Now or then

So ... we were trying to decide when it was best to be young ... round about the time I was or now. Quite a few young people seem to think that the late 60s/early 70s was a kind of Utopia if you lived in this country. I suppose, the time, regardless of Vietnam, is still sometimes seen as being a time of peace and fun.

Looking back ... I'm glad I lived through it .. though today has a lot going for it too. It's a bit of an understatement to say I wish there'd been the internet around in those days. Though, possibly if there had been the whole era would have been different. I'm very glad we didn't have some of the drugs that are around now then ... that would've changed things I guess too. I lost friends both through them dying and through them becoming ill because of illegal drugs and alcohol. Not something that would happen in Utopia.

I can't remember doctors warning about liver damage as they do now though. Well, unless you'd contracted hepatitis .. then it was wise not to drink at all.

I didn't have to think about HIV or herpes. I didn't have to think about the differences climate change would bring .. though because of my interests that came in pretty quickly. A lot of people were interested in politics ... some fought against discrimination. I don't know why that became such a big thing during those times. The war? Martin Luther King? The pill giving women more freedom? Better education?

Probably though if I was young now I'd go for now rather than the 60s/70s. They suited me but then I grew up to live in the era.

I learnt to fill my time myself ... when I came back home from school to live we didn't have a TV for a while because my parents didn't like them. TV became the focal point of their lives as time went on but earlier on I think they thought of it as some kind of brain rot.

I can't say that no kids drank or took drugs ... but I didn't see really young kids out swigging back cans and bottles of booze. I don't know if people think it makes them look adult ..or, if it's because they find socialising too hard without it. Some kids say that they find it hard to chat.

But I find this strange in some ways because with more parents being out at work kids often spend more time together than we did. Or, did we learn to talk through the amount of time we spent talking to adults. Is that where the politics came from in some ways too. Because we were part of the adult world.

I find it strange that a lot of teenagers here seem to think that adults have no idea what's going on in their lives. That the latest teen tribes are somehow beyond comprehension. I think my parents generation knew a lot too but I also think there was more available to let them know.

I'm very glad I didn't grow up in what's referred to as the celebrity culture .. I think it just makes people dissatisfied with their own lives without giving much back. And .. honestly .. if you look at so many people who are in the magazines so often they really don't seem to be living the kind of life that you'd think people would want with all the ... booze and drugs.

But then .. you look at the article in the Courier and you think maybe that is what some people want.

Guess really that you grow up into the times you live in on the whole. If the 60's/70's were as great as they seem when looked through rose tinted glasses then they would've been brilliant to live in ... but there was hardship too then. Having said that though ... I did enjoy a lot of my time regardless of the shit that went on both within the family and without. I loved the music ... but don't think that was always a reflection of how things really were.


But I chose things that were interesting to me. I had heaps of fun with a book about children's yoga ... not just showing familes and friends it ... but it had great illustrations .. very starry and hippyish (!!!!!!!!) and I spent ages learning to draw from the book. See yoga can do more than make you supple and lower your blood pressure. Get the right book and you can learn to draw too. Guess it was my version of anime at the time.


I spent ages with a book called Creative Crochet learning to turn crochet sculpture into clothes .. well, baby clothes anyway. They were probably my two favourite books of the time .. and provided me with lots of entertainment.

Loved learning judo and massage. Guess they kind of complmented each other. I will probably learn Indian Head Massage soon. Well, in theory anyway ... it'll be without practicing until I'm feeling a lot better. Think I should be the patient for a while when I get back!!!!!!!!

I think my favourite novels of the time were Robert Mitchener's epics. I found out about them through the kids at school. Great to read ... but, boy, were they long. I read lots of fiction .. I guess his epic novels were more faction than fiction really though. A lot of us read them at school .. which is where I found out about them. Great stuff. I liked J.G Ballard's novels too. Preferred sci fi to fantasy like Lord of The Rings. Read J.G Ballard, John Wyndham, Neville Shute ... and ... Jean Plaidy!!!! Well, mum and dad got to read Robert Mitchener's books through me .. I got to read Neville Shute and Jean Plaidy through them. Jean Plaidy's novels were rather different from the usual books I read but I enjoyed them. They're historical faction like Robert Mitchener's books but are very different from his.