A few years ago I was watching Antiques Roadshow (I think it was a "best of" compilation from over the years) and there was this typical very kindly looking little old lady there who had bought in this old clock to be appraised.

There was a young lady doing the usual appraiser banter and analysis of the clock - it was a very nice clock and worth some, but not anything crazy. She then asks the older lady about how it came into her possession.

The old lady tells the story of how during the Great Depression her father (they were a lower middle class family) had been approached on the street by a very wealthy looking man who desperately begged her father to buy it from him as he had no money. Her father didn't really want to, but took pity on the man and bought it for a few dollars.

After hearing the story, the young appraisal lady comments that it was very common back in those days that a lot of people were poor.

The old lady then very deliberately, gently, but firmly corrects the young lady and says no dear, you aren't understanding what I'm saying. It's not that people were poor (we all were) - I am telling you the problem was that there was no money to be had at all. The young lady then looks confused and a little bit stunned.

I'm not sure why this has stuck with me all these years, but it has and I will never forget what it is that she said and more importantly, how she said it.

Probably because it reminds me very much of my Grandparents who grew up and lived through those times and the stories they would tell of how it was back in those days.

Not looking forward to living through it myself.