Living in the ’70s

Inspiration! Always important when writing an A to Z. I’ve written in past blogs about growing up in the 1950s, family history, DNA discoveries, travels around Australia and the world. What else is left?

The Skyhooks song ‘Living in the ’70s’ kept spinning around in my head. I checked the lyrics and they didn’t make much sense, a bit like the 1970s themselves.

I feel a little crazy
I feel a little strange
Like I’m in a pay phone
Without any change

Living in the ’70s – Skyhooks- 1974

Writing about the past has always interested me and now my own past is becoming ancient history. In 1970, had I looked back 52 years, WW1 was just ending and the world was a vastly different place. Looking forward 52 years I wonder if our life has altered as much. I suppose the biggest change is our ability to communicate and find information in a matter of seconds and our ever increasing dependence on the internet and the cloud. We are also more aware of our changing environment and the threat of global warming. Or are we?

I‘m living’ in the ’70s
Eatin’ fake food under plastic trees
My face gets dirty just walking’ around
I need another pill to calm me down

Living in the ’70s – Skyhooks- 1974

Instead of writing about my own experiences I thought it would be fun to look at the life of Joanne, a naive 19 year old embarking on the next step of her life in a new city. Her story actually starts in 1969 but more of that later. Joanne’s experience of the 1970s is unique, because every person alive at the time saw it differently. Her view of music, politics, relationships, work and travel may not be yours but I will try to depict life as it was in those changing times. With each post there will be appropriate illustrations from the slides and faded Instamatic photos in my collection. The stories may not be in chronological order so you don’t have to start with A and work through. Most have not even been written yet so I’d better get cracking.

I wish to give a big thanks to all the people involved in making the A to Z come around every year. It is sad to reflect that one of the team, Jeremy Hawkins, lost his life earlier this year. Although I didn’t know him, he will be remembered every time I look at the graphics of a previous A to Z.

In the next 23 days and beyond I will be immersing myself in the 1970s. My children and grandchildren weren’t even born then so this is a record for them of a time long past but still fresh in the minds of those fortunate enough to have experienced it.