Talking with the triplets (I know it should be "to" but I am on even terms with them) I often discover things from my (very near) past that don't exist anymore and give rise to huge astonishment (to ALL of us).
Take smoking:
The children often play "train journey" with me - each of them has grabbed one of my posh little trolleys (two in soft silver pink, one in grey-black -- and the one triplet with a remarkable tendency to luxury and elegance always grabs the stylishly understated grey-black one!), sit on my sofa and present their tickets.
I am ticket collector and locomotive driver in one person, and - as everywhere in the world staff isn't easy to get - also serve a hot chocolate in the on-board restaurant.
Well, to come back to the "Once upon a time"- bit:
I told them that in my youth people smoked in trains.
I remember that sometimes when one could only get a seat in a smoking compartment after a journey the clothes in my suitcase stank of smoke (some of these compartments were only separated by a curtain, if I remember it right).
Both, the triplets and I, were very astonished that smoking was allowed in trains, or at breakfast tables in a hotel, or in private households where a guest would politely ask if it is alright to smoke and then didn't even wait for the answer...
PS: I have a vague feeling that it should be "smoking on trains" - would that be better?
- Thank you, Tasker - I corrected it from "in" to "on".