Eeee my hippie generation.... :P

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

If you are in your mid-50-70-es then you are, like me, a rock'n'roll generation. We grow up listening to Janice, Clapton, Santana, Stones... If we didn't spend 2 days at the Woodstock concert then at least we had an album. We were smoking, reading J. Kerouac's "On the road", camping with friends... we didn't care about material things. We didn't have a kitchen full of electric appliancies and  WIFI - we had HIFI and boxes full of vinyl albums and life was great 🙂

And now, a few decades later, you book my place via Airbnb and complain about the bed, shower, A/C ...and your weekend is ruined without THE proper toaster 😛 You had a 3-month-old beard and a hair up to your but and now you are disgusted if you find one single hair on the floor?!?! Jeez! What happened to you? 😄

Not everyone in the middle age category is a complainer ....but almost all complainers are middle-aged... or older .. and uh, the worst are old married couples 😛

Happy Valentine's day all of you grumpy old hippies, and remember - love is all you need (not a toaster)  🙂

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0   My oldest daughter was mortified by her hippie family. So she always chose the straightest friends she could find, who had "normal" families. These kids' parents were my age, but it seemed like they must have been hiding under a rock somewhere all through the 60s and 70s because they looked, dressed, and acted like my parent's generation, like back in the 50s. So not everyone from our generation was a hippie, or even a pretend hippie, ever.

When my middle daughter was a young teenager, she and her friends got into listening to the Doors, the Stones, etc. One day they had some of that music on and I started singing along. My daughter asked how I knew the words. She thought it was new music!

@Ben551  I nominate you for honorary 60s hippie.

[Rachel0]

@Sarah977 Such a similar experience!  My youngest son Tom was shocked to his core when I pointed out to him that Jim Morrison was born on 8th December 1943 - exactly the same date as my partner Bob (Tom's dad)!  Our generation had the best music, without a doubt, and I still listen to it - The Stones, Janis Joplin, Hendrix, Clapton etc etc but then I love Mozart as well and he is even older!

[Ben551]

Oh cheers @Sarah977 ! That’s made my day. Always wanted to find a crowd I’d fit in with and I reckon hippies and me would be like beans & toast: destined to make magic happen 🙂

[Huma0]

I think @Sarah977 has hit the nail on the head. Not everyone from that generation were hippies. 

My least favourite guests of all time were an American couple who I would guess were in their mid to late 50s. I didn't really understand why they travelled at all because they expected EVERYTHING to be the same as their home. The lady even said it was "ridiculous" (her actual wording) that I didn't have a waste disposal unit in the sink, amongst other things.

A very sweet young Australian girl who was also staying at the time had the misfortune of bumping into this pair at breakfast on several occasions. She said she had never met "less flexible" people. They told her that they had met in high school, got married and had a kid straight away. Despite being married for decades, they seemed to have nothing to say to each other and conversed almost like they were strangers. I was sure the lady was on some kind of medication. 

I wonder if this couple had ever had any fun in their lives. Had they always been this way, or had they just soured over time? In any case, I cannot imagine them having been hippies EVER. I could be wrong though.

Unhappy people are going to complain, no matter what their age, but I suppose the older you get, the more time you've had to become unhappy.

However, I think most people do get more demanding with age because we raise our standards. Last week I was on a work trip in Barcelona and ended up in a real dive of a bar, where you entered the toilets at your own peril, but a huge glass of wine only cost 2 Euros. The group I was with varied in age from early 20s to late 40s. It was only the oldest member of the group who was unhappy to be there and moaned constantly.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Huma0

".... the older you get, the more time you've had to become unhappy."  😄 lol

[Sarah977]

@Huma0@Branka-and-Silvia0   That line jumped out at me as well. Funny and so true. Some people have honed their dissatisfaction to kick in at the slightest annoyance or discomfort.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Ann72@Rachel0@Sarah977@Jessica-and-Henry0@Ben551

And speaking of rock'n'roll, good old times ....and hosting (!) -  don't forget THE legendary Chelsea hotel 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Chelsea

 Chelsea hotel - Leonard Cohen 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk7DOe5EGgM

[Ben551]

Heeeeeey now there’s a place I’d like to hang out !

[Ben551]

@Branka-and-Silvia0@Sarah977@Huma0@Robin4@Rachel0 

You know, I really do think I’m the worst millennial on the planet. I grew up refusing to listen to music other than Hendricks, Dire Straights, Doors, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin... seriously, I dunno what the hell the noise is that my friends listen to but... pass. Plus I’ve always been the long haired, laid back guy who says very little... and I mostly reckon everyone and everything is “ok”.

My wife says I’m the epitome of an Artist, but I reckon my lifestyle has subcontiously inherited a lot of things that would be called “hippie”, had I been born in my Dad’s era. I make my own soap, cheese, and furniture... I turn things I find on the beach into art... I paint, I write, I create... and I prefer books to TV.  Hell, I haven’t bought new clothes since 2012 because there’s still nothing wrong with the ones I have. I can afford them, but... I think I unconsciously avoid consumerism. Dunno why, just do. My wife accepts me in all my scruffiness 🙂

There is a problem with being a non-participating-millennial though... as tech savvy as I am, I’ve spent my whole life avoiding things like social media. I dunno man, the whole thing sounded like a drag. I’d rather be painting 🙂  I don’t “do” Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or... what else is there these days? I can’t keep up.

But the problem is, I now realise I need a Facebook “thing” for my Airbnb. To compete in the NZ market, I need to build a credible Page that people share and things... but without any FB friends or an established account, apparently it all looks like I’m not even a real person!!! So this whole thing is going to be a hassle... my hippie self wants to rebel and go catch a nice fish for dinner. The harbour is like glass today... I want to paint it! Meh... work time I guess.

Wish me luck. I have no clue what I’m doing....

[Susan17]

All night raves and ecstacy generation here - trance and techno all the way 🙂

I must be blessed with my "golden" guests. With very rare exceptions,  they've all been fantastic and have brought huge joy and laughter to my home, and to my life  (although many of them pre-date even the hippie generation!)

Just a few examples - Bea, a beautiful English lady who came to celebrate her 90th birthday with her family. Bea and her daughter Kate wanted to visit the place where Bea had done her nursing training when she was 20. The hospital itself is closed now, but there's nurses' accommodation there these days. Just by chance, Bea got chatting to a couple of young ladies who were coming out of the building, and it turned out that one of them was the grandaughter of a girl who Bea had trained with, and been close friends with, 70 years previously. To say Bea was over the moon is an understatement. 

Then there was a group of Finnish musicians, the "baby" of the group being a mere 74 years old. After a lively night down my local pub, they had an impromptu jam session round my kitchen table at 3am. (In fact, they were down the local every night of their visit)

Jack was an 82 year old charmer, who was forever trying to give his family the slip, because they were "too dam* boring" (his words, not mine!) He also preferred to hang out down my local, rather than go sightseeing with the fam. He happened to be in there one day when I brought my mum in for lunch, and did his level best to sweep her off her feet. To my horror, the two of them then proceeded to get extremely tipsy together, and when I tried to tell them that they needed to tone it down a bit and stop being quite so outrageous in the middle of the day, they roared laughing and informed me that they were old and they'd earned the right to do whatever the hell they wanted, and that I could go home if I didn't like it! I made my exit and left them to it. 

Nancy was an 89 year old American lady and needed a breathing machine to survive. Unfortunately, the machine literally blew up as soon as it was plugged in to my socket - and they didn't have a back up.  Not an ideal scenario at 6pm on a Friday evening. Nancy was in absolute fits of laughter as her entire family ran around the house like headless chickens in a blind panic, trying to figure out how on earth they were going to get her through the night alive. (Have to admit, I was starting to sweat a bit myself) Thankfully, my drivers Jimmy and Robbie somehow managed to locate a similar machine within the hour. 

Emily and Mike were a Welsh couple, here to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. Mike got his first ever tattoo in Dublin - a Celtic cross with his and Emily's names entwined around it - to mark the occasion. Rather impressive it was too. 

And my very favourite guests of all time, Joe (94) from Arizona and Joan (87) from Texas, who had only been married for five years and came here all by themselves, for a bit of cheering up after Joan's 67 year old son passed away. They loved nothing more than to take selfies and upload them to their FB accounts on their iPads, and sat on the sofa giggling and prodding each other like a pair of love struck teenagers. I took them for a day out to a beautiful old stately home in Wicklow, and Joan insisted on climbing up on a 3ft wall so I could take a pic of her grabbing a giant stone statue of a naked man by the naughty bits. I'm still in regular contact with them and my son and I are planning to visit them in Texas this summer. 

Love my oldies! I'll take them over millenials all day long. :)) 

[Sarah977]

Great stories @Susan17. Thanks for taking the time to share them. As I'm 69, I really appreciate hearing that plenty of older guests are great to have- I read the opposite on these forums way too much.

[Ute42]

.

@Susan17 

I love the stories You've posted. Thank You.

[Clara116]

@Susan17 Thanks so much for sharing your lovely tales of the oldies! made my heart smile. Yes, things do look and feel different as we climb the ladder of age - and it is often so odd when you feel very young still but you look older and your body tells you and reminds you  where you've been, and much of what you've done in life so far. Its kinda the beautiful awful! 

Words like tender, soft, gentle, easy, relaxed, let loose all seem different and sweet.

happy hosting, Clara

[Clara116]

@Ben0 - can't correctly @ you ???

I'd guess you were born way toooooo late. I think you'd have been so comfy and totally adored the 60's and everything we all were so blessed to experience. I am pretty sure, we got to love and enjoy the best of music, lifestyles, drugs (quietly written and whispered),  movie actors, films, and so much more.

So for me you are our CC hippie born at the wrong time. 

Thanks for being you and expressing yourself and challenging us to be more open minded, creative and free Ben. Keep on keeping on as was once said.......................clara