The Wonder Year
Thanks to something I've been reading and the music I've been listening to lately, I got to thinking about a small hypothetical. If you could go back to live in any one year from your lifetime, which one would you choose?
It was an easy pick for me - 1996.
I was in London at a time when the whole 'Cool Britannia' thing was exploding. It was the place to live. Britpop was huge, the country was getting behind its football team for Euro 96 (arguably England's last decent tournament performance) and - at least from where I was standing - the city was a vibrant, optimistic place to be. On a personal level I was doing a job that I was not only pretty good at but also enjoyed immensely, I was still young enough for most of my pay to be going on entertainment rather than 'responsible' expenditure and I'd just met the woman I'd eventually marry.
Certainly time will have given it a rosier hue, but even taking that into account it takes some beating for a single 12 month period.
So yes, 1996 for me please. How about you?
It was an easy pick for me - 1996.
I was in London at a time when the whole 'Cool Britannia' thing was exploding. It was the place to live. Britpop was huge, the country was getting behind its football team for Euro 96 (arguably England's last decent tournament performance) and - at least from where I was standing - the city was a vibrant, optimistic place to be. On a personal level I was doing a job that I was not only pretty good at but also enjoyed immensely, I was still young enough for most of my pay to be going on entertainment rather than 'responsible' expenditure and I'd just met the woman I'd eventually marry.
Certainly time will have given it a rosier hue, but even taking that into account it takes some beating for a single 12 month period.
So yes, 1996 for me please. How about you?
posted by Pete Kempshall at 11:18 AM
2 Comments:
Having not yet met the girl of my dreams or lived at the centre of a musical phenomenon, I don't think I have a year to compare to yours, PK. Although I do quite enjoy my current job and following the Socceroos' success in the previous World Cup was fun (as was being there when they finally qualified).
In terms of personal success, I'd probably have to go back to 1983, when I was something of a "golden boy" - school captain, in the top three Year 6 students academically and the top four athletically (well, I was a member of the relay team :-)), lots of extra-curricular activities. But I have no real desire to return to a time when I was that naive and ignorant.
No, if I could revisit a year, I'd want it to be as the working adult I am now, not the child I was then, so as to gain a different, hopefully broader perspective on things. I reckon 1977 would probably be the go, as a lot of my favourite albums, books, movies, tabletop games and videogames originated around then.
I'd just have to put up with the dodgy clothing :-)
1977, huh? I can understand that, in a Life On Mars kind of way!
Oh, and Star Wars! Big screen and untinkered with!
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