Monday, July 14, 2003

I'm history

I got asked recently, by the same 10-year-old mentioned in an earlier post, whether I might be able to help her with some history project work.

So I was expecting the Vikings, maybe the Romans, or perhaps the Tudors and Stuarts, which were all that primary school history seemed to consist of when I did it.

But no - thay were doing the 1960s and wanted to hear from people who could remember them. Setting aside the joke about if you could remember the Sixties, you werent't there, I could tell her about plastic macs that melted if you tried to dry them with any form of heat, coal fires to be lit in the morning, though the ice would stay on the inside of the (single glazed) bedroom window throughout the winter, fruit and veg available only in season - mushrooms in autumn, strawberries in June, and food that was in general very plain.

And 405-line B&W VHF TV, that only started at 16:40, until about 22:00, with kids programs ending at 18:00, and with only 2 channels.

After all, only being her age in late '60s, I really wasn't there in the sense of the joke.