For many reasons this last week or so, I should be feeling very, very young. This is despite having had a birthday which proves I have clocked up well over 50 orbits around the third rock from the sun (as Mateo might put it). I'll tell you why in a moment...
It's definitely summertime here. It's very hot. The living is rather easy as long as you know how to manage the day. It has been around 38 degrees centigrade today ( that's just topping 100 degrees in fahrenheit) and all jobs where we have to venture out have to been done before the heat of the day really kicks in and definitely before about 2 o'clock. And then, we have to come inside our nice cool house, batten down the hatches and chill out indoors, with windows closed against the heat until around 8pm. And then the children go outside and have water fights until it goes dark and we continue with whatever jobs we have to do that require going outside. We are eating lots of watermelons, drinking gallons of water and enjoying tzatziki, couscous and gazpacho most days for lunch.
I know that England is due a heatwave right now and that temperatures are well up in the high 70 degrees fahrenheit - 24 degrees centigrade - in some parts. And that brings me to my blast from the past.
Who remembers the heatwave of summer 1976? It was a wonderful summer for me as I was in the Lower Sixth at school - which then meant the year with no exams - a teenager with a fantastic group of friends and lots of amazing parties. And that summer before I went into the Upper Sixth and my last year at school really was a hazy, lazy one.
By pure coincidence, my children - and Mateo in particular - have a strong preference for music from the 70s and our days are ringing to the sounds of Queen, Supertramp, Camel, Deep Purple, Led Zepplin and Pink Floyd. It's an absolute joy to me! Although much of my youth was spent playing in orchestras and that I am serious lover of orchestral music, the progressive rock bands of the 70s were more than just a backdrop to the parties I went to. I really love this stuff and am delighted that Mateo has found it for himself and taken it so much to heart.
Whilst a lot of rock music is loud and the vocals are often high and 'tense', it's not all inaccessible stuff - just try a moment or two of this extract from 'The Snow Goose' by Camel - it still gives me goosebumps when I listen to it...stick with it until the wind quartet starts! An excellent live performance all round.
Ah yes, takes me back!
And in addition to finding a shared love of music from the 70s, our new television - via YouTube - has been providing us with a lot of laughs as Ruy and Romy have been indulging their great pleasure in watching old episodes of 'Dad's Army' of all things!
I thought I had probably seen every single one of these programmes, either at the time of their original screening, which I watched with my Granny and Grandpa on the evenings when my parents were out working in the fish and chip shop we had when I was young. And if not then, surely I had seen all the repeats during the 80s and 90s...but no, there have still be a few gems that I hadn't seen before and today has had me sniggering and laughing at the Home Guard playing a cricket match against the ARP wardens. It's been a useful starting point for a history lesson too - at one point, Romy asked if Hitler was an American...
Life in the 70s was great fun as I remember it in general. For me, there was a freedom as I grew up and a feeling that the world was my oyster. There were grants to go to University and I never doubted that was what I would do. There were Saturday jobs for teenagers in the shops in Bradford city centre. I had friends with cars and we went all over and did all sorts of things - including things that we probably shouldn't have done. There were also strikes and black outs and racism; there was Edward Heath and James Callaghan; David Bowie and Bay City Rollers and Disco; there was a lot of hair and some bizarre fashions - and towards the end of the 70s, in the year I went to University in London, there was Margaret Thatcher, Arthur Scargill and the miners.
What do you remember?
I had just finished my fist year at Uni and travelled around the railways and yout hostels of Scotland with an American friend. We had a fantastic time. The scenery was breathtaking and our only gripe was that you had to leave the hostel between 10 and 4ish but we did so much walking and lived on very little sharing with other backbackers.
ReplyDeleteNot much music as personal players such a ipods hadn't been invented!! However my small trusty battery operated radio was tuned to Radio 1 and the pirate station - Radio North Sea International. How I loved Jonnie Walker...
Dylan, Paul Simon, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen were favourites then. Hey, nothing changes as they remain so today!!
The summer of my lower 6th was very much as you describe although we spent the summer playing tennis and swimming at the local open air pool.
Thanks for the post which in common with you evoked so many happy memories of people and times, as if it was only yesterday. Magic times...
I hope the summer of 2013 proves to be as memorable for you at Casa Rosales.xx
Lovely memories here, Gaynor - and yes, Jonnie Walker was wonderful! I have had lots of favourites inbetween the 70s and now, but Mateo's interest has revived my old loves with a vengeance. And it's really good to be transported back so easily. One of my friends from these days now lives in the States and we lost touch for a long time but through Facebook (and my blog) the years have just disappeared. I know so many of my memories are hers too.
DeleteThere is something of the same, lazy, laidback feeling here in Casa Rosales as I remember from 1976! No need to go into the differences though.
Thank you, Gaynor.
Axxx
Snap
ReplyDeleteOh excellently put! Axxx
DeleteWell although I'm older than you, the 70s is a decade that sticks firmly in my mind. I remember and loved all the same kind of music as you, that's for sure. But it was also before I had my children at the start of the 80s, so for me it was a time for working and enjoying life. Lots of time spent with friends, and holidays abroad.. And I certainly do remember the heatwave of 76.
ReplyDeleteThere was much to criticise about the 70s but I think it was a good time to be growing up. We had heated debates at school about what was wrong with the world and I remember having awful nightmares about nuclear bombs...but I think we were lucky to be following on from the 60s and the new freedoms created. And the music, well, it's never been better in my opinion!
DeleteThat heatwave didn't really prepare us for what we were to live in later in our lives though, did it?
Axxx
I remember the heatwave of 1976...the first year I could grow outdoor tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteSailing and sea fishing...constantly peeling without getting brown...and buying oysters at Mersea where the chap selling them was concentrating more on the contents of my cheesecloth blouse than on the number of shellfish he was bagging up.
I bought from him quite a few times...
The seventies in general...such an exciting time in equality law.
The Equal Pay Act, the Sex Discrimination Act, the Race Relations Act...
and if Arthur Scargill had only agreed to hold a ballot the rest of the unions would have been compelled to come to the support of the miners despite the reluctance of their leaders to lift a finger.
What would have happened if Thatcher had failed....
The mighty blunder of going into the EU....I remember campaigning with a loudspeaker car and the chap I was with, seeing a village cricket match in progress, switched on the mike and bellowed
Vote no, or you'll be playing French cricket before you know it.
Dear old Charlie. Happy days.
Dads' Army...oddly enough I've just been watching a few episodes...did you know the 'visiting' fast bowler in that episode of the cricket match was the great Frederick Sewards Trueman himself...in his pomp.
Music...no, I didn't catch up on that for years - the Kinks were sort of before and after as I recall - but when I did discover Queen it was a revelation.
Great times...and thank you for bringing them back to mind.
I feel most honoured to have this wonderful glimpse into your life in the 70s, Helen. I'd forgotten to mention cheesecloth blouses, but they certainly had something, didn't they? I like to think of you campaigning too - I wonder if you knew then that you'd spend time living in France.
ReplyDeleteYes! I did see Freddie - unmistakable for anyone who has ever enjoyed cricket AND comes from Yorkshire....
Thank you so much for sharing - I did enjoy your comment - more like a little post in itself!
Axxx
Ah, now cheesecloth I remember. It was my O'level year though and I'd skipped a year of school and did my O'levels at 15 so it was all rather tense and I was a bit preoccupied for the first part of the summer. Late night listening to Whistle Test, reading The Lord of the Rings for the first (but not the last) time, a riding holiday that included landing head first in a gorse bush, all belong to that summer. Thanks for the memories Annie :)
ReplyDeleteGreat memories, Annie. I remember Whistle Test was an essential but it wasn't until I went to Uni that I read The Lord of the Rings...and I haven't read it again much to my shame! And it was many years after that that I landed in a gorse bush...but that's another story altogether!
DeleteAh, memories...
Axxx
Ah, the heatwave of 1976, the summer our well ran dry in May and didn't come back until September! It was the culmination of a very dry year which started in summer 1975, which was also rather warm, as I remember. For 4 months I had to carry every drop of drinking water home from the library where I worked and our other water needs were served from the above-ground swimming pool we'd built for the children the year before. We sank a new well soon after that. :-)
ReplyDeleteAs for 70s music, I'm ashamed to say I don't know any of it well, except for the major hits from Queen (now a favourite of Grandson#1) and Paul Simon, though of course I couldn't help hearing it when DH listened to the Top Twenty (no TV for us back then). I'm irrevocably a child of the 60s where rock is concerned.
I remember the political landmarks that you and others have mentioned, but only as the background to a life centred on family, work and, from the mid-70s onwards, my church life.
A super post, Annie - just look how you've got us all reminiscing. :-)
Ooh, very different memories for you of this period, Perpetua! That's a long time to be carrying water home every day and a glimpse into your life before your church life.
DeleteNo shame in not being 'into' 70s music at all but having grown up with it, I do feel it was very special and rather superior to anything before and much that has come after. There is a huge difference between 60s and 70s rock and it's logical that we love what we grew up with.
The mid and late 70s must have seen huge changes for you and your family so no wonder they are what you were focusing on. For my part, as a teenager, it felt a lot of beliefs were being challenged and really made me feel that some things were worth fighting for.
Glad to have stirred up a few memories!
Axxx
I'm a child of the '60s too & we are inclined to turn our noses up at the '70s, I'm afraid - we did it all first!
ReplyDelete1976 - those endless blue skies started to seem a bit spooky & surreal to me (even boring!)
We had a Land Rover & drove up onto the moors every weekend to picnic with our 5 yr old & 1 yr old.
I made extra cash by sewing clothes for a very funky shop in Leeds called Boodle-am - wonder if you remember it?
I understand, Nilly - how glad I am not to have been an 80s teenager... You may have done it all first but we think we did it better!
DeleteI know now that those 6 weeks were pretty unusual for an English summer but I spent many years afterwards wondering why it never really seemed the same again. Til now of course...and I agree that too many days of blue skies does tend to feel a bit surreal. (And we have another couple of months to go!)
Your picnics sound perfect and I was more likely to have found you on the moors than in Leeds at this time. Coming from Bradford, we hardly ever ventured into the great and scary metropolis that Leeds seemed to be but I bet it was a shop I'd have loved!
Axxx
I was in my 3rd year at uni....(4 year B.Ed)..and spent that summer working in a really smart office on Piccadilly...just opposite Fortnum & Masons ( I used to go there to get the tea bags for the office kitchen). I ran the switchboard for Laing International. It hardly needed a switchboard as there were only 4 surveyors and their secretaries based in the office...but the phone did ring from time to time and I did manage to put a few calls through to the right place. We changed the office hours, to avoid travelling in the heat on the tube...we started at 7 am, and closed the office each day at about 3pm. It was a glorious summer for me....plenty of spare cash as the job paid ridiculously well, a great boyfriend who kept arranging wonderful evenings out which included some incredible picnics, a brilliant group of women fellow workers, no real responsibilities and sun sun sun. During working hours I managed to work my way through the entire works of John Steinbeck ( not many phone calls ! ). yes... 1976 stands out as a truly memorable summer for me.
ReplyDeleteI hope you continue to manage the heat Annie. I'm back in England at the moment, enjoying the Hebden Bridge 28 degrees, and feeling rather pleased with myself to be missing some of the 30 plus temperatures in the Languedoc this week. Happy Birthday to Mateo. Jxxx
Great memories, Janice. I confess I have still to read ANY John Steinbeck - don't know why I haven't ever got round to him but I do intend to. What an excellent idea it was to change the office hours - wonder who would think to do that these days...?
ReplyDeleteI've loved your photos of Jessie's run and graduation ceremony. What a great girl she is - it shines through all the photos - as does your great love and pride in her.
I could probably do with a few days of 28 degrees right now. It's 39 degrees today and I do feel we waste a lot of the day 'waiting' for it to cool down. I've cut all three of my children's hair - Ruy and Mateo really very short and they look great. Romy's was just a trim before they go off to Mallorca on Friday.
We've had a nice chilled birthday day with Mateo but he won't let me take any photos cos he's got a spot on the end of his nose....but he looks gorgeous with his close crop. (Ruy does too - his is all gelled up into a spike down the middle of his head and he's very pleased with himself - they're so vain!) I'm going to try and creep up on them for a photo!
Will you be back in France for 'le quatorze juillet' or are you staying in the UK for a bit longer? Have a great time wherever you are.
Axxx
After reading this i tried to think 'heat management'-----as the UK is still in warmth.We love it on the East Coast where the breeze is bliss.However we have to come home every so often and the house just holds on to its heat.
ReplyDeleteWe remember the heatwave of 1976.It was our first year abroad in the school holidays----travelling to a tiny village in Majorca called Estellenchs.The mountain trees surrounding the village were troubled with fires.One highlight of the trip was meeting Robert Graves--he came to visit some friends of his who were staying at our hotel.He lived in a nearby village.
Thanks for pressing the memory button Annie.
Heat management is an essential skill to have here in Andalucia but I´m glad you´re still having it warm in the UK - enjoy it while it lasts!
DeleteMy first 'abroad' holiday was to Majorca too but we were staying in a little hotel in Alcudia which was lovely, but certainly ruled out meeting anyone as interesting as Robert Graves! Cesar and the children are in Majorca at this very moment staying with Cesar's brother, who lives there. Hopefully, no fires there this year.
I like the idea of having a memory button, Maria! We all have some good ones to pull out, don't we?
Axxx
Hello Annie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous post! Ah, yes I DO remember the sultry supper of 1976 although I was eight, I believe! I'm pretty sure there was a plague of ladybirds in south east England at that time although maybe I've got the year wrong?
38°C is a lot. Here near Tours it can easily go up to 37 or 38°C for a few days in summer and these high temperatures are made worse still by the humidity due to living on the banks of the river Loire. Right now we are enjoying around 32°C which is about my limit of comfort I must confess.
How glorious it is to revel in a real summer. I am so grateful for that.
Hugs from France,
Stephanie
Aw...how lovely to have been eight in 1976! I do remember there being a plague of ladybirds somewhere at sometime in my dim and distant youth. Maybe it was that year - I don't know - but I remember wishing I could have seen it as I love ladybirds. (Perhaps it wasn't quite as I imagined it would be.)
DeleteI LOVE Tours and the Loire Valley and have spent many summers not too far away from there but agree, it's the humidity that makes the hot weather difficult to tolerate. If it was humid here, we wouldn't have stayed, but being high up (about 1000m) and inland, it is very dry and somehow more manageable. Today is perfect - probably around 32 degrees (can't find that little symbol anywhere!) and I am definitely revelling!
Thanks Stephanie - hugs from France are always appreciated!
Axxx
Hi Annie , just came by via Gaynor's blog ,, Yes we are in a heatwave right now , unfortunately living in the UK , :-( we do not have shutters .. I remember 1976 very well , my eldest son was 1 and we were on holiday in Germany with friends and he loves the 70's music too :-) Anne
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for dropping by, Anne. I shall have to investigate your blogs too to find out more about you. By strange coincidence, I have a great friend - also known as Anne or Annie - who lives in Oxfordshire! I'm sure we will be great friends too.
DeleteNo, the UK is not geared up for hot weather but you'd be surprised how badly some of the houses here are made. They're hot in summer and cold in winter. Glad to say, our house is the opposite and very glad I am too!
Your son is a bit older than mine but good that he loves the music of the 70s - looks like it will keep going throughout the generations!
Axxx
Hi Annie , thank you for your comment on my blog :-) lovely when new people drop by .. wow that is a strange coincidence about your friend Anne or Annie ,, whereabouts does she live ?? I am going to add your blog to my blog roll , if that is ok.
DeleteHi Anne, I answered on your previous comment but will say again here since where you asked. My friend is in Eynsham, not too far from Oxford, a pretty little village, and is a cake maker extraordinaire! Her business is Scattercake and she makes the most amazing designer wedding cakes. Axxx
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