Crumbs, that was a shock to the system

Time certainly has a habit of creeping up on us.

I know what you mean kitty. My partner died 7 years ago this June and I just don't know where the intervening years have gone
I remembering reading George Orwell's '1984' way back whenever and thinking how impossibly far ahead that was. And yet it came and went and now it's history. As for grandchildren! The oldest if my five will be 30 soon and my youngest is about to leave school. And yet they were babies yesterday, I'm sure of it!

My DH and I got engaged in April 1973. When the date came round I was amazed to realise it was 50 years ago!
I also had a double-breasted midi coat at that time. My Mum gave me £10 to buy a coat and I couldn't find one that cheap in C & A, so I bought the fabric and pattern to make one. Mum went mad, she said I'd never be able make a lined woollen coat, so of course I had to prove her wrong. It was a lovely nutmeg colour and I adored it. When midi coats went out of fashion I shortened it so I could carry on wearing it.

My oldest friend and I met on our first day at school 68 years ago. Still in touch and both amazed that it was such a long time ago.

Don't you just love it when stark reality hits you in the face. Friends 'baby' son retired earlier in the year. That was a moment I can tell you!

1973 my second daughter was born and we decided to start the process to emigrate because we thought the kids would have a better life elsewhere. It wasn’t looking too good for the future in the UK then. Roll on 50 years, 4 kids later, many grandchildren and several greats , we think we made a good decision.

albertina Yes, I met my best friend 67 years ago, at school, but I was 13 and she was 12. We have agreed not to discuss how long we have known each other.

Gdd1 will be 8 tomorrow - seems such a scarily short time since we were haring off to the hospital 60 miles away to meet her, just hours after she was born.

On a less cheerful note, during my recent fairly long hospital stay with a very nasty infection, it rather hit me for the first time that at 74 I’m officially seen as ‘old’. I’m extremely lucky in that I’ve never yet had mobility problems, and in fact have rarely needed to see the GP, but it was evident at first that I was more or less expected e.g. to have difficulty with stairs once I finally got home - because at my age people do often tend to, especially when weakened by illness. So thank goodness I found the ‘stairs test’ pretty much a doddle.

But at least nobody asked me whether I was prone to ‘having a fall’!! 🤞not yet!

Last year I met with a friend, we hadn't seen each other since school. We fell straight back into our friendship but couldn't stop giggling about how "grown up" we had become.

A teenager was telling me about her class learning about the fall of the Berlin Wall in history lessons. That can't possibly be history, I still use the same radio I heard the news on originally.

Oh MOnica, you reminded me that one of my dearest friends and I met when we were 3 - 71 years ago. We moved in next door to them.

We don't meet up now as she lives in Scotland and has very poor mobility. But, when we talk on the phone, we revert to the giggling teenagers who used to walk home from the school bus pretending we didn't want the boys to notice us.

Kate1949

I hope it was clear that the mini skirts and Afghan coats were in my head only! I don't go swanning around in them now at 73.

My friend had an afghan coat which, when it got wet, used to smell like a damp animal. Those were the days.

Indeed. Guilty secret time too: I have NEVER even confessed to my daughter how me and my friends swooned over The Bay City Rollers 50 years ago. Ha!Ha!Ha!