Thank you Mary Norton, now I feel really old - cheers

I'm feeling distinctly middle aged at the moment. Not helped by the kids to be frank. I've had enough of:

"Dad, what's a typewriter?"
"Dad, what's a record player?"
"Dad, what's a video player?"
"Dad, what's an 'ice cap'?" (I made that last one up - but their Grandchildren will be asking the same you bet)

Came to a head tonight, thanks to bloody Mary Norton.

You know when you read something of-period in the original English ... like Pepys ... like Robinson Crusoe ... and there are continual footnotes describing ye olde stuff?

Well, tonight I was reading Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers' with Billy, and found myself having to explain and describe nearly every artefact mentioned.

"Dad, what's a ...

"....safety pin?"
"....Crochet needle?" (OK, I'll give him that one but ....)
"....Postage stamp?"
"....Cotton reel?"
"....Shoe button?"
"....Gas lights?"
"....North West Frontier?"

And this book was written in the Fifties! I consider it to be a contemporary, even a modern book. Soon it will have to be published with explanatory footnotes (if Kids bother to read @ all that is). Wonder if people in the Fifties thought the same of books published in Victorian times? Doubt it somehow. Sigh ... the pace of change (now I know I AM middle aged).

M