Five things from the 1980s Palmerston North social commentator Dave Mollard misses

In the 1980s, the record store was the coolest place in town to check out the latest Iron Maiden masterpiece.

OPINION

A lot of what I bang on about is embracing change, because I believe if we don’t welcome it, we are going to be forever disappointed as the world moves forward without us. However, it’s also important to reflect on our past and the good things we have lost. In the lead-up to Christmas, I started getting sentimental about my childhood, so I wrote a list of five things I miss from the 1980s.

Kids on bikes. Our Raleigh 20s, BMXs and the holy grail, 10-speeds, gave us almost limitless freedom - well, as much freedom as our leg muscles could handle - as we peddled off in any direction we wanted, with the only parental limitation being that we had to be home by dinner time. No one had a watch, but we kept time via our stomachs and the smell of roast beef wafting through the air on Sunday nights.

Cash. Cash used to be king. A teenager with $15 in their wallet could buy almost anything they might want, including 15 McDonald’s hamburgers (hold the pickle). A 50c coin in your hand was a tactile experience of power and a couple of notes in your wallet held unlimited potential.

Clubs. As a kid, I was a proud member of the Riverside Football Club, the Kiwi Swim Club, the Monrad Badminton Club, Kia Toa Rugby and the Riverdale Cub Pack. Only Kia Toa is left (although it appears the Monrad Badminton Club still lives but is based at arch-rival Intermediate Normal, so in my mind it’s gone).

Record stores. Yes, I know you can buy vinyl at JB Hi-Fi, but back in the day, other than taping from the radio’s Top 9 at 9 or dubbing your friends’ cassettes, if you wanted to listen to music, you had to buy it, and the record store was the coolest place in town to check out the latest Iron Maiden or AC/DC masterpiece.

Anonymity, or should I say privacy. Back in the day, we could stuff up and only a few witnesses knew about it. Do that today and a video clip of you will be accessible to 90 per cent of the world’s population in less than three minutes.

Of course, today’s world also has some great things, so it’s only proper that I balance the previous list out with five things I love about now.

My cordless leaf blower. This magic tool has banished the outdoor broom to the back of the garden shed. Tens of hours of hard sweeping are forever in the past with this hand-held hurricane.

The internet, but just the bit where you can find out what other movies you have seen the actor you are watching right now in. The rest of the internet is basically rubbish.

Adaptive cruise control. Truly, the pinnacle of laziness is not having to use the accelerator pedal on the expressway.

Air fryers, the undisputed successor to the microwave. Crispy, crunchy and healthy.

Diversity. Of course, we have always had diversity, but the 1980s was not a great time to be different. Today is still not perfect, but it’s much better.

There is no point in comparing the past to the present too seriously, because no matter how hard we try, time keeps moving forward. But it is fun to think about the fun we had in the 1980s!

Don’t have a cow, man - party on, dudes!

Dave Mollard is a Palmerston North community worker and social commentator.