grateful
kazzy_cee gave me a year to reminisce about. If you want a year to recall, let me know in comments which years to avoid and a range of dates you'd prefer.
I will admit I had to cheat and "google" to be reminded of some of the historical events - There was a lot about wars in both Iran/Iraq and Afghanistan ... Not much changes. Anyway - behind the cut are my personal memories about the year and a few rambles about the world in general!!
As 1980 started I was in my first year at college - and having a great time. Even though the lectures were 9 - 6 on 4 days a week and 9 - on the 5th day, it was great. I had been a victim of bullying while at school and at college I had friends, was training for a job I wanted - and at long last was realising that I could be my own person. The course was hard - in the first year it was anatomy and physiology ... but in depth ... so much so that, yes, I did human dissection and also ended up buying a human skeleton - the skull sits on my bedside table at Mum and Dad's .... but doesn't have anyone living in it (Sorry Harry Dresdon isn't a friend of mine!)
In my "spare" time I had a Saturday job in a "posh" departmental store - The type where the customer is always right! I worked that year in China and Glass department - and got the blame when a display I was standing near collapsed! ... Well it did cause a few hundred pounds of damage! Luckily a customer I was speaking to at the time backed me up. When not studying or at Roomes Stores Ltd I did a lot of baby-sitting for my next-door neighbours. Their girls were great, so for me it was basically being paid to do my homework.
That summer I went camping with my parents and my 2 brothers to Argeles in Southern France. And it was the only holiday we had that I didn't get injured in! But we were only there for a fortnight.
In the November it was our first set of finals. Our college had 3 lots of finals - all were compulsory first-time pass exams. We had 10 three hour (... 5 essays in 3 hours!) exams in the week. Yes I passed - but like all my friends ended up with problems in our writing hand!
The only TV I remember watching was "Blakes 7" ... which I still love ... and M*A*S*H ... which I also still love. When I was checking though, I was reminded that the "big" news was the huge question as to who had shot JR. I remember one of my brothers had a straw hat he wore that summer with the logo "I shot JR".
In other news - it was actually the year that John Lennon was shot in the December by a crazy fan - Mark David Chapman. The other major event that involved shooting that we all saw on the TV was the storming of the Iranian Embassy in Londod by the SAS.
It was an "Olympic Year" - With the winter olympics being held in Lake Placid and the summer olympics in Moscow. That was the one that the US boycotted.
Poland had the first half of the year coping with universal strikes - out of which emerged Solidarity ... the union that was founded at the Gdansk.
The World Health Organisation announced that smallpox had finally been eradicated.
Alfred Hitchcock was among those who died.
CNN was launched ... as were post-it notes!
There was a volcanic explosion at Mount St Helen's ... and numerous other natural disasters.
However for me - it was a year where I was really beginning to discover myself - so thank you Kazzy for choosing a great year.
In my "spare" time I had a Saturday job in a "posh" departmental store - The type where the customer is always right! I worked that year in China and Glass department - and got the blame when a display I was standing near collapsed! ... Well it did cause a few hundred pounds of damage! Luckily a customer I was speaking to at the time backed me up. When not studying or at Roomes Stores Ltd I did a lot of baby-sitting for my next-door neighbours. Their girls were great, so for me it was basically being paid to do my homework.
That summer I went camping with my parents and my 2 brothers to Argeles in Southern France. And it was the only holiday we had that I didn't get injured in! But we were only there for a fortnight.
In the November it was our first set of finals. Our college had 3 lots of finals - all were compulsory first-time pass exams. We had 10 three hour (... 5 essays in 3 hours!) exams in the week. Yes I passed - but like all my friends ended up with problems in our writing hand!
The only TV I remember watching was "Blakes 7" ... which I still love ... and M*A*S*H ... which I also still love. When I was checking though, I was reminded that the "big" news was the huge question as to who had shot JR. I remember one of my brothers had a straw hat he wore that summer with the logo "I shot JR".
In other news - it was actually the year that John Lennon was shot in the December by a crazy fan - Mark David Chapman. The other major event that involved shooting that we all saw on the TV was the storming of the Iranian Embassy in Londod by the SAS.
It was an "Olympic Year" - With the winter olympics being held in Lake Placid and the summer olympics in Moscow. That was the one that the US boycotted.
Poland had the first half of the year coping with universal strikes - out of which emerged Solidarity ... the union that was founded at the Gdansk.
The World Health Organisation announced that smallpox had finally been eradicated.
Alfred Hitchcock was among those who died.
CNN was launched ... as were post-it notes!
There was a volcanic explosion at Mount St Helen's ... and numerous other natural disasters.
However for me - it was a year where I was really beginning to discover myself - so thank you Kazzy for choosing a great year.