Saturday 22 December 2018

Fifty Reminiscences


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Merry Christmas to all my reader (sic). I have completed my usual pre-Christmas 36 hour fast and awoke on the second day with a clear head – and this is what popped into it. See how many of these reminiscences ring a bell. If you score more than forty then you are probably more than sixty. If you cannot remember any of this then… lucky you. 

Memories are factual (unless false) - not judgemental. Additions welcome, send to rob@satin.co.uk.

I remember when:

Pubs were pubs and thriving
And freedom of speech prevailed, mostly
And women were women
And men were men
And children were allowed to be children
And a national conscience was shared
And parenting was the responsibility of parents
And poverty was not the lack of a dishwasher
And women wore skirts and dresses, mostly
And there were less laws and less lawless
And drugs were things that pop stars did
And people thought the police were there for us
And swearing in front of the children was bad
And swearing was used sparingly and to express strong emotions
And people did not swear on the TV and radio
And there were only two sexes, plus homosexuality
And smoking was sometimes prescribed rather than proscribed
And fox hunting was unpopular, but thought necessary
And green belts were places that you could not build on
And old people’s homes were a rare thing
And Prozac and Viagra were unheard of
And racism, unfortunately, did exist
And footballers were paid a decent wage
And banks and bank managers were trusted
And it was possible to repair things that broke
And weather extremes were accounted to the weather
And snowdrops were nice little white flowers
And Christmas lasted for a week at the most
And wearing a seat belt or crash helmet were both optional
And almost everything except churches closed on Sundays
And collecting car registration numbers was practical – though odd
And bicycles had three gears or one
And women who acted were called actresses
And to be gay was to be happy
And air travel was for the wealthy
And there were markets, but no supermarkets
And vacuum cleaner, fridges and dishwashers were luxury goods
And mobile phones, the internet and personal computers were from science fiction
And the genome was an unknown
And crisps were plain with optional salt
And cancer was incurable
And human life began only in the womb
And sugar was OK
And coffee was a little exotic
And teachers could hit naughty kids
And global warming was undetected
And chemical contraception was unknown
And buses had conductors
And leaving school at 15 or 16 was the norm
And only 4% of people went to university