Recently, when checking out posts listed in my daily stats as having been visited by you frantic Crivs, I've noticed that, strangely, quite a few of them were published in 2017 - a whole 7 years ago. To me, however, it feels like I published them far more recently, like a year or two at most, or even just a few months ago. So why's that strange, you may be wondering. Well, the house I lived in before my current one, from 1965 to '72, my family were there for only 6 years and 7 months. I say 'only', but when we flitted, I'd spent almost half my life in that house and it felt like a not insignificant span. It therefore seems odd (now that I'm an OAP) that just under 7 years to the (nearly) 14 year-old I was back in '72, feels a far longer duration than between now and when I wrote and published these posts back in 2017. I know I've mentioned the paradoxes of time before (or at least our perceptions of it), but the subject never ceases to amaze me.
Another example of this is the film Licence To Kill, which I caught a few moments of when it was on TV earlier tonight (Friday). I saw this movie in the ABC Cinema in Glasgow with my pal, the late Moonmando, in 1989, which was 35 years ago. Yet that night seems much more recent to me as I can still remember it as though it were last week. I tend to think of it as one of the newer Bond movies, as the time between then and now seems far, far less than the span between when Bond first appeared in 1962 and me seeing my first 007 double-bill in 1973 - a mere 11 years. Licence To Kill was the 16th film in the series and, to date, there have been only 25 in total, resulting in only 9 Bond movies in 35 years. Remember when they used to do one every year? (At least for the first 4 Connery films and the first 2 Moore ones.)
And then there's the first Michael Keaton Batman movie, also from 1989. (In fact, the week after seeing LTK, me and Moony went to see Batman in the same cinema.) And although the time elapsed since 1989 and now is greater than between the '60s TV series and the big-budget blockbuster film, it just doesn't feel like anywhere near it. As I get older, my life seems to be racing away from me at an ever-increasing and alarming rate and I wish I knew how to slow it down to a more comfortable pace. How about the rest of you Crivs? Do you feel as though your life is like a high-speed car chase and someone has cut the brakes? Or is the fact that you're zooming towards what was once a vague and distant horizon that is now becoming ever-crisper and clearer to your view too distressing for you to contemplate?
(Well done, Gordie - that's a nice cheery post that's sure to draw in lots of comments.)
49 comments:
You are correct, Kid. Time is just flying by. It’s amazing to me that 1990 is almost 35 years past. I see musicians or actors from then and I can’t believe how much they’ve aged, then I look in the mirror. 😬
That's always guaranteed to shock, G - not just with you I hasten to add, but with everyone. At least that's something Vampires don't have to worry about, eh?
And at the end of this month it'll be 25 years already since the turn of the millennium - an entire generation has known only the 21st Century. Yesterday I had a look at the new UK singles chart just to see what Xmas songs are in the chart (there are loads) but the No.1 hit is by someone called Gracie Abrams who I'd never heard of so I googled her and it turns out she was born on September 7th 1999, the day before my father's funeral - it seems bizarre to me that we now have pop stars with No.1 hits who weren't even born when my father was alive.
Yeah, I find it mind-boggling that today's youth (and even 30 year-olds) don't know who most (if any) of the big stars of yesteryear are, CJ. Say the names Bob Hope, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Jimmy Cagney, etc., and they've never heard of them. Yet even though they weren't of my generation, they were still household names when I was a kid.
Very true, Kid, and WE didn't have the internet at our fingertips like the youth of today. You'd think modern young people would be MORE knowledgeable rather than less.
I think the reason is that in our day, CJ, most homes only had one TV so kids watched what their parents watched and heard them talking about the stars. Nowadays (and for many years past) most homes have a TV in just about every room, so kids watch what they want to watch.
I've just been watching the edition of Top Of The Pops originally broadcast on Thursday, December 8th 1977 (on BBC Four via iPlayer) which was presented by Tony Blackburn and the song at No.1 was Wings' Mull Of Kintyre. Back in 1977 I got my comics on a Thursday and on December 8th my comics would have been Complete Fantastic Four #12, Rampage #9 and Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #253 (it was the final issue to feature Captain Britain).
I've still got my original 45rpm single I bought back in 1977, CJ, and in the exact same condition too. It was a bit of a dirge, but catchy nonetheless. And guess what? I bought those same comics back then, too. I no longer have the latter two, but I've still got my original CFF #12 - again in the exact same condition. (Though it might have a little foxing - don't know 'cos I haven't looked at it in ages.)
I think the general globe has been on fast forward since the late 90's. No-one gets time to savour the illusive pastime of actually living. We are always informed, updated, notified, pushed to the next best thing, scheduled and time checked. Easter arrives early with the sales of choccy eggs, summer hols start on boxing day through to September, all hallo's eve starts the end of September, then it has to compete with the warm up for Christmas from October through to the holy day itself, before it then loops after New year, and again starts the cycle of yearly diminishment. You could attempt to freeze the feeling of excellerated time by disconnecting from phones and Media, but it's a difficult task to detach from the swell of rapid paced unstructured baggage, that is todays world, and just live for the moment. I try to spend more time being reflective of the past, because things did seem to last longer and be of more significance then. I need a preferably blue TARDIS, anyone know a straight time lord with one for sale? I couldn't handle the pink model.
Some of the shops in my area had Hallowe'en, Guy Fawkes, and Christmas items on display all at the same time starting in July/August, so it's definitely getting worse, R. However, for kids and teenagers, I suppose time won't seem to pass any quicker for them than it did for me as a kid or teen. I suspect it's only as an adult that time appears to accelerate far too quickly and makes us realise we're running out of it.
That shop senario you mentioned K, is obscene. I don't ever recall my parents (god bless them)ever being concerned about any pending Christmas, by saying things like "Christmas comes around too soon!", or "it feels like we've only just put the trimmings away!" And they were not, what you could say, financially flush. But they aways managed to get Santa to deliver those great retro toys and books... But it does seem that statements like this, are said all to often these days. It's probably because modern commercialism is blurring the cracks, and stretching the seasonal payday milestones out slightly, making them appear to arrive sooner each year, also making the year seem to pass quicker.. The year use be divided into blocks of occasion, not anymore! It's now divided by smoothing, for year round profit. The perception of time is truly a funny old thing....
It seems, in memory, that at least Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes Night were past before Christmas things were in the shops, R, back in my day. (Now doesn't that make me sound old!) Your explanation as to why that's no longer the case sounds entirely likely. As for the perception of time, right again - that'll be why I sometimes still think it's 1972.
I would imagine every person of a certain age feels and experiences the same thing about time passing, I remember hearing my Grans , mum and my dad all saying " where did the year go" as Christmas approaches. it's very true that Christmas does seems to come around quicker each year, but it's still 12 month like every year. Its just that its our time to experience that " effect" now . Saying that January never fails to take an age to pass. When I was of work Ill recently lost track of the days and months , I would think a Wednesday was Sunday etc and hen it was July I couldnt belive 2 months had passed it felt like 2 weeks. It has now been over 6 months since I was taken into hospital, it barely feels like half that time to me now.
For the last few years I have felt the 1970s was indeed a pretty long time ago ( which it was) but before that it just seemed like 10 or 15 years ago to me.
When younger, I used to feel that I was actually 'experiencing' my life as it unfolded, McS. Now (and for the last few years) I feel as though time has passed without me having lived through it - if that makes any sense. Talking of hospitals, the thankfully few times I've been hospitalised, I felt time dragged by. I remember thinking that a couple of hours must've passed since I last looked at the clock, only to find it had only been about 20 minutes at most. There are some points in my life that I usually feel were only recent, but oddly sometimes seem like a hundred years ago almost at the same time - still trying to work that one out.
I totally understand that bit about feeling time has passed but you haven't lived through it etc. Ditto with some things feeling like an age ago and others feeling recent even if they were of a similar time. I can't believe in January it will be 40 years since my dad passed away and nearly 15 and 12 years respectively since my brother and my. mum passed, sometimes it seems like only recently I spoke to them all.
If you don't mind me being nosey, McS, do you sometimes have dreams in which your mum and dad and brother are still alive and, in the dreams, you're speaking with them?
Kid, this week is 50 years since POTA #8 came out which included a letter from you (the issue came out on December 7th and was dated Week Ending Dec 14th 1974). Was that your first letter to get printed? If so you should do a 50th anniversary post.
To answer your question to Paul - I sometimes dream about my parents and my sister and I speak to them in my dreams but it's quite a rare event.
It may well have been my first letter printed, CJ, but I can't quite recall. I'd have to go through all the comics that printed a letter from me and date them sequentially that way. But stuff that for a game of soldiers 'cos I can't remember where they all are.
Sometimes I have dreams and I'm talking to dead people I knew as though they're still alive and never died. Weird, eh?
Just checked previous blog posts, CJ, and an earlier letter appeared in MWOM #108, cover-dated October 26th 1974, so I'd say that was my first published letter in a UK Marvel comic. Perhaps I wrote and sent earlier ones which were never published, but if so, I just don't remember.
So you had two letters printed in just seven weeks - that quite impressive, Kid.
Next week is 10 years since I had a letter (e-mail) printed in the Radio Times, the issue dated December 13th-19th 2014.
'Impressive' is my middle name, CJ, you should know that by now. Will you be celebrating your 10 year anniversary next week?
No, I'd completely forgotten about it until a couple of days ago.
I've only written 3 letters to the Radio Times in total - in 1981, 1984 and 2014 but the last two got printed which is a 66.3333% success rate! Either my letters are brilliant or RT doesn't get many letters. In 1984 I received a postcard informing me which issue my letter would appear in but in 2014 I only knew my letter had been printed when I saw it in the magazine. I used to buy the Radio Times all through December and then the Xmas double-issue but I don't buy RT at all now - buying the Xmas double-issue used to be an annual festive tradition for me but I haven't bought it since 2021 and I just look at the TV/radio schedule online instead.
I assume you've got your Christmas decorations sorted by now?
Och, go on, throw a party to celebrate.
I used to buy the Festive editions of Radio Times and TV Times every year for years, but I can't remember when I stopped. Probably around 20 years ago or so.
Christmas decorations are all up now, CJ. Started at the end of November, just about finished at the start of December.
I've not dreamt of my mum, dad or brother in some time, but I used to dream about them Kid.
Up to 4 years ago, I use to buy the Christmas editions of The Beano and Dandy, but unfotunately, I cannot stomach it now! So I don't bother to risk buying it anymore (though curiously still tempting). On a nicer note, I just need to thank you K, because off the back of one your previous blogs, I've now purchased a copy of Bob the Robin, for the wife. And surprisingly yesterday, I had one of the cheeky Robin chappies following me in the garden. I found it very amusing and pretended that he/she was helping out. Thinking about it though, it most probably was male, it didn't persistently chirp at me every second when doing the task in hand.
I still get the Christmas Beano every year, and have done since 1978. I mean the regular comic, not those Christmas 'Specials' DCT do. Better not let the missus read that last sentence of yours if you want a nice present from her this year.
******
I'm sure you'll dream of them again, McS, and have a nice wee chat with them when you do.
So are your decorations simpler this year, Kid? Have you still got three Christmas trees?
They're a little simpler, CJ, as in there's a box of stuff that's still in a box. I've got more of my collection on display in my living room, so there isn't the space to put all my Christmas decorations out as well. Three Christmas trees? No, I've still got four Christmas trees.
Does anyone still do tinsel or foil decorations? Being someone who avoids the future when possible, and lives mostly in my childhood past through various retro collections, I always have lots of tinsel and foils. For me it's the essence of Christmas of the 70's/80's, next to filament bulbs and glass bauble's, or am I just old fashioned, probably! But do I care, the house looks great anyway, with no contemporary crap to be seen.
I still have some tinsel and foil decorations, as well as those sort of crepe paper 'accordion' decorations, some of which are older then me.
I don't bother with decorations or a tree anymore but I do burn tealights at this time of year and I've got two special tealight holders, one made of brown glass and one made of varnished wood.
As long as they create a Christmassy atmosphere, that's what counts, CJ. Though you could always get one of those pre-decorated small trees just over a foot high to add to the mood, eh?
I always associate Christmas with those paper chains and lanterns we made from coloured paper at Primary school. We have a wee bit of tinsel . Tea lights are nice as well they give a nice glow to the house
As do Christmas tree lights, McS. I like to sit in the 'gloom' and just watch the lights twinkling. I don't bother with tea lights as I'd need matches or a lighter for them.
Like Paul, I have a great fondness for paper chains and paper bells etc which we had in the '70s before foil decorations became the norm. And I too loved making paper lanterns in infants school - I can still remember how to make one. When I was 10 at Christmas 1976 we were making Christmas cards and our teacher Mr Jones (no relation) told us we weren't allowed to put Xmas on the cards - Mr Jones was a nice man but he was a religious fundamentalist and he said the word Xmas was insulting to Jesus because it removed the word Christ from Christmas but I've since heard that Xmas refers to how X was the Greek symbol of Christ in early Christianity.
As well as tea lights I've also got two night lights which plug into the mains - one in my kitchen which gives off an orange glow and one in my bedroom which gives off a blue-white glow. Both have a similar effect as tea lights or Christmas lights in my opinion.
I remember making paper chains at school, CJ. They were just loops of paper going through other loops, weren't they? Incidentally, it was me who told you about X being the Greek symbol for Christ, right here on Crivens. This blog is educational as well as (hopefully) entertaining.
Well, thanks for that info anyway, Kid, even though I forgot it was you who told me!
You're getting old, CJ, first thing that goes is the - er, what's it called again?
The amazing paper trimmings, we had them growing up. They were strung across the ceiling and the coloured paper was slightly mute, but we hung them in such quantity that it filled the ceiling with colour, also topped off with pear shaped printed Snowmen and Santa balloons and of course tinsel. Such an exciting time for us back then, so much escapism, variety, and anything goes approach to decorations, none of todays pretentious theme and style approach. Today's kid's miss out on so much and they just don't realise it, very sad really...
I have four tinsel decorations I haven't put up this year, as I have to unfold them and then loop a plastic 'cord' through the other side to assemble them, which can be quite tricky without damaging them at times. I do have tinsel draped over a couple or so picture frames and a tinsel ball hanging from the ceiling just inside the living-room door. I used to hang bunches of balloons from the ceiling in the four corners, but haven't done it for some years now. Maybe I should put up a post on my decorations on the blog - anyone interested?
Good one K. That sounds like a popular post, after all, Christmas toys and comics of the past are what inspire most of the collecting today. We also did the balloon layout just like you mentioned with tinsel over pictures and mirrors. Amazing simpler times, when you valued what you received.
Yes, please do, Kid - I'd like to see your four trees!
Crivvies have spoken (well, two of them) and I shall make it so.
Make that 3 of us Kid.
Later today or tomorrow, McS. I've got to get ready for an doctor's appointment this afternoon and it takes me forever.
We lived with my aunt and uncle and two cousins for a few months in the 70s as Mom and Dad bought their house before they moved to Devon. I can remember making paper chains with my cousins out of old Radio and TV Times. It was good fun at the time as the chains just got longer and longer. We also had the balloon arrangement you mentioned, Kid. Sometimes it would look quite rude, oo-er. Now we have the more modern and I suppose commercial decorations but we do have a lot of them all around the house and they look nice. We have lights outside in the garden and light-up reindeers and a tree. It's so easy now with the modern lights, no going through each bulb every year to find out which one was causing the problem. I'd also like to see your decorations, Kid, please. But going back to the TV Times, I've got the double issue (which incidentally is priced £5.25 but I only paid £1 for 6 issues on a subscription offer being a savvy Crivvie) and what a right load of rubbish is on Christmas Day. If you like soaps, Strictly and the new Doctor Who, you're in for a treat. Remember when the big film in the afternoon was something for the whole family to look forward to? Well this year, ITV have got Home Alone 2 from 1992. It's like they don't even try anymore. Remember when BBC would have 'Beginning a season of.........' films like Tarzan or Sherlock Holmes and they would put one on every day? I miss those days. Christmas isn't the same as you get older. I did spot a couple of things I'd like to see. The new 'Wallace and Gromit' film and a programme on BBC2 on the night about Roger Moore. Other than that, I'll be playing with my Evel Knievel and reading my 'Leopard from Lime Street Vol 3' book.
Unfortunately, M, nothing's ever quite the same as we get older, not just Christmas. Talking of which, I used to plan what I wanted to watch leading up to and on the day (as well as after), but nothing much enthuses me now. I suppose with so many channels on Freeview, BBC and ITV don't feel the need to show seasons of films as some channels consist of nothing else. I'll try and stay awake for the new Wallace & Gromit and the Roger Moore thing, but I can't guarantee it 'cos I'm tired all the time now and just want to sleep. I've got all three volumes of The Leopard From Lime Street too, but I think I've only read the first two (in long-apart instalments).
I believe a re-issue of Evel Knievel and his rocket cycle is available to buy today, has well as the official Mego re-issue moulds, of the Mego planet of the apes 70's figures, also x3 Prehistoric Scenes model kits made by Aurora plastics in the 70's, have been reproduced with original box art, from a company called Atlantis, who have bought all the original 70's tooling casts. The original Aurora kits are difficult to find without them looking like the dogs had them first. I might have a look on the Bay? Well! it tis Christmas...
I recall seeing the reissue (by another company) of Ideal's Evel Knievel almost 20 years ago, R, so it's good to know it's still around. As you'll know, Polar Lights and Monogram have reissued loads of Aurora kits over the years, and I bought a few of them (still unbuilt). I've also got original Aurora kits, such as Batman, Superman, Superboy, Frankenstein, and a Monster Scenes Frankie as well.
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