Journal Entries
24 years
Posted May 10, 2024
Yesterday was my 24th hootooversary. I haven't contributed much lately, but I'm still around.
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Latest reply: May 10, 2024
Berlin
Posted Sep 22, 2023
Am off to Berlin next week. Son No 3 has been there now for over 10 years and I am ashamed to say that we have not once visited him there. Either we didn't have the time, were still at work for much of it. Or he was off on holiday or studying abroad or taking a Sabbath semester off in Mexico.
Now we're retired and can go any time. But it's still been difficult to pin him down and we don't know if we'll get much time with him during this visit.
We have contacted some friends and arranged to meet them, and booked a slot to visit the Pergamon museum (last visited over 40 years ago). We have even diligently consulted our little library of guide books to plan a couple of walking tours.
By coincidence, I realised that we shall be there on 3 October so we shall even risk the crowds and take in some of the celebrations for the National Holiday at the Brandenburg Gate or at the Reichstag.
The journey takes over 6 hours by train but we have treated ourselves to a very up market hotel so that we can relax while we're there. After all, we haven't really had a holiday for over 4 years. And "you can't take it with you".
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Latest reply: Sep 22, 2023
Exhilerated
Posted May 9, 2023
Last Sunday I sang for the first time in a proper concert again since the pandemic. A very varied programme although almost entirely Mozart.
Te Deum, Alma Dei Creatoris and a Benedictus. And a Haydn Mass. The orchestra played a charming Mozart Divertimento and a Suite by Reger (who, apparently, did not only write organ music) in celebration of his birthday. Two of my favourite soloists from the local crop were involved and all four soloists' voices matched beautifully.
With some demanding fugues and rousing full choral sections well distributed amongst the works we were singing, it was a great feeling to have been part of it. The Church was full and the applause and the comments of the audience afterwards proved that this sort of thing is certainly needed.
I caught up on the Coronation footage afterwards.
With predictive text, it isn't half a hassle trying to type Latin. I had to re-write that second paragraph several times! I'll have to see if Latin is an option with this keyboard here on my tablet.
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Latest reply: May 9, 2023
Aah - the eighties - Cosmopolitan - April 1981
Posted Apr 14, 2021
Actually, I don't remember much of the eighties, I was so ensconced in childcare for most of it. Which I think turned out quite well, at least, my 3 boys seem to think so.
But before the first one was born in January 1982, which means he will be 40 next year - Gaaaaah! - I did have a subscription to Cosmopolitan, so I'll be jotting down a few more gleanings from those old magazines before I chuck them out. (They're glossy, so we can't even put them on the fire)
Cosmopolitan - April 1981 - 40 years ago!
The new records include works by Phil Collins and Emmylou Harris. The new films being reviewed have mostly disappeared into obscurity, except for Chariots of Fire ("A good story well told")
The meatier articles, all based on the feminist philosophy of the magazine (was it the "2nd wave" in those days?) read as follows:
Men are now looking for domesticated women to be their wives. They are practically in the same situation as women were before the Pill. Does modern woman really want a man who expects the pipe-and-slippers treatment?
Side note: I do think men have finally moved on. At least my 3 boys are full-on Dads, cooks, bottlewashers and partners. Their wives/girlfriends wouldn't have it any other way!
Irish women were polled re their take on abortion and although about 1 in 10 had had an abortion (presumably mainly in England for those who could afford it), not even the politicians among them would be prepared to stand up for women's rights to abortion. So we have definitely moved on from there, Ireland having voted for abortion and having it legalised a couple of years ago.
In Ireland at the time, there was a limit on the import of condoms, so even contraception was obviously basically not approved of.
An article about Dolly Parton. She always was a great lass. I think she came up again in a few subsequent editions. Also Jerry Hall is featured, and how she keeps her amazing long blond hair looking so amazing.
Cosmo Man was still a "thing". If any men ever read it, it being a section of the magazine, they would find the following topics: "Men as sex objects", "Women to avoid", "Ways to skive", "Peacock Power" and "Would you use cosmetics?" Thank goodness the fashion for make-up didn't survive.
The film "Nine to Five" prompted a quiz and an advisory section on "How to assert yourself at work". That may still be relevant today, although the offices and workplaces that these sort of things are aimed at always seem quite remote from reality.
The Tampon Scare! Remember that?
Roger Moore is chosen for a profile story. Apparently, he still "had it" in those days - at nearly 50.
Patchwork families were becoming more evident, as divorces shot through the roof in the 70s. So people had children with other partners, stepchildren, and their exes' new partners brought other children into the equation. Even today this all seems to confuse people, although it is now quite the norm.
The fiction was a story about a woman whose husband died in an accident and she discovers he had a mistress, meets her and they start a lesbian relationship. I remembered reading that story, but now, on re-reading, it did seem awfully contrived.
One article, based on medical opinion at the time, says that jogging is not necessarily good for you. The age-old principle of sensible eating and reasonable exercise, it would seem, applied then as now. Mind you, in those days, I would go running, and the designated running paths through the woods were well maintained. They are still there, but the wooden exercise stations have collapsed into decay nowadays.
Studies had proven that your mental health and general disposition could help you recover from illness or, indeed, could make you ill. Anecdotally, there was this chap who prescribed himself a load of Marx brothers videotapes and large doses of vitamin C and recovered from a condition which was hitherto considered incurable.
The concept of "Word Processors" and what difference they would make to the office worker was introduced. I remember talk of those where I used to work at the time. We did have state-of-the-art electric typewriters, but some of the girls were scared stiff that the machines that typed standard texts for you would soon be putting them out of a job.
Fashion - again! The leg warmers! The glossy, glossy make up! And the sweatbands (including an item on how to make your own with feathers, like native Americans)
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Latest reply: Apr 14, 2021
Those old magazines - historical documents!
Posted Apr 2, 2021
There has been an issue with rendering this post, please contact the editors.
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Latest reply: Apr 2, 2021
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