The only thing I remember vividly from the 80s was when the wall in Berlin fell and Germany was reunited. Parachute pants? F... that! I remember a vacation as a kid. Our connecting flight was from Berlin in the early morning so we decided to spend the night in a hotel in Berlin. I saw the Brandenburg Gate and The Wall on our way. That was enemy territory behind that wall. And fellow Germans were living there. Some armed with machine guns on their watchtower and prepared to shoot anybody who moved in the Todesstreifen. I tried to find a translation for Todesstreifen and it's commonly translated with no mans land. I think that translation doesn't do it justice, death zone would probably be more fitting. We were there to catch a plane and go on a family vacation the next morning. The insanity of that situation only hit me years later. And almost overnight Eastern Germany was free! It was the craziest thing and I don't think anything crazier will happen during the rest of my lifetime. So this defines the 80s for me. This night in Berlin, surrounded by the Eastern Bloc on all sides, and seeing it crumble only a short time later. Happy people from East Germany driving in their little plastic cars with lawn-mower motors over the border, finally free to go wherever they liked after so many decades. If you want a picture that symbolizes the 80s, this is it:
Thanks Embox. I was reminded of those days by what's happening in the Ukraine now. Let's hope they can find a diplomatic solution. I think the stakes are much higher than many people realize.
Two most poignant memories for me in the 80s were in 1986, sitting in my school cafeteria, watching the Challenger shuttle launch - we still did things like that, not sure if it still happens or not. A room full of 8 through 11 year olds watching that was just.. surreal, though I still remember it crystal clear to this day. Second was, watching the events Jessep is talking about on TV. And Max.. LOL - never had a console until I bought a Dreamcast in 2000, but my best friend had an Atari and we played a LOT of Combat, Adventure, and various other games on that thing. Closest I had to a console was the first Colecovision that also had a high speed tape drive, business applications, AND a cartridge reader. Only games we ever had though were Pitfall and Xaxxon.
I had an Amiga 500 back in the day and a couple of friends a C64. Maybe some of you remember this baby: I'm not sure if the Competition Pro was just sold here in Europe. Apparently there is still a modern version available with USB for PC. Back in the day everybody had one, most the black model with red buttons though.
When I was your age, if we wanted to play "Flappy Bird" we'd have to go out and kill a sparrow and toss it through tree branches. #oldmanrebukes
Oh the 80's... Atari 2600, Simon, watching the large collection of VHS videos we had, Transformers... I was a very privileged kid growing up in Cuba.
And these things were still in common use: Haven't listened to a cassette tape in ages. Somebody asked at work for a tape a couple of years back. No luck although we usually keep old tech around for a decade or two just in case.
