One of these Days - The Pink Floyd

Leonard Sachs - Prognosticating the Future

‘The Good Old Days’ are happening right now…

We spend so much of our time wishing we were back in ‘The Good Old Days’. But I wonder which of ‘The Good Old Days’ we are thinking about here. Are they the late 60’s ones perhaps full of Flower Power and the Summer of Love – The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pre-Decimal Currency & Space Travel or the 70’s with its Strikes, Punk Rock and Margaret Thatcher? Or the stand-out days of the 80’s such as Live Aid Day (13^th July 1985) that you’ll relish if you watched it on TV or even better were lucky enough to be there - I mean, you will probably remember the acts.

 

Happy days - Good Days - The Good Old Days in fact

Anyway, moving on and as we headed towards the Millennium and the digital age, I’m not sure if anyone would have imagined just how much the next twenty years would change. How the big wide world could be accessed and lived through a 6.1” screen. And how everyone potentially has a voice and can live and identify as whatever they jolly-well like. It feels like there are far too many choices, far too many platforms and not enough time to live out the dream. 

 

Was it simpler in The Good Old Days?

 

Were we free in the 60’s? ‘Turn on, tune in and drop out’ – Timothy Leary coined the phrase in the late 60’s to describe his views on the world and humanity, the meaning of inner life and the LSD experience. I wonder how many people are still living the ‘Hippy Life’ or just remember those days and the freedom and liberation from the establishment they brought. 

 

I’m not sure the 70’s delivered the same vibe. Most things were brown as I remember. Cars, clothes, even bathroom suites which seemed to match the mood of a country caught up in strike action, power cuts and the three-day week. Yet the music of the 70’s that grew out of this period of change lives on today - the Prog Rock to Punk Rock transition provided a fantastic backdrop to a decade of major change where-by the early 80’s, we were ready to ‘Feed the World’ and begin to look at tackling HIV and global warming.

 

The 90’s were disappointing as I remember. I received my first text message and waited ages to dial-up and see a very underwhelming website in 1995 – It was so underwhelming. Google, Facebook and Twitter didn’t exist - an Apple-Mac cost the best part of £10k and had the memory of a gnat. But then the analogue world went digital, andthe new century has brought with it some massive changes. 

 

The biggest one perhaps is how much each and every one of us packs into the same 24 hours we’ve had ever since ‘the Good Old Days’ were around. I wonder if we will look back in another 30 years and reminisce about how much we loved emailing people and how Covid turned out to be a blessing as it gave us a forced time-out where we could take stock, stop and redirect our future.

 

Twenty-three years into a century that seemed like a lifetime away when I was a small boy, and I’m wondering how time literally flies by. Days, weeks and years flash by in a moment and before you know it, you think about The Good Old Days more and more. The missed opportunities. The things you should have done. The choices you should have made. The only thing is, those days have gone. 

 

However, today is here right here and right now and you have the choice to make it a ‘Good’ or a ‘Not So Good Old Day. What are you going to do about it?

1,159 Marathons - 271 Ultras - 9 Guinness World Records - 16 MDS - One Life