Izzy and I have been watching "
Back in Time for Dinner" and this week it reached the '70s.
"They peel them with their metal knives!"
It's one of those social history programmes in the same vein as "Wartime Farm" and "Victorian Pharmacy" that we love to watch together, but what's been great about this one is that
I lived it!
Smash, Rise and Shine and Pot Noodle were all new fangled foods for us in the '70s and I've forgotten how awful they really were! I remember my mum getting her first freezer and us going to the freezer centre to buy delights such as Arctic Roll and Boil in the Bag Fish in Butter Sauce. Convenience was the watchword of the '70s.
What's been fascinating for Izzy is the whole history of the era and the fact that I was there for the power cuts, the three day week, the Silver Jubilee street parties, self sufficiency. It's been great to tell her about using candles when the electricity was cut off, how grandad (my dad) went working on the taxis to make more money when he was forced to work a three day week in his normal job, how we queued for petrol and how grandad turned over half our garden to growing vegetables so that we would have more food.
Looking back it was a glorious time of long hot summers (remember 1976?), everything was yellow and orange and my childhood was filled with fresh air and fun as we played on our Spacehoppers and Chopper bikes. I don't remember mum and dad struggling to pay the bills, I thought dad had taken up growing veg for fun (he let us thin out the carrots and pick the peas, we thought it was great) and it was so exciting when he let me come in his taxi with him and use the radio. Guess mum and dad did a good job of hiding the truth from us.
Next week is the '80s: Breville Sandwich Toasters, Sodastream and Microwaves.
Can't wait!
No, she didn't get a horse for her birthday!
