1985

Listening to: 'Little Creatures'- Talking Heads
In 1985 I was in standard three at Saint Michaels Catholic Primary School in Taita. One warm spring lunchtime I was out on the sports field. I looked around at the green grass, the hedge that marked the edge of the property, the blue sky with wispy cloud in it, my schoolmates playing, and said to myself, "I want to remember this moment in 1985". Why this would even occur to a nine year old as something to do is beyond me. But I did, and thus I remember.

Some things I remember from 1985:
-Being woken up late at night and taken outside to see more stars than I ever had before, and having the small pale smudge that was Halley's comet pointed out to me by my Dad.
-The Cold War. Since the issue of nuclear weapons had been so significant in the election the previous year, a lot of us kids worried about not getting to grow up. The glasnost thaw wouldn't begin until the next year. The early to mid eighties were a scary time.
-Going to see 'Back to the Future', and telling a friend about it. She told me her dad wouldn't let her go and see it because it had bad language in it.
-Getting a Transformer for Christmas, and deliberately playing with it in the family photo.
-Going to Auckland for our family Christmas holiday.
-The fortieth anniversary of the end of World War two being commemorated.
-Saving up pocket money to buy Corgi cars from the Taita bookshop.
-The music. 1985 was a really good year for 80's music. Ready to Roll was required viewing at 6:00pm on a Saturday night.
-My sister's bike being stolen from our garage.
-Talking with my grandmother and her sister about what life was like when they were growing up. My grandmother died in 1987, her sister in 1992.
-The big winter storm that cut power to our house, and dad cooking breakfast on a portable gas stove on top of the oven.
-Going to the opening of the BNZ centre, and losing my helium balloon. I was very proud that Wellington had the tallest building in the country.
-Going to the airport to see the first Qantas Boeing 767 service arrive at Wellington airport.
-Crowding around the stereo with my family listening to my first radio broadcast in stereo as 2ZM became ZMFM (now 91ZM).

In 1985:
-None of my cousins had yet had children (theres now about a dozen)
-Our family cat Blossom was 2. She would live to be 17. We acquired two rabbits for my sister, Radar (albino), and Frisky (black/brown).
-Our family cars were a brown Mazda 929, and a bright yellow Mini 1000.
-We didn't have a VCR. We did have a push button phone though.
-Train stations still had little shops where you could buy papers and sweets.
-Queensgate was still being built.

I'm not sure why I'm reminiscing about life 21 years ago, but here endeth the ramble anyway.