Ship of Fools: The Old Grey Mare she ain't what she used to be.

Thread: The Old Grey Mare she ain't what she used to be. Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

First they changed the Cadbury candy eggs in the USA so they taste like plastic and are not worth eating.

Now I find out that Lanvin is once again selling my old favorite perfume Arpege but although it has the same name they have changed the scent.

What have you found that is not what it once was?

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

GI--

The Vermont Country Store brings back and makes lots of original-formula products that customers miss. I looked up Arpege, and they have it. You might double-check with them that it's the original formula, but it probably is.

Posted by Huia (# 3473) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:

What have you found that is not what it once was?

My mind, especially my memory [Disappointed]

Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :

Airline travel.

Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on :

Griffin's Chocolate Macaroon biscuits - smaller and less coconutty...

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
What have you found that is not what it once was?

Me.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Wagon Wheels are now Wagon casters; Kit-Kat is more of a kit-kitten. Every chocolate bar and biscuit from my childhood is a diminished thing - while costing unimaginably more. Swizz.

On the subject of scents, I'm prepared to allow the receptors may have changed. I find ones which appealed like mad at one time do nothing for me now. As to whether a re-issue of a vintage perfume is identical to the original - let me tell you there is a whole blogosphere of fumeheads out there arguing such points (I know one witty contributor to the genre, which is why I am aware of it).

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by jacobsen:

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
What have you found that is not what it once was?
Me.

Posted by Bibaculus (# 18528) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Wagon Wheels are now Wagon casters; Kit-Kat is more of a kit-kitten. Every chocolate bar and biscuit from my childhood is a diminished thing - while costing unimaginably more. Swizz.

Do you not think that maybe you have grown, and so the reduction in size is relative rather than absolute?

I remember as a teenager going back to my old primary school and being amazed at how small it was. When I was six it had seemed huge.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

When I was little, Coca Cola was a once in a great while treat, especially when enjoyed at the drug store soda fountain. After many years, I recently had an opportunity to have a Coke with a meal. It was totally disappointing, sugar water with brown coloring. Yuck.

Posted by Brenda Clough (# 18061) on :

I assume you are not old enough to have been drinking the Coke that had coke in it. Yes, that would have been a very different beverage indeed, and it would be no wonder that it holds a fond place in your memory.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bibaculus:

quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Wagon Wheels are now Wagon casters; Kit-Kat is more of a kit-kitten. Every chocolate bar and biscuit from my childhood is a diminished thing - while costing unimaginably more. Swizz.

Do you not think that maybe you have grown, and so the reduction in size is relative rather than absolute?

Nope. I have observed the shrinkage go on over the years. It's how they get away with it.

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

Firenze has got it right.

Sadly. [Waterworks]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

quote:
Originally posted by jedijudy:
When I was little, Coca Cola was a once in a great while treat, especially when enjoyed at the drug store soda fountain. After many years, I recently had an opportunity to have a Coke with a meal. It was totally disappointing, sugar water with brown coloring. Yuck.

I was told that Coke varies according to what region it's being sold in, as in some areas it sells better with more/less sugar in. I also was disappointed by our local version of Coke but got a can (this was some time ago now) at a market stall which had clearly been intended for the Middle Eastern market as half the labelling was in Arabic. It was quite a lot nicer.

Creme eggs are smaller and more horrible than they used to be. I was given one recently and I have to confess that once I was alone with it, I scooped out the filling with a spoon and threw it away and just ate the chocolate. Even that was too sweet but better than the filling.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bibaculus:
Do you not think that maybe you have grown, and so the reduction in size is relative rather than absolute?

I remember as a teenager going back to my old primary school and being amazed at how small it was. When I was six it had seemed huge.

Coffee used to come in one-pound packages; now they're 10 ounce, I believe. Bacon too.

Some time ago I drove through our old neighborhood -- the hill where we used to sled in the winter, which seemed so steep and long back then, looked to be little more than a bump.

Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Creme eggs are smaller and more horrible than they used to be. I was given one recently and I have to confess that once I was alone with it, I scooped out the filling with a spoon and threw it away and just ate the chocolate. Even that was too sweet but better than the filling.

Last year they stopped making creme eggs with Dairy Milk chocolate, and started using cheaper stuff. Sales went down, but they are insisting it wasn't because of the change. I'm not sure whether they've done anything to the filling, but it certainly seems to have less taste to me (sweet and gooey, nothing else now).
[Roll Eyes]

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Yes, I thought that. The filling used to have a bit of a flavour but this year, it just seemed like pure sugar concentrate.

Cheapskates.

[ 17. March 2016, 17:08: Message edited by: Ariel ]

Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :

MacDonalds. The first time I had a Big Mac was when I was at college - there were no Macdonalds in our area, so a trip into Staines usually ended with a burger.
After we were married, we went into Newport one Saturday, and seeing a Macdonalds, decided to have lunch there.
What had happened in the meantime? What we once thought tasty and exciting was now just so much mush.
(Mind, I'm still a fan of their caramel sundaes)

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel
I was told that Coke varies according to what region it's being sold in, as in some areas it sells better with more/less sugar in.

In the US Coke is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup; in Mexico they use sugar. There is a definite difference in taste. You can buy Mexican Coke in Texas.

Moo

Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :

Golden Key kindly suggested

quote:
Vermont Country Store brings back and makes lots of original-formula products that customers miss. I looked up Arpege, and they have it. You might double-check with them that it's the original formula, but it probably is.

I contacted The Vermont Country Store and they said that it was against the law to use some of the ingredients in the original formula. So Alas what they sell is not what they made of yore.
You have to wonder what that original formula was made with, Cocaine, Rat Tails, Sea Turtle Eggs???

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

GI--

Wasn't ambergris, from whales, sometimes used in perfumes?

Sorry it wasn't what you were looking for.

Posted by Kyzyl (# 374) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel
I was told that Coke varies according to what region it's being sold in, as in some areas it sells better with more/less sugar in.
In the US Coke is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup; in Mexico they use sugar. There is a definite difference in taste. You can buy Mexican Coke in Texas.

Moo

You can also find Mexican Coca Cola in many grocery stores in the Hispanic neighborhoids in bigger US cities. I get mine up in Saint Paul.

Posted by cliffdweller (# 13338) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Kyzyl:

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:

quote:
Originally posted by Ariel
I was told that Coke varies according to what region it's being sold in, as in some areas it sells better with more/less sugar in.
In the US Coke is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup; in Mexico they use sugar. There is a definite difference in taste. You can buy Mexican Coke in Texas.

Moo
You can also find Mexican Coca Cola in many grocery stores in the Hispanic neighborhoids in bigger US cities. I get mine up in Saint Paul.

Yes. It's a big draw-- stores will advertise it specially. Sooooo much better.

Posted by Leorning Cniht (# 17564) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
I'm not sure whether they've done anything to the filling, but it certainly seems to have less taste to me (sweet and gooey, nothing else now).

Creme Eggs made for the US market have a sweeter, sicklier filling than those made for the UK market. If they've changed the UK ones to have the US market filling then the sky really is falling.

Posted by Jengie jon (# 273) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
GI--

Wasn't ambergris, from whales, sometimes used in perfumes?

Sorry it wasn't what you were looking for.

Is used. It is a waste produce as far as the whales are concerned, equivalent to vomit see this video from PhD. So it is unlikely to be banned but it is also only in the very expensive perfume.

Jengie

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
What have you found that is not what it once was?

Pretty much everything made since the turn of the century. At some point they seem to have made all the little improvements we really wanted and started adding things we really don't want just so the sales people would have something to talk about.

My ovens used to all be turned on by turning the dial to the temperature I wanted. That was all. Now I have to push a button that slowly beeps it's way up, and then push another button to "start." I neglected to do this a few times in the beginning and the roast I thought had been cooking for hours was just sitting in there. Why would I ever want to set the temperature but not start cooking? The answer is, if I wanted my roast to sit there until three in the afternoon and then start. Clever new feature, huh? I guess. If you aren't worried about food poisoning at all.

My new washer tries to rinse the big loads in. six inches of rinse water. "Energy saving!" Of course, that leaves them stiff and dirty so I have to run the whole cycle twice. Wasting water, energy and time.

I've had two new electric can openers that shred the label while they cut the lid and get little bits of paper in the food. Soon things will be worse and all the cans will have those new pull tabs that my thumbs are too weak to work.

I once was able to set-up my DVD recorder in about ten seconds but now there are so many wonderful options to sort through and my cable company has added over 1000 new unwanted stations so that to try and record a show that comes on after I go to bed, I have to use three separate remotes and about a half an hour of my time.

Our new big flat screen TV's look stylish and give us a fine high-definition picture but we can barely hear them at all.

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Twilight:
Pretty much everything made since the turn of the century. At some point they seem to have made all the little improvements we really wanted and started adding things we really don't want. . . . My ovens used to all be turned on by turning the dial . . . . Now I have to push a button that slowly beeps its way up. . . . I once was able to set-up my DVD recorder in about ten seconds but now there are so many wonderful options to sort through. . . . Our new big flat screen TVs look stylish and give us a fine high-definition picture but we can barely hear them at all.

That. And have you tried manually adjusting the aperture and shutter speed on your smartphone's camera? It used to be that you simply turned the lens to the desired f stop and moved a little lever to set the desired shutter speed. Don't ask me what you do now -- I haven't figured it out yet.

And it used to be that you took a picture by pressing the shutter button. Now you have to touch the shutter icon, and your guess is as good as mine as to whether the shutter actually opens and closes or not.

Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :

Things aren't built to last any more. They're built to wear out, often with unfixable components or the price of fixing the device is more than the cost of a new one, so that you have to buy a new one.

Apparently there's a whole island off the coast of [I can't now remember whether it's Japan or somewhere in the Gulf] constructed entirely of old unfixable machines dumped on this basis.

Posted by Piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
What have you found that is not what it once was?

My waistline. [Frown]

I agree with you about scent. My default scent during the early 80s was Cinnabar, followed by Beautiful (which I wore on my wedding day and for several years afterwards).

Years later, after dalliances with Giorgio Armani and Jean-Paul Gaultier, I had a sniff round the Estee Lauder counter and discovered that both Cinnabar and Beautiful had changed almost beyond recognition, and not for the better.

At the other end of the price bracket, I discovered a few years ago that you can still get Coty's Wild Musk, which to me is the scent of the 70s, and it hasn't changed a bit. [Smile]

quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
... Creme Eggs made for the US market have a sweeter, sicklier filling than those made for the UK market ...

Is that actually physically possible? [Projectile]

Posted by Pigwidgeon (# 10192) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
And have you tried manually adjusting the aperture and shutter speed on your smartphone's camera? It used to be that you simply turned the lens to the desired f stop and moved a little lever to set the desired shutter speed. Don't ask me what you do now -- I haven't figured it out yet.

And it used to be that you took a picture by pressing the shutter button. Now you have to touch the shutter icon, and your guess is as good as mine as to whether the shutter actually opens and closes or not.

It used to be that phones made and received phone calls. Period. (And they were attached by cords to the wall of your home.)
[Razz]

Posted by Bibaculus (# 18528) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Piglet:

quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
What have you found that is not what it once was?
My waistline.

I don't think my waistline has changed, but I do notice that my clothes all seem to have shrunk. Trousers which once fastened easily don't any more. And I am sure clothe sizes are smaller than they used to be.

And I wish young people would speak up and not mumble so much.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Teaching. I wouldn't go into it now. Far too much emphasis on exam factory input-output, and not enough on open-ended creativity.

Church choirs - I stick with it, but mourn the days when good singers and sight readers wanted to join church choirs, any other choirs they sang with were in addition to the church choir, not instead of. Now we plough on, trying to at least keep the simple stuff going, applying the best efforts of those who do still want to sing.

Computers. OK, that is a vast improvement. But I still retain a great fondness for the excitement of those first space invaders games!

Posted by Doone (# 18470) on :

Service (or rather lack of) in shops. More and more just self service in finding products and paying for them, with few staff around to help.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

This is a minor but annoying thing--for the past five years or so, there's been a real fad for web design (and program design!) where vital stuff, like forms, are done in pale almond-on-cream background. Which means there is so little contrast that I can't bloody find the freaking box to type my name etc. into. And switching to high-contrast mode often leaves this problem totally alone, while torturing me with violent violet, yellow and black (my eyes! my eyes!) and it's usually about 30 seconds before I decide it's better to be blind than blinded, and switch back.

Who the hell starts these fads?

Posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe (# 5521) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Doone:
Service (or rather lack of) in shops.

Topped off by tip jars at the register. We're expected to tip the help for doing, erm, nothing.

Posted by Twilight (# 2832) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Pigwidgeon:

It used to be that phones made and received phone calls. Period. (And they were attached by cords to the wall of your home.)

Mine still is.

We noticed yesterday, at the supermarket, that all the babies were sitting in the cart, heads down, playing with some sort of hand held device, entirely missing the supermarket experience, not to mention missing my husband who they often think is The Giant, they've heard so much about.

I predict the next generation will have thumbs as long as their middle fingers.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Phones attached to the wall of your home? What luxury! Perhaps I'm showing my age, but making a phone call was an enterprise of epic proportions, involving never raiding the change jar, dressing up in waterproofs, against the inevitably rainy Creamtealand weather, and trekking off to find the phone box (which always had a very distinctive smell, and often even an extremely unpleasant, smelly one). All for a cold, uncomfortable phone call (first mastering button A, button B, torn or non-existent telephone directory, stubborn coin slots and pips just at the wrong time; assuming it was even working at all).

You really had to want to contact the person at the other end to go through all that in order to just talk to them!

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

Reading the above post, it must sound like I - and fellow ancient people - are complaining about how it used to be. But wait until we spot an old, red telephone box lurking in some forgotten corner of Olde England, and note the yearning tones of pure nostalgia emanating from our lips and hearts.... life just isn't the same anymore!

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