The 70's and 80's in Ireland

I grew up in the 70s/80's but was very lucky in many ways. Middle class, suburbia type background. At least enough that my folks could save(The Ma™ was very good with money) to have yearly holidays abroad, Spain, France, England, Germany, Italy, with two goes to the US, with sometimes a second week in the West of Ireland. So I didn't really have much of a sense of a lack of anything TBH. I had a very happy childhood. The sense of things being pretty crap came when I left school in the mid 80's and a large percentage of my peers had to leave. And they were also suburban lads. What folks I knew who were less well off, they suffered much more. I do remember my folks being worried at times, but as I say I was lucky. I do clearly remember how quickly prices rose. Where things like kids comics near tripled in price and a can of coke went from around 5p to near 50p between my junior school and the leaving cert.

Beyond the nostalgia which inevitably creeps into these things(which I dislike) and the fact that childhood is more often than not insulated from the fears around, I would say that social stresses were lesser for my generation than those today. There was more freedom to roam. Most of us walked or cycled to school(I only remember one lad in my year who regularly got driven) and we weren't attached to our parents hips by phones and the like. We were more outside kids). The teenage years were lived in smaller terms in smaller groups and were more "innocent". Not always for good of course. Though looking back it's crazy how daftly ignorant/innocent of things like sex we were. The vast majority of my peers at 18 men and women would have been virgins.

However you were free to be a complete gobshite learning how to grow up without any notion of it being made a wider public thing on the interwebs. Memories were shorter. There were fewer isolated kids too. Fewer opportunities to hide away, though fewer avenues for help too I suppose. There were social pressures alright, but again they seemed much smaller than kids today often face. Consumerism was present of course, but not to the degree or rapid turnover of today. Even with well off kids pocket money was feck all, so the fashion/stuff arms race was smaller. That stuff came at you much more slowly. As did life and growing up in general.

Like I said though, I lived in leafy suburban Dublin with "piped TV" and access to stuff that kids my age in say the countryside didn't. I did notice that on holidays to the Wesht and the like. There was a delay of sorts in music and films and TV, if they had it) was RTE. In essence I was pretty protected looking back. Which I remain grateful for.

FatherTed wrote: »

I was a teenager in the early 80's, I remember the world was a bit edgy with the Troubles and Cold War always in the news. When The Day After film came out it frightened the bejayzes out of everybody and we talked about it for weeks.

I remember that. A few years back I got a poster for the German release of the flic for a song on ebay. A tenner. Had to have it. The Cold War TV stuff freaked me out, especially the British ones Threads and When the Wind Blows. They looked more like "here".

Threads.



The first bombs land...

I do remember being really freaked out when the Soviets shot down the civilian Jumbo 007. I was on holidays with my folks in Spain at the time and the vibe was a bit subdued among the adults in the hotel we were staying in. Being Irish there was an element of "ah sure feck all would land on us", which made us less fearful I suppose.

Being of "Piped TVLand" the one I remember as a kid that gave me the chills was this one from UKLand.



Donald Pleasance does the voiceover. Donald effin Pleasance. As a creepy monk of the waters. Jaysus. :eek::D Even today if I'm climbing a tree or using a branch for support(don't ask...), in my head I still hear "this branch won't hold his weight". Musta worked then.