A Day in the {Vintage} Life - Top Five

The top five reasons that I'm happy I don't live in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century:

• Air conditioning
• Miscegenation is no longer illegal
• Steel belted radial underpinnings are no longer de rigeure
• It doesn't take forever to get from point A to point B
• There's no more rationing even though we're involved in three wars

And the top five things I wish we retained from that period:

• A sense of self-sacrifice and doing one's patriotic duty to help the war effort - even if you don't agree with the concept of war in general or specific
• Social propriety - I really DON'T need to know the details of your [insert private topic here]
• Modesty in dress
• The dearth of Big Box Stores and the supply of locally owned businesses
• A cultural norm of walking or bicycling to where you needed to go, less reliance on motorized transport

I'm sure you could think of other things to add to either column. What do you think? Leave your replies in the commbox and I'll respond to them next week. I'm observing "radio silence" over the weekend in observance of Good Friday and Easter.