Twelve

Sometimes I feel writing about a part of my life as if it were in the 'modern era' because in so many ways the lightning speed that technological and associated changes has a dramatic effect on life that while some stuff at the edges changed  there was little real difference  between the postwar period, the era I allegedly grew up in up to the end of the nineteen-eighties just before the home computer brought in a limited amount of desk bound communication.
Twelve is a pinnacle age with me an age where I had just transferred to secondary school but in lots of ways your still quite young.
For me if I were the 2000's 'twelve' one big change with me would of been the ability not so much to make telephone calls which I could but they were restrict to areas where people would see and hear them.
As that  twelve year old girl, I know have the means of making phone calls on the go and sending messages so even if I have it out you would not hear me which would be something we'd never had before.

I might be lucky and have the newer generation of cellphone called "Smartphones that have a built in camera so I'd be able to send pictures in real time to my school friends and so in some ways I'd be less deskbound to the sort of computer that was creeping into schools or indeed where as an adult I worked in this period.
One thing that would not of changed is I would be wearing blazer and skirt, rather like the girl above because to be honest I liked the way in which they make me look very much a junior unlikely to be considered an grown woman which was the case in my actual childhood at this age.
I often wore them by choice and certainly on school vacations where some of my peers would of held out for even jeans and a t shirt.
Where I had a old fashioned wooden wardrobe, in this era I'd of had a walk-in one with a lot draws to keep socks underwear etc in which didn't really have being given just what I needed for that day.
Twelve too was when I started to realize I was still very much that child compared to my peers who always appeared to be the 'older' girls to me even though we were the same age because they had matured in  away as that girl I hadn't even though this was just before the major developmental changes.
I don't think you can have a successful new future unless you feel comfortable with your own past.

Oh boy!

There were many things we read at high school, some by ourselves and some we shared and discussed at length.

These magazines were shared every week between us, having features on pop stars, usually hunky boys and well as stars of tv and the movie theatre.

The members of Duran Duran were something we sure discussed back then, I can assure you!

We also liked Sting

They also had features on fashion, making out and boys! In the pre-internet age apart from siblings it was the best place to find out stuff from.

Photo romance stories also featured and we talked about the issues they raised between each other.

Little truths

Zanadu

One of favourite movies of all time is a modern day musical from 1980 called Zanadu that featured Olivia Newton-John with music by her, the Electric Light Orchestra and the Tubes.
It has a  good recreation of a 40's big band which something I grew up listening to on record.
Although panned by critics I loved it for the skating songs and feel good factor as it lodged in my head as part of the soundtrack of summer vacation in 1980 so here's an image from it: