What's on my mind

'What's on your mind?' so goes the Facebook prompt. At which moment, my mind immediately goes blank.

However, lately the '60s and the hippie revolution have been on my mind. I think this is because at this time last year we were in California, and staying, specifically, in Berkeley. While there we happened to catch on TV a documentary about the student movement at the university, the protests, sit ins and so on. It made a deep impression.

Having been a teenager in England in the '50s, I was just ahead of all the turbulence and turmoil that took place, the sexual revolution, the dropping out and tuning in and so on. Still, mulling over the whole phenomenon I'm aware of how restricted we were by old traditions in the '50s, how trapped in class and rigid manners and expectations. Yes, there were good things and bad about the hippie time, and almost I could say that a true impulse for social change was hijacked when other influences came in. But I remain impressed by my ex-hippie friends, and the way they still live their lives with idealism.

I was discussing it all with my d.h., who said he'd also been thinking along these lines. His words of wisdom was that it needed to happen, we needed to break free. I'd say this is true.