Where has 2010 gone? It seems that only yesterday we celebrated the beginning of the year. As we said in the olden days, “time flies.” For many of us it seems only a few years ago that we were hearing people voice concerns in the year 1956.

Recently, a friend sent me a collection of sayings he remembered from that year. Included is a few of them which some readers may remember:

I’ll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for ten dollars.

If cigarettes keep going up in price, I’m going to quit smoking. Twenty cents a pack is ridiculous.

Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won’t be long before $1,000 will only buy a used one. I’m afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open a whole lot of foreign business. When I first started driving, who would have thought that gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon?

Did you hear that the post office is thinking about charging seven cents just to mail a letter?

If they raise the minimum wage to $1, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store. Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the president. No one can afford to be sick anymore. At $15 a day in the hospital it’s too rich for my blood.

If they think I’ll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.

I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more ever since they let Clark Gable say “damn” in Gone with the Wind. The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even say some fellows they call astronauts are preparing for it down in Texas.

I never thought I’d see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.

It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where some married women have to work to make ends meet.It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to govern.

That was 1956, only 54 years ago. I wonder what people will be remembering us saying a mere half century from now.

Our family wishes everyone a Happy New Year.

(Comments and suggestions about Les Vieux Temps articles are always appreciated. Please call 337-754-9980 or e-mail yknott123@aol.com.)