‘What is the best example of ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’?’ – 22 things quietly and tragically lost forever

Aldous Huxley once said that most humans have an infinite capacity for taking things for granted. And he was right, we don’t appreciate things until they’re gone, especially the smaller joys of life.

They’ve been chatting about this on the AskUK subreddit after HTD_Blog posted their own sad experience…

What is the best example of ‘You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone’?

In Sweden, they have just discontinued hash browns with the McDonalds breakfast. I turn up one day, fully expecting a hash brown as I have for decades in both the UK and Sweden, and they have gone. No replacement. Nothing.

I always thought I would have hash browns with my brekkie at McDonalds, and I am missing them more than expected. Planning to head back to the UK sooner than expected just to taste their goodness.

What is your example of this?

A tragic tale indeed, and lots of other people chipped in with their own examples, like these…

1.

‘I miss my right to live and work in 27 countries.’
–glitterswirl

2.

‘A temperate climate.’
–AdemHoog

3.

‘This. I miss the rain so much.’
–Feeling_Boot_5242

4.

‘A mobile phone free life.’
–SameSpecialist8284

5.

‘Smart phone free more specifically. Having access to social media all the time is a killer man.’
–Paul_my_Dickov

6.

‘The 1990s. Everything seemed so much more fun, relaxed, no one glued to phones/social media. Football was cheap, beer was cheap and there were far more pubs to choose from.’

7.

‘Childhood, why did I wish for the day when I’d start shaving and the day I’d go to work.

Christ, what I’d do to go back to buying Woolworths Pick N Mix on a Wednesday mid summer holidays after going swimming.’
–ethanxp2

8.

‘Youth, or more specifically, looking good with very little effort. I think we all worry about our appearance at loads of points in our lives.

Frankly looking back now, at 57, I would say that my 18-year-old self really shouldn’t have worried at all about what he looked like because he looked pretty good and ageing isn’t necessarily kind to people.’
–Monkeyboogaloo

9.

‘My answer would be the era of lots of houses having front gardens with greenery. So many have paved them for car parks now and it’s turned a lot of housing estates into awful looking shitholes. And awful heat sinks too, when people have removed trees for this, and now every surface is stone or concrete.

I remember as a kid my own village felt like a nice place to be, always walking past gardens. But now loads of those gardens are gone, replaced by concrete. Permanently ruining much of our housing stock because it can’t easily be undone.’
–inevitablelizard

10.

‘Losing my dog over Christmas. You can always give them more time, love and attention. They will not be here forever.’
–EvilTaffyapple

11.

‘Being able to breathe properly. You know when you get a cold and you can’t breathe through your nose and you just wish you were more grateful for your clear nostrils when you had them!’
–BeneficialVariety171