Nostalgia Q&A

LBLC was feeling nostalgic this month so has decided to share some childhood memories and favourites. I struggle to remember a huge ammount about my childhood but when I think hard, I end up cackling with laughter remembering how much of a diva I was and how I thought I knew everything! So here goes...

Book - From a very young age, I read a lot! I remember sitting in class whilst everybody else was reading Biff and Chip with my head buried in Roald Dahl books - my favorite was definitely Fantastic Mr Fox but The Magic Finger came a close second. As I got older, I started reading a massive range of things, I was the weird kid who spent Saturdays at the library flicking through books. I remember loving Kasper in the Glitter by Philip Ridley when we read it in school and also feeling really lucky to be in top set English and get to read The Hobbit by J R R Tolkein. I think a big influence of my childhood though, has to be Harry Potter. I was 7 (1 day off 8!) when the first book was released so grew up with Harry. I never did get that Hogwarts letter though! I remember being fascinated with how J K Rowling managed to adapt her writing style as the books progressed so that you felt like the writing style was becoming more sophisticated as Harry got older. Sorry... I could go on all day about books!


TV - I grew up with a big brother so my TV watching was very much influenced by him. We used to sit together and watch Quantum Leap which was amazing! The Crystal Maze was also a firm favorite for both of us, we used to watch it and shout at the TV when they were doing it wrong! We also loved watching Simpsons. I also loved watching kids TV though, the likes of Bernard's Watch and The Queens Nose - oh and Fun House! I watched Blue Peter religiously and remember always trying to make the things they had on there, mine were always pants though. Especially the Tracy Island I tried to make! I was lucky when I was younger that we had Sky, so remember fondly watching Dexters Lab, Cow and Chicken and also Recess - watching these now scares me slightly though haha!

Song - Hmm, I could often be found singing my own versions of songs at the top of my voice, like 'Faster than Pasta'! I had a lot of musical inspiration when I was younger, my brother, my mum and my auntie who all had very individual taste. I think the songs that were my favorite though was anything by Steps, perhaps Tragedy or Eifel 65 - Blue Da Ba Dee. I also loved Scatman!

Film - I loved anything Disney, especially Peter Pan and The Little Mermaid. I had most Disney films on VHS and watched them religiously. Although not a film I also loved a series I had on VHS called Huxley Pig! I remember the fist time I saw Tarzan very clearly as I absolutely adored the music in it. 

Band - Oh this is a hard one! I loved Westlife, Blue, A1 and later McFly when I was younger and acted like a right fan girl! With having a big brother though I tended to listen to his music a lot (it was louder) so as I grew up I developed a love of The Corrs, Nizlopi - The JBC song, Jamie Cullum (this one I'm massively grateful for!), Lena Marlin, Eva Cassidy, Steps and many many more. I also had a lot of musical influcence from my auntie Lee Lee who had me listening to Aretha Franklin, M People, Eurhytmics, Snap, DeBarge - basically great 90s music! We used to sing and dance around like loons, these are truly happy memories of mine!

Magazine/Comic - I didn't really read magazines. If I did it was because I'd picked up my mum's best or bella! On those really rare occasions though that I did get one, it was CosmoGirl or later on when I was older, Kerrang. I still don't really read magazines.

Game - Was and still is Monopoly. I am still rubbish at it though. Mum has always encouraged me to play scrabble as well, which has helped immensely with my ability to spell. We played loads of board games in our house, which I loved.

Clothes - I used to wear tracksuits. Mum used to bribe me every Christmas day so that I would put a dress on but it only ever lasted a couple of hours. I was always in matching tracksuits! I am told when I was a lot younger I wore leggings and T-Shirts, but I only really remember the tracksuit days... which then became the goth days of band T-Shirts, studded belts and jeans. Now, you would struggle to get me to wear pants.. funny how things change ;).

Subject at School - It was always English. Absolutely no question there. I equally loved the language and literature sides, I think I was better at literature though. I used to love to spend my days making up stories. I still remember the day I had the light bulb moment where I realised that you could write sentences without using 'and' every third word haha. I used to love Art as well but as a terrible drawer there wasn't much I could do with it.

Food - When mum first started working me and my brother had to cook for ourselves so lived off scrambled eggs and pasta. I used to make him and his clients scrambled eggs when they had meetings! So, I think my favorite food was pasta with Dolmio tomato sauce and cheese. 

Sweet - Fruit salads and black jacks! Or penny sweets. I remember those days, when penny sweets were 1p. I used to love the fizzy cola bottles, foam banana's, those giant liquorice, laces and giant strawberries. I also remember sneaking Hubba Bubba with my pocket money because I wasn't actually allowed it!

Hobby - I danced from a young age so spent a lot of time doing this. When I got a bit older I was encouraged to go to Drama classes to help my confidence, and it really did help and was brilliant fun. I don't really know if these are classed as hobbies though? I was never particularly crafty. I suppose writing stories, or diaries was a hobby of mine. I do still wish I was musical, and hope that when I have kids I can encourage them to get into music. I'd love to be able to play the Sax.


Well, writing that has made me feel all happy and warm inside and I'm now listening to M People... what are your memories of childhood?

Rach