Thank heavens for collecting insulators in my life that got me through some pretty tough childhood years, albeit assisting me in staying on proper track in the 1960s despite lotsa adversity surrounding/aimed right at me back then. And other related stuff like street lights and line hardware surely was a welcome diversion too.

Never got into trendy stuff no matter what generation those things were "hip" at the time....from the 1960s till now.

I am old-school.

Might not look like it but I can assure you that my parents/grandparents grew up during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Their wisdom was handed down to me, and I really listened to what they told me.

Otherwise I'd probably be sitting in one of these chairs growing old drinking heavens-knows-what kind of swill to keep on pumping air.

I am a bit concerned about what young folks will be collecting decades from now. Chinese-made polymer strain insulators, IPODs, today's trendy throw-away cellphones? I have no idea.

I love looking back when America was America. I also continue to enjoy lots of fond memories of roadside open-space nature and related road-furniture (including old cars, artistic gas station signs, etc., etc.) while they were commonplace, now nothing but my greatest memories. And of course, telephone open-wire, radial wave street lights and the days when just about no two city utility poles (out of thousands in Brockton, MA) where I grew up never looked exactly the same. Each with its own "personality" .

A little of that stuff is still around today if you look hard enough in the right places.

Finally (but NOT the least...) the social networking and friendships made who also enjoy the above *always* have been the most priceless to me.

Joe Maurath, Jr. (aka...ECB or "East Coast Brent")

PS...For a rather detailed story about my insulator collecting career during the past 50 years or so, please refer to: http://www.vintagestreetlights.com/bio/joeins01.html

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