When I think back twenty years, I recall a chaotic mixture of experiences, which gave me a great sense of excitement, despite knowing that being a teenager was not always easy.  I feel that it was the innocence of the era, which made every day so fulfilling.

Maybe it is true to say that everyone goes through a phase in their life where things seems very intense and opportunities to experience new delights seem to lie around every corner, however, I feel that the 80’s represented a time where nothing seemed predictable and young people appeared to be doing their own thing, rather than conforming to any particular ideal?

School life was a constant source of amazing sights and sounds!  Every day someone would turn up with a pair of new trainers, or perhaps wearing fluorescent socks, fashion was a constantly changing and often overwhelming influence!  After endless days of messing around in the classroom, it was time to head home via the local shop, and stock up on ‘e’ numbers, which were to be found in various soft drinks, sweets, ice lollies, and other unhealthy snacks.

Other stimulation was found through the music of the time, an extraoridinary blend of styles, from break-dance, to pop, to Gothic, soul and even rock music, there were so many experimental artists producing exciting and original pieces of work, it seemed like there was limitless creative talent!  Break-dance was a particularly powerful influence, perhaps one of the most co-ordinated and mindblowing art forms of it’s time!  Sadly, I was unable to manage more than a basic, poorly exhibited, form of body-popping, which was perhaps, ‘best displayed in private’!

Home life was an interesting combination of events, it was hard for my friends and I to cope with all the options available.  Some days we would spend having fun in the local countryside, other times we would take part in various sports, and there were also computer games to play on.  During this period of great variety, we were determined to make the most of the freedom which was available to us.

People in general seemed more interesting back in the 80’s.  I had different friends every month, and on birthday’s, we would all meet up, a wild mixture of personalities, from varying backgrounds, all with a common cause, “to have fun”!  Though we could be a bit unruly at times, the underlying innosence of our youth, always gave us a sense of right and wrong, and we know where to ‘draw the line’!

Though my 80’s experience was largely hightened by new inventions, I feel that it was the common sense of humanity, which made every day a joy.  Sometimes, it seems that some of man’s advances, have only served to create a false environment, and I hope that we can all return to more simple values, in our search for a more harmonious and enriched existance?