Remembering 1983

As a part of the decluttering project, I have started to go through a pile of magazines that accumulated many years ago. Most people would just chuck the lot in the recycling, but I can't bring myself to do that without leafing through them first. And what a mine of historic memories they are turning out to be!

They weren't cheap, back in the day, and I always feel I should respect the work and research that went into putting them together at the time, before the internet and with the contributors working, at best, on "word processors". Also, as I was a young mother living in a different country, they were an invaluable way to keep up with things "back in blighty".

Top of the pile, the oldest issue is Good Housekeeping, October 1983.

The adverts! The photos! All soooo 1980s,with big hair and shoulder pads, shimmering makeup and the ads with their corny slogans, many for products now obsolete. Also, of course, ads for cigarettes!

Articles include: a plea for women to keep their own surnames on marriage; a very young Melvyn Bragg interviews Chris Bonington; an introduction to Indian cooking. There is a review of 10 top-of-the-range cookers (what happened to eye-level grills?)

A serious look at life in the country for those who dream of moving there, warning you how cut off you will be - how did we manage without the internet?

Uses for a camera which are obvious to us now we have our phones with cameras inbuilt: Recording accidents, showing damage without having to lug the whole machine into the shop, insurance claims, etc., etc. All innovative ideas back in the day.

How to use make up brushes (they really came into their own in the 1980s)

As it's GH of course there's lots about food. Meringues - make or buy? A page and a half on cake decorating. A step by step description of how to make lasagne. (Something we just throw together out of leftovers these days - no recipe needed!)

The environment: Already in 1983, warnings that 19 species of wild flowers had recently become extinct.

And - I quote: "A neat idea for making notes which won't get lost has just been introduced by 3M. They have brought out a new type of notepad in various sizes called Scotch Post-it Notes."