Reflections
At the end of the interviews, I asked what, from the period in question, the interviewees felt were the elements that we would do well to carry forward with us into a new period of increased localisation and energy scarcity. There was a fairly high degree of unanimity on those things best consigned to the past. They were:
- Life with no washing machine
- Coal
- Life without central heating
- Cold houses and the resultant feeling of being permanently cold in winter months
- The mangle
In terms of the things that people felt strongly ought not be consigned to history, and which would serve a valuable role if we were successful in carrying them forward with us into a lower energy future, the list ran as follows:
- Computers
- Double glazing
- The Internet
- Solar panels
- Cavity wall insulation and household insulation in general
- The National Health Service
- Good public transport
- The washing machine
- (In terms of gardening) reusable seed trays and clay pots
- Jobs for life
- The pre-Beeching railway network
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