Tuesday 28 October 2008

One for the ladies...


Do you remember 'Jackie' magazine? I felt so grown up when I was able to change from 'Bunty' and 'Judy' to this teen magazine. This was in the 60s, a time of Flower Power, surfin' sounds, pin-ups like David Cassidy, Radio Caroline, manufactured pop group The Monkees, mini skirts, white leather boots, lots of dark eye shadow and mascara a la Dusty Springfield, and the back-combed hair to match.
I was prompted into this temporary wallow by an advert on television for a new CD by The Dave Clark Five. This brought back so many memories of the sixties... getting into trouble for not wearing my school uniform correctly inside or outside school, and for having my boyfriend meet me from school when I was 15. Memories of chats with the careers officer, who seemed to have such a cushy job when she asked me what I wanted to do, I said 'Your job, it looks easy!' This went down like a lead balloon of course, but the only options at that time were shop work, office work, factory work (Mullards valves) or the fish processing plant on the dock! I chose office work and embarked on a career where I changed jobs every few months, having got bored once I knew how to do it and how the company operated. I worked for electrical contractors, stockbrokers, estate agents, working my way up to a better job each time, until finally having my own secretarial business when I was 19.
I remember the Dave Clark Five doing a summer season in Blackpool where I worked, and of my girlfriend Ann and I sitting outside a house they rented in Lytham St. Annes, hoping for a glimpse... she fancied Mike Smith, I was all for Dave Clark. She had an old Ford Prefect, cream and green, and with a hole in the floor on the passenger side where, if you moved the mat, you could see the road, so I had to sit, rather inelegantly, with my legs apart so as not to go through the mat! It took us all over the place with no bother, even as far as Tewkesbury, a journey of several hours, not very comfortable in my position so it was a challenge to find new ones which didn't involve the mat being touched.
For me they were such carefree happy days with great memories... how about you?

5 comments:

Lesley said...

... staying with my cousin in Rickmansworth and going for a drive with her in her boyfriend's car, smoking Consulate and listening to 'Hey Jude' ...

CAMILLA said...

Hi PFG,

Ah they were the days, I remember all the music, they were very happy days for me.

Regarding the Jackie Magazine, this was the time when my daughter used to buy it and we lived in London. She had her first letter published in the magazine, can't quite remember what the letter was about though now.

I see you live in East Anglia, would be interesting to learn if you are very near me, I live in that part of the country too.

Westerwitch/Headmistress said...

Oooo yes your blog has provoked lots of happy memories for me too from that era.

VP said...

The Cathy and Claire page was a must read at school!

Calico Kate said...

The only magazine to read and it isa shame it doesn't exist any more. I 'learnt' and 'yearnt' for so much in that mag.