomb shelter in his back yard. As time wore on, it became a playhouse for me and my brother whenever we would visit Grandpa.
 
Would I want to live in another era? NO! The Romanticism of some of the earlier times disregards the hard times, the illnesses, the short lives and just how hard it was to make a living. In today's time if you have an illness, like diabetes, you can live a long life. We have plenty to eat or choose from, you don't have to walk 10 miles or ride an ass to town. People in this day and age take a lot for granted and do not realize what life was like back then. Even a few decades ago life was hard for some people. We did not even have running water till the early 60's, we had to pump it by hand. There was no bathroom, we had to walk outside and 100 yards or so to the outhouse. We had electricity and heat which made those wintery days bearable. Go back to the Roman empire and did they have toilet paper? There was no TV, radio but they had plays. And that time was fascinating. Good time to visit, just don't want to live it!

Most Romans lived to ripe old ages.
Actually, the wealthier a person was, the longer their life span was, which makes the point that a tough hard life is likely to be a shorter one.
 
Would I want to live in another era? NO! The Romanticism of some of the earlier times disregards the hard times, the illnesses, the short lives and just how hard it was to make a living. In today's time if you have an illness, like diabetes, you can live a long life. We have plenty to eat or choose from, you don't have to walk 10 miles or ride an ass to town. People in this day and age take a lot for granted and do not realize what life was like back then. Even a few decades ago life was hard for some people. We did not even have running water till the early 60's, we had to pump it by hand. There was no bathroom, we had to walk outside and 100 yards or so to the outhouse. We had electricity and heat which made those wintery days bearable. Go back to the Roman empire and did they have toilet paper? There was no TV, radio but they had plays. And that time was fascinating. Good time to visit, just don't want to live it!

The Romans actually had very good plumbing with fairly decent toilet facilities, in some cases better than you find in some Italian towns now. Water was abundant and piped to your home if you had enough money. Rome was not too bad compared to the present day. Disease would certainly be an issue, but life wasn't to bad at all.


well they had water yes, but they also had exposure to lead galore and wood fires....

Trajan, there's no supporting documentation that those who were exposed to lead died earlier than those not exposed to lead. As a matter of fact just the opposite is true I suspect: There is little doubt that the emperors or the wealthy, those who had water entering their homes through leaden pipes, lived longer than those who dipped their water from a dug well or stream.
 

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