Where is la Fhina going today, mes bloggy paramours? She is back in the land of the living, back in her native north... World-weary and steamed to within an inch of her life, she is keen to reflect on the beauties of another international city, and the links to her own past...
As a child, I avidly watched writer Carla Lane's TV comedy - Called a sitcom these days - The Liver Birds... Liver is pronounced Ly-ver, not Liver, as in Liverpool...
This series, about two Sixties' dolly girls, ran from 1969 through to 1979, with a small reprieve in the Nineties... Named after the famous birds atop the Liver Insurance Building on Liverpool's waterfront, the show (a little like Rhoda, I'd guess), charted the ups and downs of the lives and loves of the two flat-sharers, working-class Beryl and posher Sandra, in Liverpool...
Beryl and Sandra were very much part of my growing up. I wanted to be like them, or at least one of them... I wanted their lives, their freedoms, a flat of my own, boyfriends, or a boyfriend in the future. And they seemed so beautiful and glamorous, so funny and sweet. And I wanted to be Beryl, or Sandra, Sandryl or Berandra. Someone so sassy and clever as they were - With all the right words, in all the right places, turning heads and grabbing hearts...
What happened, mes bloggy Liver-Birds??!
I invite you to consider the Sixties, and the Seventies, and the Eighties and the Nineties...
And Fhina wonders where all that time went?! Bagman, Butler? Derrick? Rosaria? My darling Sara? And all of you who have at least, and beautifully, four decades to your name??! xxx
15 comments:
Thanks for the memories Ms Fhina, and this gently reflective post. Imagine those years are gone...meanwhile I live in another culture that has a mix of styles...in music, dress, and approach to life. Living here makes the separation from my past so dramatic and distant. I hardly remember in this certain way anymore...now I think everywhere another experience was happening...and it was equally important to those who were encountering it. I think I sometimes muse about California in a way that's connected to music,dress and lifestyle...I lived there 23years...also I'm surrounded by a collection of American, British, and Latin artifacts from the pop culture-50s and onward-past...(I call the h a curator)
My feeling is move on, find what's good in the now, delight in the returns of fashion, sound, attitudes...and be easy with it all. <3
Almost four for me but I've never been steeped in a whole lot of pop culture where I am. You can't escape it these days but when I was growing up there was only local flavor and only two chanels on the tv if you were lucky and you stood very still holding rabbit ears.
Where has the time gone? As it goes. It is gone in stages of childhood and then one quicksilver flow. I think it's time to slow it down.
Hi Fhina,
Four decades?! I think you must have been looking at a poor photograph of me!! It's a trick of the light! Dear Beryl and Saaandra. I loved Molly Sugden as her Mum!
Where have the years gone? In a blur of adventure, excitement and pleasure wouldn't you say?
I loved the Liver Birds too. Don't forget John Nettles as the rather wet boyfriend (little did he know that he'd end up policing an area of England with such a high death rate that it's a wonder anyone was left inhabiting the place!)
Although Sandra and Beryl's life looked great, my life just didn't go down that path. I may have missed out on the flatsharing but I've been happy with my lot in the intervening decades. Just go with the flow!
I have never seen Sandra and Beryl, but I know what an impact shows like that had on my life growing up.
And The Beatles? Still feel their magic! That animation was very trippy, n'est ce pas?
btw, Across The Universe was a great movie, if you haven't already seen it.
Oh, we were so lucky to have had those times! I loved the innocence of them. Kids sure don't have that today. Thanks for the reminder! I'll let it play in my head all day!
Good times indeed! I had never heard the name Beryl until a few years ago - it was the name of a British member of our badminton group...and since then I've come across a second Beryl..all of this is not very relevant to the story, but I felt like sharing :-)
I don't know this show at all, but last night night I was at a party and my friend had a flippy hairdo that reminded me of Marlo Thomas in "That Girl." (Did you have this show?) Similar associations -- of freedom, cute clothes, one's own flat, that kind of thing.
Enjoy the Scousers. (Did i get that right?)
If you should get the chance to visit Liverpool again, take a trip to Southport. Lord St has been described as the most elegant street in Europe - albeit in Lancashire Life. Must admit it has gone down a lot in the last 30 years, but then what hasn't?
Wonderful collage of images and words. Capturing an era, a place, and my heart.
I'm clueless, as is often the case, but fascinated at the same time.
If you figure out where the time goes, let me know. I'm looking to retrieve a little of it myself. :)
Love to you,
Bloggus
XXOOXX
Cynthia: I think my memories were really triggered by being in Liverpool, where the Liver Birds are such icons, and the show was such a big part of my growing up... I find that we get more cognizant of our pasts as we age - Not always in a melancholy way, but rather in remembrances of lost time, as per Proust, where souvenirs are triggered by tastes and sights and sounds...
I do delight in modern things too, as well as having a keen curiosity in the past and how we were... I hope I am as healthy as you are about memories and what we choose to store away, and take out to taste and feel, now and again, darling Cynthia xxx
Woman in a Window: You are such a writer and a character, WiW - You have just made me smile so, with your description of your growing up... I grew up in an isolated industrial community, where we visited the city once or twice a year, usually Christmas shopping... Now I work there every weekday, and live in an even more isolated place - It's odd, isn't it, how our lives and our perceptions shift over time... x
Derrick: I agree with the blur, Sir! Not sure about much excitement, really, but I retain an avid curiosity about life and people, which keeps me buoyant! We were in Kelso late yesterday afternoon, and I wondered aloud to my husband how far we were from Melrose - Perhaps I might be able to drop in over the summer? Get the 'Closed' sign ready! ;) x
Gennasus: I never realised about John Nettles! And you made me laugh so about Midsomer! How right you are! I am pretty much a flow type person, thankfully... x
Comedy Goddess: Hello dahlink! I haven't seen Across The Universe, I shall defo watch out for it, coming with your recommendation x
shabby girl: You are right, I strongly feel... I hope you've had a good day of memories, dahlink Shabstress! x
carma: Beryl means jewel, it's a kind of gemstone - Incredible, non?! And you'd never hear of a baby being named Beryl these days, it's long gone... Thank you for sharing your take on memories, Carma! x
Darling Bee: We didn't have that show, no - And isn't it odd how a sighting can set off all manner of associations -- And you got it so right with the Scousers - which comes from a meat type of dish called scouse... I think it originated in one of the Hanseatic towns, of which Liverpool was one - I think it might have been in Germany, where some of the accent today apparently comes from... x
William James Denver: Is the cheque in the post, Sir?!
Chairman Bill: I spent a happy childhood holiday in Southport, Sir - Wild, non?! I do intend to visit it again someday, definitely, and thank you for the recommendation!
Butler and Bagman: Ah, kind Sirs, you make me blush so... x
blognut: I think as the kids grow, we fall back on memories, and what happened to our lives while we were trying to bring them up right! Lovely to see you back, my dahlink. Much love! xxooxx
Aaah Fhina my love I'm just past five decades and I was that Sandra or Beryl. A Liver Bird born and bred I left the sacred land of two Cathedrals and two football teams as soon as I could to join the equally glamourous (or so I thought ) world of the WRAF.
I loved the girls and Lucien with his rabbits, Moly Sugden and her hats and beryls mum with her wonderful Irish accent. Days to dream indeed I wanted to be my big sis with her hotpants and maxi coats.
What a star you are, Jan - I hadn't known that your sis had dated Sir Paul's brother - Six Degrees of Separation, or what? Incredible! You've brought me back such memories - I loved Our Lucien (and the way they all said that!) and his lovely bunnies! Welcome back, sweetheart! xox
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