Goths and Mods circa 1981

Those of you who know me will be well aware that my short term memory is fucked. I can remember things in 1970s and 1980s like they were happened yesterday, but I can't remember last week. I was just watching a video which I made about a year ago, I was asked why i wasn't promoting it more heavily... simple truth is i didn't know I had it, I have no recollection of making it, or even of seeing it before.

I thought I'd mention it again have met a lot of new people recently, I want you to know I am listening, I am paying attention, I just forget stuff. So don't think I don't care because I forget something really important to you. On the bright side, you know I'll always tell the truth, can you imagine what a bad liar I'd be? I could never get my stories straight!

Anyway, I was with a girl this week (lucky me, bless you) and she was recounting a story about 'the older girls' when she was little, about having a crush... I'm sure we have all been there.

Unfortunately, these older girls weren't very nice to her, but it triggered a different memory in me, from the very early 1980s.

Some of you won't be surpised when I say that i was just getting into fashion and music and became a Mod -- yeah! No kidding eh? It shows, I'm still sorta there aren't I?

Example (following a brief clip of the Undertones)



So there I was, about ten years old, in my Fred Perry and my monkey boots, and I guess I must have looked kinda cute because two groups of older girls took me under their wing.

One group were at school, but there was another group that used to hang around one of my mum's shops. My mum got to know them and was happy for me to hang out with them all day while she worked. Ha, I just remembered she would give us all money and we'd go off to Saturday Morning Pictures, then off to the chip shop where they served chips in newspaper. Well I did anyway, these girls would save the chip money and buy fags from the street vending machines. Would you believe that you could buy a single cigarette from a dispenser outside the news agents?

So anyway, they were all goths. I can picture it now, three of them sitting in a shop doorway hiding from the sun, just a huddled mass of black lace, make-up and hairspray. And she was right... I have such fond memories of the attention and affection, being looked after and coddled.

The funny thing is, it has left me with a very strange positive prejudice on Goths being cheerful, caring and cuddly. Of course, everybody knows, the summers were longer and hotter back then, so goths remind me of sunny days, R.White's Lemonade, the smell of chips, and this song, which is just superb.

Worth a try

Try a little tenderness ~ Otis Redding

With Poppy

My Red Chair

TFIF!

I may just have to spend the evening at Lo-los.

Falling deeper, slipping into dark ~ by Murki

I feel myself falling deeper slipping into the dark
The nightmares aren't getting better
I’m searching for any kind of spark
I know I need to light up my world
I know I need to be strong
I’m confused my minds swirled
Some days I feel like screaming
I knows there is a light…a way out of this pain
Some days I feel like giving up
I cant…I know there is a way…there has got to be something I can gain
I want to run free wind blowing my hair
But I feel myself falling deeper slipping into the dark
I learned early….life isn’t fair
I cant sleep…it hurts… too much agony
During the day…I fake a smile hide my pain
I know I got to act casually
I don’t understand why the nightmares wont stop
Did I deserve it? Why does it come back? IDK
But every time I dream that dream I feel my heart drop
Crying shaking cant be faking
Afraid to close my eyes
Its because of him I've been breaking
I feel myself falling deeper slipping into the dark

A poem by Murki
Somehow this song seems more appropriate than putting a picture with it.



...it's not Murki's choice you understand, but my way of giving it a happy ending.

Turtle Head

[18:36:17] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): I have turtlehead
[18:36:34] Vinny Caramel: ok, you better run to the lav then
[18:36:44] Vinny Caramel: tmi
[18:37:31] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): O.o
[18:37:37] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): wtf?
[18:37:45] Vinny Caramel: eh?
[18:38:08] Vinny Caramel: Was that someone else using your computer?
[18:38:19] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): no?
[18:38:41] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): I'm just confused about what turtlehead has to do with the lavatory?
[18:39:21] Vinny Caramel: errrr, in the UK, if you say you have Turtle head, it means you have a shit hanging out your arse
[18:39:40] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): EW
[18:39:43] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): ok...
[18:39:51] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): 1. Why is there a TERM for that??
[18:39:56] Vinny Caramel: I thought you needed a moment
[18:39:58] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): Is it that common!?!?!
[18:40:11] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): And 2. Why would anyone EVER admit that? O.O
[18:40:20] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): Poop is terrifying
[18:40:24] Vinny Caramel: yeah,, Mike Myres says it in one of the Austin Powers films
[18:40:46] Vinny Caramel: sorry, I am laughing so fucking hard
[18:41:13] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): When I say I have turtlehead (which I will probably never say again) I mean I'm sorta slow and dopey, and pull my head back in to think it over.
[18:41:15] Vinny Caramel: what did you mean?
[18:41:26] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): slow..like a turtle
[18:42:09] Vinny Caramel: oh my god, the tears are rolling
[18:42:13] Vinny Caramel: oh it hurts
[18:42:21] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): lol...this ALWAYS happens with us
[18:42:43] Vinny Caramel: I'm glad it does
[18:43:07] Varg (leaf.spiritweaver): lol...me too, kinda. If I have to say dumb things, I'm glad someone gets a chuckle