Does anyone get bittersweet pangs of nostalgia?

[Lencoboy]

Currently on March 2005.

Around this time there were a lot of discussions on DS about Bird Flu and even some links to the BBC site where there were fears of a possible 'pandemic' being expressed at the time.

Quite prophetic in some ways considering what was to come some 15 years later that we're still continuing to feel certain impacts of right now, plus of course there was also the Swine Flu pandemic 4 years later in 2009, which fortunately never seemed to wreak the same havoc as Covid just over a decade later.

God, how naive I still was about many things even as late as 2005, though of course ignorance was still largely bliss for me at that time, but that Bird Flu scare at the time luckily, however, happened to be much ado about nothing in the end.

[Lencoboy]

I was looking through one of my old photo albums this morning (circa June 1992) and some of the photos were from a school day trip to London. There were a couple of pics of me taken by others on the trip (with my own camera), including me standing outside 10 Downing Street (which we had the privilege of being authorised to walk up by the gatekeepers) and a couple of me standing with one of my best classmates who used to make me laugh (e.g, saying things like 'Phew-ee' out loud whenever anyone farted, which happened on the train on the way down there).

I was looking rather happy and cheerful in those photos and that day trip was one of my better memories of that particular school (which I left just over a year later in July 1993), plus I was largely oblivious to a lot of the potential hazards and challenges of our capital which were still a thing then, such as terror threats (especially the IRA back then, including the attempted mortar attack on Downing St some 18 months or so earlier), protests/disturbances (the Poll Tax Riots had happened in central London just over 2 years earlier), and various other things that I'm far more hypersensitive to these days, all of which would inadvertently compel me to constantly have my wits about me if I visited London (or any other major city) nowadays, despite 'twas ever thus' in many respects.

God, even the 'Bombs, Be Alert' campaign posters from the Met Police displayed on the walls of the Tube stations totally went over my head back then; now they would probably put the fear of God into me. From seeing old TV footage from the early 90s era, it also looked like there were far more graffiti tags on the Tube back then, of which also went over my head at the time, but would probably find them extremely intimidating today.

Ignorance/innocence was certainly bliss for me at that time, still with no real responsibilities of my own and innocuous lack of awareness of many issues that would give me the willies today.

[Lencoboy]

Just been reminiscing about one of the better (and funnier) memories of when I was at the residential school.

I recall one evening in the early autumn of 1986, me and the rest of my house group were sat in the lounge watching the first episode of a repeat series of 'The Muppet Show' on the TV, and one of the other kids in my house group who was sat next to me on the same sofa unleashed a bad fart that I remember stank to high heaven of stale dog food.

Then my residential social worker (aka house-parent) caught a whiff of the stench and said 'Who wants to go the toilet?' (the exact words she said) and SM, the kid who let rip didn't own up and PH, another kid in our house group who was sat the opposite side to SM on the same sofa (who was also a suspect for that trumping episode) said 'I heard the noise from SM so it's definitely him', so our RSW/HP ended up accusing them both and then sent them both to the toilet.

Luckily on that particular occasion, I seemed to be off the radar as a potential suspect for that farting episode, despite the fact that prior to then I was usually the one in our house group that got blamed for farting, even when I hadn't. In fact, my RSW/HP often used to nickname me 'stinky (my surname)' or 'smelly (my surname)' back then. Even though it was likely partly in jest, it would no doubt be considered extremely cruel and non-PC if done today.

However, whenever I hear the theme tune to 'The Muppet Show' today I can't help chuckling to myself; not just because of the show's comedic nature in general, but also due to that kid (SM) at the residential school dropping his bat during that first repeat episode that, according to online sources, was aired on ITV on the evening of Wednesday 24th September 1986 (which I also surmise was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the original first series), coupled with the fact that for once I didn't get the blame for being the 'resident farter' by both staff and other pupils at said residential school.

[Lencoboy]

Just been reminiscing about one of the better (and funnier) memories of when I was at the residential school.

I recall one evening in the early autumn of 1986, me and the rest of my house group were sat in the lounge watching the first episode of a repeat series of 'The Muppet Show' on the TV, and one of the other kids in my house group who was sat next to me on the same sofa unleashed a bad fart that I remember stank to high heaven of stale dog food.

Then my residential social worker (aka house-parent) caught a whiff of the stench and said 'Who wants to go the toilet?' (the exact words she said) and SM, the kid who let rip didn't own up and PH, another kid in our house group who was sat the opposite side to SM on the same sofa (who was also a suspect for that trumping episode) said 'I heard the noise from SM so it's definitely him', so our RSW/HP ended up accusing them both and then sent them both to the toilet.

Luckily on that particular occasion, I seemed to be off the radar as a potential suspect for that farting episode, despite the fact that prior to then I was usually the one in our house group that got blamed for farting, even when I hadn't. In fact, my RSW/HP often used to nickname me 'stinky (my surname)' or 'smelly (my surname)' back then. Even though it was likely partly in jest, it would no doubt be considered extremely cruel and non-PC if done today.

However, whenever I hear the theme tune to 'The Muppet Show' today I can't help chuckling to myself; not just because of the show's comedic nature in general, but also due to that kid (SM) at the residential school dropping his bat during that first repeat episode that, according to online sources, was aired on ITV on the evening of Wednesday 24th September 1986 (which I also surmise was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the original first series), coupled with the fact that for once I didn't get the blame for being the 'resident farter' by both staff and other pupils at said residential school.

Funnily enough I dreamt last night that I returned to that residential school with a few fellow clients from my current day centre in Burton joining me there, and a couple of staff members at that residential school tried playing the same old power-mad tricks on me once again now in 2024 (e.g, insisting I had a bath in that horrid windowless bath area that I was terrified witless of at the time), and I said 'Nah, you can go and do one because I'm now a fully-grown adult with full human rights, no longer a defenceless learning-disabled child who was seen and not heard, expected to do as he was told or else, and constantly victimised and humiliated by you poxy sadist dinosaurs back in 1986-87'!

Those staff members at the residential school in that dream last night soon shut up and left me alone after I told them that (LOL)!