Issues that people don't seem to make such a big deal of like they once did

[Peter A]

I cannot believe we got suckered into paying up to 500 big ones for a PS5, yet instead of new games, they're just remaking and remastering everything from our childhood, or teenage days. Nobody speaks up enough about Capcom doing remakes with many cut features, or enemy types.

Days Gone was an effing fantastic game. But Sony wants to act like it was letting them down.

[Lencoboy]

I cannot believe we got suckered into paying up to 500 big ones for a PS5, yet instead of new games, they're just remaking and remastering everything from our childhood, or teenage days. Nobody speaks up enough about Capcom doing remakes with many cut features, or enemy types.

Days Gone was an effing fantastic game. But Sony wants to act like it was letting them down.

Yeah, lack of originality and sheer laziness by producers trading on nostalgia; be it video games, films/TV dramas, music releases, etc.

Which IMO often does the (usually) far superior originals we all know and love so dear a blatant disservice.

If it ain't broke in the first place, why fix it now?

[Peter A]

Precisely!

[Lencoboy]

I must admit I tend to dwell on the past, particularly an era where life seemed better all round. It takes me time to adapt to change and I'm not liking a lot of the changes. Eliminating cash is one of them.
At the same time, some changes have been good.
I'm more comfortable with familiarity.
Then again, if nothing changed life would be rather dull.

I think we're nearly all the same in that respect; that we tend to seek solace in the past to escape the trials and tribulations of the present and the future, while often romanticising specific elements of the past that sometimes weren't really all that brilliant in the first place.

For instance, a lot of people of my age group tend to romanticise the decade of the 90s, which I personally believe was/is a greatly overrated decade that for the most part sucked for me, even though I personally have hypocritically been known to pick and choose specific aspects of said decade that time has since been kinder to for me, which also applies to the previous decade of the 80s.

Having said that, I wouldn't be disappointed in the slightest if all the 24/7 global rolling news channels suddenly disappeared off the face of the earth and we went back to just the simpler and more palatable old-school half-hour bulletins at set times throughout the day (on BBC 1, ITV 1, etc) which still don't have all the endless in-yer-face on-screen text and various other sensory overload-inducing audio-visual abominations.

[Lencoboy]

It takes me time to adapt to change and I'm not liking a lot of the changes. Eliminating cash is one of them.

I'm with you on that one.

I don't have any personal credit cards and still use cash for day-to-day stuff like buying sarnies at lunchtime when I go to my day centre on Wednesdays, plus I lament the vending machines in the train stations at both ends no longer being able to accept physical cash, which is obviously a by-product of the recent Covid pandemic.

On the flip side however, it we don't seem to hear about street muggings and armed robberies of shops, etc, as often now as we did in previous decades, which I suppose are two of many potential advantages of a 'cashless' society.

[Peter A]

So having mental health issues is of no concern to a court. If the police have been instructed to produce you at court, agoraphobic tendencies don't really apply when it comes to getting to the darn building some 50 miles away.

Yeah. I rang up lawyers yesterday to ask for help. They didn't seem to fully understand when I explained that no lawyer was in Livingston a few weeks ago. They thought my regular lawyer had helped me, so I had to correct them. Nobody was there.

What an absolute joke of a system...

[Lencoboy]

So having mental health issues is of no concern to a court. If the police have been instructed to produce you at court, agoraphobic tendencies don't really apply when it comes to getting to the darn building some 50 miles away.

Yeah. I rang up lawyers yesterday to ask for help. They didn't seem to fully understand when I explained that no lawyer was in Livingston a few weeks ago. They thought my regular lawyer had helped me, so I had to correct them. Nobody was there.

What an absolute joke of a system...

Peter, I don't mean to be rude nor come across as uncaring/unsympathetic but sorry this isn't the right thread for discussing your current battles with the legal system.

[Lencoboy]

I also recall 'postcode wars' being quite a big thing from around the mid 2000s through to around the early-mid 2010s which don't seem to receive as much media attention of late.

I often recall seeing postcode prefixes being tagged around and about which I don't tend to see of late, at least not in my area.

[Lencoboy]

Last week all of us clients at my day centre were given a free Easter egg each.

Which immediately reminded me that at my previous day centre some 15-20 years ago that would have been totally unthinkable as they (or perhaps Staffs CC) had devised a blanket rule where not only staff members were strictly forbidden from giving gifts to clients, but also the reverse; clients strictly forbidden from giving staff members 'gifts' (including Christmas cards), plus they weren't allowed to accept gifts or any other donations in general from 'non-clients'.

As far as the likely prohibition of giving out free Easter eggs and the like to clients was concerned, it probably wasn't only because they were too tight financially but because they likely feared getting it in the neck if, say, one or two of the clients had an adverse reaction (e. g, due to diabetes, allergies, etc), so they banned such things outright.

But at least at my current day centre, the staff/management (in spite of whatever respective 'flaws'/'foibles' they may have in their own right) seem to have more of a 'common sense' attitude rather than a 'black and white' totally risk-averse attitude.

In fact, I think they can sometimes be a bit more lax with certain things on occasions, though thankfully none of the clients there appear to have come to any real harm so far due to it (AFAIK).

[Lencoboy]

Last week all of us clients at my day centre were given a free Easter egg each.

Which immediately reminded me that at my previous day centre some 15-20 years ago that would have been totally unthinkable as they (or perhaps Staffs CC) had devised a blanket rule where not only staff members were strictly forbidden from giving gifts to clients, but also the reverse; clients strictly forbidden from giving staff members 'gifts' (including Christmas cards), plus they weren't allowed to accept gifts or any other donations in general from 'non-clients'.

As far as the likely prohibition of giving out free Easter eggs and the like to clients was concerned, it probably wasn't only because they were too tight financially but because they likely feared getting it in the neck if, say, one or two of the clients had an adverse reaction (e. g, due to diabetes, allergies, etc), so they banned such things outright.

But at least at my current day centre, the staff/management (in spite of whatever respective 'flaws'/'foibles' they may have in their own right) seem to have more of a 'common sense' attitude rather than a 'black and white' totally risk-averse attitude.

In fact, I think they can sometimes be a bit more lax with certain things on occasions, though thankfully none of the clients there appear to have come to any real harm so far due to it (AFAIK).

I also recall there was a bit of a trend about 10-15 years ago in some schools for staff to search pupils' lunchboxes for 'banned' foods/drinks.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for encouraging healthy eating among kids within reason but IMO these policies were well OTT and were almost bordering on some kind of 'police state'-like situation, plus it also seemed like the teachers kind of doubled up as social workers, doctors and even police officers themselves in such instances.

Good God, some of the 'banned' items even included things like Mini Cheddars and various other stuff that in previous decades was sold extensively in school tuck shops, and no one gave the matter as much as a second thought!