Thanks, Seamus. I did manage to get back on the street for a while the past few days, and for once I struck it rich. That shot makes up for a lot of plodding and a lot of waiting and a lot of bloopers I've had to dump.
I think you're right. Considering what the world's like at the moment I doubt those kids are going to have the advantages I had; I don't mean the physical advantages because I suspect from the standpoint of hardware they'll have the air conditioning, first-class kitchen appliances, heating systems that don't require shoveling coal, etc., etc., etc., that I didn't have.
On the downside they'll have television to destroy their minds. They'll have arcade games to divert them from the beautiful things in nature. And, as you've indicated, they'll have twitter, which, along with "tweet" is hilariously, aptly named. In the end, they'll probably never learn the difference between the verbs to lie and to lay, they'll never, as Churchill put it, get into their bones the essential structure of the English sentence, that noble thing, and they'll never learn the joy of creating something beyond the limits imposed by their hardware. But yes, youth is a joyful thing, and like you I hope everything will be well for them.
I agree: in monochrome, though you need a terminal white and a terminal black, it's the separation between mid-tones that makes the picture. The best recent example I've seen is Stamper's "In Pursuit." The overly contrasty version with blocked tones was striking, but things really came together when he brought out the mid-tones.
And no, your best efforts never match up with your expectations. All you can do is keep trying and remember that old cliché about how the journey is the destination.