Top Deck, again.
I’ve just been to Norwich to visit Minnie at UEA. Sitting together on the top deck of the No.25 bus, heading into the city, Minnie listed the ways in which students are like primary school children.
‘We have a nap; we look forward to that. We eat fishfingers and beans. We watch children’s TV. We wear bobble hats and mittens. We play games like ‘Duck Duck Goose‘. We have packed lunch. We have gerbils. We do dressing up. We get really exited when it snows…’
How proud I am of that child. Greek philosophy and funny too. This is the kind of cultural insight that Mandelson would crush!
So, sitting on the top deck with Minnie prompts me to post this recording of the Top Deck show that I did earlier this year with Jolyon Jenkins for Radio Four, with thanks to the good people at Speechification.
I found it today whilst ego-googling the Off The Page programme I recently recorded for Radio Four, trying to find out when it’s due for broadcast. Thursday 26th November at 1.30pm, I discover.
Ah, students. Don’t you just love ’em?
I remember napping and I remember the misplaced optimism of punk……hmmmm……happy days.
No one told me that freak politics was over and Ive been voting for so many years now. Optimism and youth go together don’t they, whatever fad they are harnessed to, so hardly misplaced.Looking forward to the next broadcast as rather enjoyed Top Deck.
Aye, well, in our day, lass, it were very different.
We had 70’s hedonism, the tail end of freak politics, and the misplaced optimism of punk. Cutesy was a bit ’73 in ’76.
More grunge than cutesy is my recollection. Not really worried about the Mandy masterplan. There will always be chances for the feckless to find their way in and have a three year snooze; so many places and courses to fill.
I remember napping a lot as a student, usually under the influence of rare and powerful herbs… not what Mandy would call value for the taxpayer’s shilling, but happy days, isn’t it? Besides, I reckon I’ve paid it all off since…