NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: You know when old people tell stories of "their day" to their grandchildren and various other people? Lets RP the elderly citizens of our nations telling their story of the past. It can be anything from a major historical event to the way things were or something he/she did when he/she was young.

IC:

Pat Kravowsky: You know kid, back in the day the most guns shot bullets instead of plasma and subatomic particles. Only 50% of the weapons stocked up in our military are the old ones[MT guns]

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Old Man Peterson: "Back in my day we didn't have all this fancy, "technology", we didn't have any of the high-tech I-bobs, or color television. And we had to walk four miles to school, in the snow, up hill both ways. It used to be, back in my day, that a Nokka would buy you a three course dinner, a double feature at the drive-in, and still have enough money for a motel room to take your girlfriend to if the night went well. Thats the problem with you kids, you don't know the value of a Nokka, what you need to do is play more monopoly. When I was a boy we played monopoly all the time, and everyone always lost, because it was a depression. So any-who, back to my story, when I was a boy we didn't have any of this fancy technology that you kids have, with your Hi-Fi's and you CD's, and your DVD's and DVR's. You were lucky if you had a television, and color television. I remember the first television we got. I remember how excited I was when dad brought it home, we had bought it to watch the Coronation of the King. It came with its own wooden cabinet, so you cloud hide it when people who you didn't like came over. Back then television didn't broadcast all day and night. It stopped just after the news at 11." Then Old Man Jones promptly fell asleep.

Grandpa Bob to grandson Charlie, "Well Charlie, I remember the days when... wait, remember what? What was I talking about?........ Who are you?!?! Get out of my house before I kill ya!!!!!"

Poor, poor grandpa... that memory loss is really starting to hit him.

The oldest man in Stoklomolvi, age 180, stood atop a podium. A huge, white beard flowed down his elegant, purple robes, and in one hand he carried a crooked stick. Along the sides of his robe there was inscribed golden scriptures, detailing the ancient history of the founding of Stoklomolvi. He wore a purple hat that complimented quite nicely with his robe, and atop the hat rested a solid and clear diamond. He opened his mouth to speak, and his voice rang out through the massive square.

"Friends! I have come here to day, to tell you about the history of the ancients! Today, I have become the oldest man in Stoklomolvi, surpassing old man Nikolai from the old October revolutions in 1762. Now, you may think that I am another old bloke who doesn't know what he's talking about, but think again! I might be 180 years old, but I can iterate words and do all of the things that you youngsters can! Why, back in my day, there were no televisions or mobiles. You wrote letters and sent telegrams, and that's what you had to do! There were no "satellites" or crazy people being sent to the moon! Also, you youngsters don't know just how well you've got your lives. Back in the day, one stoklomov was enough to get you absolutely nothing whatsoever. I piled brick after bricks of stoklomovs onto wheelbarrows into these lines that stretched for kilometres just to buy one sack of grain! I had to pile loads and loads of stoklomovs into my, erm, manually controlled diesel-powered transportation device, er, what's that? Yes, cars, and take them to the theatres to view films. One ticket, my good friend, costed at least 400 million stoklomovs. That was during the hyperinflation years. Ah, good stuff. Alas, I ramble. I fought the wars for your generation, you know. All forty seven of them. There was the Great War, the second War of Justification, and then the Liberation of the Siberians, and the second, wait, third? Oh bother it. All that you must know, is that the elder generation is here, will always be here, and will always know things better than you can. RESPECT them, and you will TRIUMPH!"

The members of the crowd looked at each other and murmured. One man stood up and applauded, and the rest of the crowd followed suit. Soon, the entire crowd was applauding and cheering, some for no reason.

Sara Bradley was an economics student at the University of Ptolemais and one day had a slight problem with the course work; so she decided to pay a visit to her lecturer, James Lloyd, one of the oldest lecturers on the faculty, he was aged 82.

"Well, Sara, I hope that you now understand how the quantity theory of money. Truth be told, we can be very greatful that the powers that be in this nation have learnt and understood this, or else we could have ended up like many of the other nations of the world, wounded by inflation. In fact, we came very close."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I'll tell you the story, although much of the story of my own life will be intertwined with it. As you no doubt know, the Crash of 1929 threw the entire world into economic chaos, and the Empire was not spared at all; in fact, we were probably one of the worst wounded of all the nations that got struck by the Great Depression."

"Yes, I have heard about that; apparently it got so bad that the government feared that the nation was about to fall apart."

"That is right Sara, our nation did come very close to falling apart; even though the Empire survived, our people suffered greatly. My parents got married seven years before the crash, they had loved each other enormously and had decided that they were going to spend the rest of their life with each other. My father decided to start a grocery business in the town where we lived and soon, it was quite prosperous; he always attempted to get the best supplies in, and it helped that his brother; my uncle, was the local stationmaster; he always did favours for my father and made sure that there was space on the daily mixed service for his goods. Certainly, we lived comfortably; owned a modest house, my mother could hire a maid, and the people were reasonably trustworthy, so my parents would often extend credit to the local folk. I'll never forget as a young boy being told how the currency system worked by having to add up the totals in the ledger; mind you, we had to use an abacus, not calculators."

"It sounded like your parents lived a very good life."

"Yes, they did live a very good life. My younger brother was born and two days later came news of the Crash. Initially, for my parents, it was business as usual, indeed, for the entire Empire, it was business as usual. Then came the beginning of the trade restrictions. Soon enough, our exports collapsed; the farmers spent their available funds on trying to save their farms, then they could not do that, then the banks took them away. The banks could not sell them, so they started collapsing. Of course, for my parents, it was pretty tough; they had to cut their prices just to be able to sell the merchandise, and then the bad debts started piling up. We had to sack the maid, and attempted to sell whatever we did not need; the wireless went, the automobile went, eventually, we sold the house and moved into the back part of the store. It was quite tough, I tell you, we very barely survived. Then comes the interesting bit; something that I did not truly appreciate until later."

"Let me guess, the attempt at currency reform."

"Exactly, this was the time when the Third Nationalist Government had a firm grip on power; they had held the reins since 1904 and were certainly not letting go. I suppose I might as well introduce the Reform Party."

"Who were they?"

"The Reform Party, Sara, was a group of dissident Labour and Nationalist people that were annoyed with the course of the Empire. They wanted us to catch up with the world, to reform, so to speak. Well, certainly, of the third parties, they were one of the larger. I will never forget, I must have been eight at the time, when the election of 1932 happened, and I tell you, it makes elections today look like a thing that wimps organise. It all began at the beginning of that year; my stationmaster uncle had managed to get my family a trip away at a reduced price; a brief week long trip to Ptolemais. I will never forget the power of that steam locomotive; it truly was powerful. Anyways, we got there, and there were riots in the streets; people were screaming for a change in government, but they were not screaming for the Labour Party; no, they were screaming for the Reform Party. I did not find this out until I was much older, but the Reform Party polled so high at one point that it was suggested that they might form the next government. Anyways, one of their key policies was to scrap the gold standard, to put us onto fiat currency, and this panicked the people in the Upper House, and most of all, the Emperor."

"Ok"

"Yes, at the time, the ageing Emperor (and I mean ageing, I'll never forget the pictures of him, he was a very old man), held a large amount of sway over the affairs of Parliament. He wanted to hang onto that gold standard and threatened to make all the Nationalist MPs peers if that is what it took. Anyways, the election of 1932 did not go the way that everyone expected. While the Nationalist Government was somewhat weakened, the status quo virtually remained. The trade restrictions started being brought down, and eventually my family started prospering again. While all that happened, things were happening in parts of the world that would change it forever, however, that Sara, is another tale for another day. What we can be greatful for though, is an ageing Emperor that ensured our money kept its value."