talking 'bout my generation

[grumpyolddog]

Remember Raymond Briggs?  Sure you do. If you're older than me, you probably remember him for his slightly rude cartoon books about Father Christmas.  If you're younger than me, it's probably The Snowman.

But if you're my age, it's When The Wind Blows.

For the sake of those who are unfamiliar with this particular sweet, peculiarly British cartoon

Comments

[viking_nitro]

i havent enjoyed reading something that much in ages.

[grumpyolddog]

we're about the same age, aren't we? You probably feel it, too.

[viking_nitro]

indeed we are i was born in '73

for our generation the 80's were scary.

[lethargic_man]

I am only three and a bit years younger than you, and am (now) a bit baffled by the way you and others of your age were so convinced at the time you were going to die. I think some other people my age who became politically aware a bit sooner might have been in the same boat as you, but by the time I became politically aware, Thatcher and Reagan were already in power (hence I did not see the contrast to what came before), and as no one had brought us to nuclear armageddon over the last three decades, I thought the doom-mongers were all being unduly pessimistic.

And I didn't come across When the Wind Blows until the mid-nineties, during that brief decade when hope flowered across most of the world before the new winter of the noughties killed it off. (I find it upsetting now to listen to The Wind of Change; it's too depressing thinking of that brief flowering of hope in the light of what actually happened afterwards.)

[vatine]

At about 16 months younger, I remember keeping a vague eye to the east, from where the Russian ICBMs would come (and the capital city was located). I was never entirely sure if I should try to get into pressure shadow or make sure the blast hit me full-tilt, since the radiation (direct and from fall-out) would probably kill me anyway. Mostly, I was thinking "get in pressure shadow, there MIGHT be a chance of survival".

That thinking coloured my every waking moment from ca 1975 to ca 1985 (when I basically said "fuck this" to myself) and occasional moments up until 1991-or-so.

[vatine]

That's "about 16 months younger than grumpyolddog"...

[heyokish]

(18 months older than Mister Dog, and growing up on military bases in Germany, in 1976-1982, knowing that there were plans for what to do if the tanks rolled in from the East and hearing the test sirens for the incoming missiles...that sounds horribly familiar.)

[heyokish]

Ahem. Sorry to kill the drama with detail and all that, but the clock has never been set to 30 seconds. It was moved to four minutes in 1981, and got to its worst state in 1984 under Reagan's nonsense where it was moved to three. (And 1984 was a scary, scary year--showing Threads and The War Game on TV didn't make it any easier. 1981 seemed to have more hope--1981 was the space shuttle, 1984 was the start of Star Wars plans, and Reagan's "We begin bombing in five minutes" "joke". And Bhopal. And famine in Ethiopia. And the Miners' Strike. And the Brighton Bombing. And that's before I even go and look this up. Damn.)

So, yes.

I wonder if the 15 year olds of today get the same "the world is going to die" sense with climate change--except there is *some* power to change that by behaviour, whereas with the arms race, we couldn't even pretend to be anything but utterly powerless.

[heyokish]

Dam. I should have checked before being pedantic. Worst was 2 minutes in 1953.

[grumpyolddog]

pff, artists and their details ;) Also, Reagan was 1980, not 1981 as I just remembered. I think you get the gist, though.

[heyokish]

bleh. I really should have checked *that*

But I was grumpy for decades that other people got the fun and we got the hangover.

[silly_swordsman]

I'm four months younger than you, but more importantly, I grew up in Sweden. Neutral, consensus-seeking, self-appointed world conscience, cradle-to-grave welfare state, let's all love each other Sweden.

I too, grew up knowing that we'd soon all die. If not in a nuclear war, which we started to relax a bit about in the mid-80s, then in slow radiation poisoning from the next great melt-down. Chernobyl stopped leisurely fishing and berry-picking for food.

[heraldis]

I think I did the opposite of you, in many ways. I turned religious, and didn't have much ambition, what was the point? Maybe that was when I lost my direction? Who knows.

I remember all the documentary style things the Beeb used to show, like showing a side of meat "cooking" in a nuclear blast and all that guff.