Everything old is new again

Yesterday I had afternoon tea with Peggy who turns 90 next month. We share the same birthday, albeit some years apart. Peggy grew up in Collingwood and is an avid Collingwood football supporter. She was a seamstress in her younger days for labels such as Roger David — men's trousers. That was her forte.

We discussed how much change she'd seen in her lifetime. Living through the Great Depression, talking about the handouts of food which helped keep her family of six alive. She talked about the Coolgardie Safe - her fridge when she was a child - which consisted of a box and wet hessian to keep the contents inside cool. At one point I sourced a recipe for her from the Internet - I had to print it out twice, the second time in a larger point size. No problem. Easy done.

She marvelled over this, how far we've come. But when she talked about the climate extremes she had experienced throughout her 89 years, I realised the gadgets may have changed, but we are arrogant to think that we can control our environment.