Friday 27 March 2009

Back to the 1970s

It seemed a harmless activity - reading a favourite blog http://mountainear.blogspot.com/ but today it worked like a time machine and I was transported back to my student accomodation in Sheffield in the early 70s.
We lived in a terraced house on Shoreham Street which ran alongside Bramhall Lane - the home of Sheffield United FC - then a First Division Team ( the top division in those days!!) More about football later.
My room was a tiny attic room with just a bed.
Being the resourceful soul that I am, I dragged my then boyfriend - now husband - in to construct a wardrobe from hardboard in one corner. He is good with wood in a basic, manage and make do sort of way - Chippendale he is not ( Ooo just thought, maybe he could be a Chippendale - that would stop him being bored in retirement!!! - I digress)
Next came the decorating - remember its early 70's - so vibrant orange walls and lime green gloss on the wardrobe and paintwork certainly livened the room up.
A green throw and cushions added the finishing touches.
We spent our final two years as students in that house and I have never laughed so much since.
My house mates were a great bunch and I am still in touch with two of them. I know its the exhuberance of youth but every day was filled with fun and adventures and yet I still managed to achieve Credits and a Distinction in my studies to become a teacher.
Back to the football. Of course it was a useful phrase to drop into conversation with any fanciable male - " yes we live next to Bramhall Lane - and can see the pitch from our bedroom". Actually you could only see into the gents loo (from the waist up) if you were standing on the bed in the front bedroom - oops too much information there I fear!!! However, we did get into the match for free for the second half so we were always popular on match days. Happy days.
Bramhall Lane has been updated since then - all mod cons I am sure. Shoreham Street still exists but I doubt the views are the same!

2 comments:

Annie said...

I will second that....Chippendale he is not :-) hehehe but bored in his retirement he certainly is.

mountainear said...

Scary 70s colours - our first house had orange, purple, brown and turquoise. EEEk! The first thing we bought was a can of cream paint. something had to give and it was either the colour scheme or our sanity.

We hadn't much money though so the orange shag pile carpet stayed for the 4 years we lived there.