Week 122 – Decades, Deprivation And Pubic Hair

I was feeling nostalgic this week due to one of our new writer’s story. I’ve also been listening to a lot of 70’s music. I took this a bit further and had some Horlicks. I remembered with fondness just how disgusting it was.

Fish Pie still does nothing for me and if I never see a woollen turtle-neck again, it will be too soon.

I also had some thoughts on porn magazines. I wonder how many people of a certain age prefer their ladies / gentlemen with piercings as it would remind them of staples. But lets be honest, no-one of that age should try to enhance what may fall off soon. I don’t think that any form of puncturing is a good idea.

For those folks to become sexually attracted now-a-days they would require people to wear merkins and throw away the Immac.

If we go back another generation, they are always guilty of glamorising their lives when in fact they’d been shit.

The medical care wasn’t as caring. They’d a more Gung-Ho attitude. How many old doctors said these words:

‘Have a cigarette, it’ll calm you.’

‘Take a drink of a night.’

‘You can’t go wrong with meat, cheese and butter.’

‘Your son is a deviant, he’ll grow out of it.’

‘Of course I’m drunk Officer but I’ve a baby to deliver.’

Rickets, Polio, Gonorrhoea and TB kept that generation in their place and they also had new and exciting diseases to contend with.

There were no social problems that anyone would mention for fear of a slap / punch / severe beating / molestation. The Church was very strong in those days. (Come on!! You knew where I was going with that!!)

Children were seen but never heard. If another type of Minister, took a liking your kids may never have been seen or heard of again. They just became part of the furniture and that furniture was a fecking Cabinet.

If you weren’t lowly enough to disappear, you had your own parents long list of problems to contend with. Exhaustion, malnourishment, stress, PTSD, guilt, deviance, PD were all unknown so beating up the kids was as much parental therapy as their madness transference. They had to pass something onto the weans. There was no such thing as a will or anything left and once the parents were dead the council took the house back.

Any offspring had to find shelter or a Minister and wait it out until the council found them a home. If they survived into adulthood, they may have been given a council house, probably the same one that they had been removed from. They’d have their kids, go mad, beat them up, die and the kids would be down Woolworth looking for a box. This was their circle of life.

The only one positive thing that they had, was a community spirit…

They could leave their door open. Anyone could walk in at anytime and pass comment on whose deprivation was worse.

I’ve looked back at some of my older work and it’s so dated due to the lack of technology. I’ve been considering updating everything but I honestly don’t think that it would work as there is a lot missing and how can you update a story when it is set in those days?

Music is a brilliant reference point. I think if you refer to any references and make them part of the story then you’ve painted a picture.

That’s still a lot of work but I think it’s easier to do that than bring a whole story up to date. Leave it in the time that it’s set.

I’ve trouble bringing anything up to date with any form of technology as I’m stuck in 1986.

Our new writer simply included the date in his story and that’s probably the most basic but factual thing that you could do. He’s left it up to the reader to either go with him back to that time or for them to do their own research.

Talking about new writers, we had four this week and one very classy lady.

There were some standard topics such as robots, the 1970’s, relationships, unions and ghosts but all done with skill and brilliance.

As always our initial comments follow.

 

Jonathan DeCoteau was our first new writer of the week. We’re happy to welcome him as well as all the others.

On Monday Jonathan had his wonderfully titled ‘The Spectacularly Unspectacular Life Of Alton J. Sputnitter‘ published.

‘Well constructed and he managed to humanise it all the way through.’

‘Very good writing.’

‘A humorous twist and not very sentimental.’

 

Tuesday brought us another new writer. We hope that they all have fun on the site. Alex Reece Abbott was next up with ‘A Little Kismet.’

‘Bee was an excellent character. She was much more interesting than the ‘perfect couple’.’

‘A lot of care and attention went into this.’

The characters and locations were well drawn.’

 

Wednesday came and the wonderful Leila Allison broke the back of the week. ‘In Through The Wow-Signal Emoji’ was her fifteenth story.

‘Leila’s imagination is amazing.’

‘There’s always so much quality, story, tangent and intelligence to her work.’

‘I love the idea of the spirits finding the ‘G’ word offensive.’

 

We also ask that all our new writers send us more of their work. This includes Melodie Corrigall who had her first story for us published on Thursday. Our penultimate offering was ‘The Days Of Heroes.‘

‘This story is engrossing.’

‘The characters are well written and believable.’

‘Unions, connections and all the rights and wrongs are interesting topics.’

So that brings us to the end of the week and we finish off neatly as this is who I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

Stephen Tuffin was our last new writer and he was last up on Friday with ‘The Beguiling 1972.’

‘So familiar, it made me smile.’

‘Specific humour.’

‘Stephen hit this completely right. I could recognise most.’

 

That’s us once again.

To complete my reminiscing I am going to seek out some cheesy balls, (I am holding myself back from using another merkin reference!) drink a Babycham and listen to the ‘Peter Frampton Live’ album!

Hugh

Banner Image:By Mississippi Department of Archives and History [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons