homework. Penny For Your Thoughts.

[Ron]

Penny For Your Thoughts.
© Ron Boughton 16/7/23

Just sittin’ in the sunshine on a perfect sort of day
there soakin’ up the rays in such a lazy sort of way,
when I started day-dreamin’ on childhood days of the past,
like when the pounds and pennies were security steadfast!
And if we had some pennies, they were held with vice like grip
‘cos it mattered more those days, if they’d through the fingers slip!
I don’t know if the word ‘inflation’, was heard of back then,
though flogged to death many years later, time and time again!

And came decimal currency in Nineteen Sixty Six
and there the banks and government got up to unknown tricks!
Consumerism, becoming rampant, all things were ‘must have’!
And headed where, we know not where, seemed there was …no ‘sat nav’!
The years went by, the dollar fell, until there was no common cents,
and then it seems they were joined, by their namesake common sense!
They’d gone just as the farthing did so many years before
but with acceleration, in abandonment galore!

And now a sense of entitlement, being standard fare
that sadly sees so many in financial deep despair!
For it is, oh so easy now, instead of working hard
to just embrace euphoria, and get it on the card!
Point granted that society, is now much better off
with thriving technology, helping share now from the trough!
And social reform too, so much better than years ago
but still that sticky web of credit …can a curved ball throw!

The ‘tap and go’ transactions, so easily done in a flash,
can cause alarm bells when we see a future with no cash!
No doubt, it would catch out the crooks, but on another scale
It has the wary scent of, ‘Big Brother’ from Orwel’s tale!
If we stop using notes, and far less becomes the cash flow,
it may vanish completely, and money won’t be our dough!
Consigning it to history could be the objective plan
for in the halls of power, there is more than one ‘straw man’!

Now sittin’ in the sunshine with mixed thoughts of pennies gone
and of those days back in the past, I know we have moved on,
So stirrin’ from my thinkin’ I’ll be driftin’ from this scene,
And wander down, to confront the bank's ATM machine!
But better do it quick for it is hard to stay composed,
when near’ everyday we hear another bank branch has closed!
What does the future hold, does anybody really know,
for it could well be A.I. that’s runnin’ ...the whole blinkin’ show!

[Terry]

G/day Ron
You're selling yourself short mate - I'll give you a couple of Bob for them.

I was in Coober Pedy Opal Mining in 1966 when the dollar came in,
we still talked in pounds when selling a parcel - didn't sound so expensive.

You have hit the nail on the head with your interpretation of those changing times,
and I really enjoyed the read mate.

Terry

[Ron]

Thanks Terry,
Yes mate it was all about perception with the pound/dollar bit wasn't it, all took a bit of getting used to.
A bit scary what a few more generations will see with tap and go and internet banking etc. The mind boggles, in particular if there was any sort of extended national power outage for some reason.
Cheers
Ron

[Maureen K Clifford]

Your poem certainly covers some interesting aspects of our lives today Ron,and reminded me of a story from my Mum born in 1924, whose Father a man way ahead of his time, predicted at her 21st Birthday that she would live to see man walk on the moon, computers dominate the world and a cashless society - all of these came true and she did live to see the first two and the beginning of the 3rd. And as you mention AI is certainly running more and more of the show every day which is pretty scary.

The fact that we can no longer be guaranteed to get cash out from even a bank worries me. I foresee a lot of small enterprises suffering because of it.
Your local flea markets and garage sales will be hard hit, as will school fetes and Charity street stalls - and then of course we have all been caught out when power cuts hit or the computer technology goes wrong .....everything grinds to a halt if you don't have cash to pay with.

Much as I embrace the touch and go technology I really don't think we should be relying entirely upon it - it is like everything in life - we really always need to have a plan B. AI has already been used to write poetry, and it did a pretty fair job of it as I recall, so we poets will also be destined for the scrap heap in the future I suspect

I enjoyed the read Ron and for it making me think about our future again from that perspective.

[Ron]

Thanks Maureen,
Your Mum's father certainly was spot on with his predictions, amazing!
We are certainly on the same wave length with the the technology that is happening all around us, and how a cashless society would affect us all.
And then we haven't touched on the military side of things, which is a whole new threat!
Pleased that you enjoyed the read.
Cheers
Ron

[Shelley Hansen]

Definitely some good memories there, Ron.

An interesting thing about the penny - the current cognitive test for dementia includes the task of remembering three unrelated words and relating them back several minutes later. One of these words is "penny", selected because it draws on the person's memory. It is interesting to contemplate that it won't be long before they'll have to choose another word from people's memories, because the older generation now includes people who only knew decimal currency!

[Ron]

Thanks Shelley,
Yes 'cent' or 'credit card' just doesn't have the same ring to it as a penny, does it!
Cheers
Ron.

[Catherine Lee]

Excellent coverage of the changing times, Ron. I really enjoyed and related to the read. I am in the UK at the moment and this is my first chance to get on the Forum briefly this morning - your poem covers many things people have been talking about over here, and I have been irritated several times by various things, such as shops or cafes that will not take cash (I strongly object to my choice being taken away in this respect!) Anyway, you have done well with this poem - I am often lamenting the lack of common sense and the increasing Orwellian feeling!

[Ron]

Thanks Catherine,
A coincidence you mention the UK, a mate of mine only a couple of weeks ago returned from North Yorkshire where he had visited his elderly mother. He had some English currency that he had brought home from a previous visit about Five years ago so he naturally took it with him. When he tried to pay for a meal at a cafe, the women at the register carried on and asked him to pay by card. He objected and said it was still legal tender and he was told that he was a nuisance as she would have to make a trip to the bank to deposit it! Hard to believe isn't it!
I suppose that is the direction we are headed here too.
Cheers
Ron.

[Catherine Lee]

Wow, that is indeed unbelievable! And fancy actually saying that to a customer too! Along with such nonsense, the respect and courtesy seems to be going out the door as well. It's a shame you don't normally get your coffee before paying, as I think I'd be constantly tempted to say "Your bad luck then, I don't have a card!" It is indeed still legal tender, and therefore I cannot understand how they get away with it. I know I must sound like a bit of a whinger, but it's the principle of the thing, and almost everyone I had a conversation with over there was bemoaning similar issues so I know I'm not the only one!