As Time Goes By: Our Early Retirement Years
...The government announced that there was to be no more advertising of tobacco and cigarettes, which had always for years appeared on television, on roadside hoardings, in newspapers and magazines and on large billboards surrounding football and cricket fields. It was the start of a national ‘No Smoking’ campaign...
Eileen Perrin continues the account of her life and times.
To read earlier episodes of Eileen's story please visit http://www.openwriting.com/archives/as_time_goes_by/
By 1989, three years after retiring, Les and I had become quite used to having time to do what we liked and not have the dreary slog up to London to work every day.
In November 1989 we took a short holiday in Chester and enjoyed the old timbered houses in the centre and went in the cathedral. On a trip to the Canal Basin in Ellesmere Port we looked over the Boat Museum there.
In June 1990 there was news of an earthquake in Iran which killed 40,000 people.
We went to Yugoslavia, that June, staying in the Materada, a huge white hotel in Porec on the Adriatic coast. We went for a trip in a sailing boat for a cruise down the coast to Red Island, Rabac another port, which had narrow cobbled streets going down to the rocky coast and Rovinj a town built on a peninsular; beautiful scenery everywhere. Other coastal towns we visited were Motovun and Piran.
In the mountains, going for a tour underground, we were taken on a small electric open-sided tram down to the very lowest cave where in a pool we saw pinky-orange coloured fire salamanders with thin little front legs and two miniature legs near the tail, looking like miniature crocodiles. They were said to have originated in pre-historic times.
We had a wonderful day east of Trieste in Slovenia at the Lipica Horse Farm Stud founded in 1580, where we watched a display of their lovely white horses in dressage and driving skills.
Little did we know that in the summer following, Slovenia and Croatia would declare their independence from Yugoslvaia and so started the Balkans War. The Yuogoslav Army moved in and the ethnic cleansing of Croatia began, which was brought to an end in January 1992 when the U.N. supervised a Cease Fire, leaving 25, 000 dead.
In 1990 Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years. He was elected President of the African National Congress.
In July 1990 the London Palladium put on a Royal Variety Show in honour of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s 90th birthday.
The ‘Wind in the Willows’ with Griff Rhys Jones was put on at the National Theatre.
Films of that year included ‘Pretty Woman’ with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, ‘Dances with Wolves’ with Kevin Costner, and ‘Lord of the Flies’.
In August 1990 Saddam Hussein took his Iraqi invading forces into Kuwait, the country with the world’s largest oil supplies. He conquered the country but in what became the Gulf War was driven out by the Coalition Military Force in early 1991, when Saddam, in his retreat, instigated a scorched earth policy and his forces set over 1 billion oil wells on fire.
A world-renowned fire fighter Paul ‘Red’ Adair from Texas – another land of oil wells - went over there and extinguished many of the oil well fires.
In September 1990 we went to North Devon and relived earlier memories at Malmesmead, the Doone Valley and Hunters Inn at Lynton.
On January 19th 1991 the Gulf War began and the Royal Air Force joined Allied Forces carrying out bombing raids on Iraq and over Kuwait in operation ‘Desert Storm’.
In early February heavy snow disrupted the British Isles in a prolonged cold snap.
In the early morning of Friday February 18th the I.R.A. exploded bombs at Paddington and Victoria stations.
On April 23rd the government replaced Poll Tax with Council Tax.
In June journalist Terry Anderson was released after seven years hostage in Beirut.
On August 8th John McCarthy, held hostage for five years in the Lebanon was freed, and on November 18th Terry Waite was freed after being held for four and a half years.
In August came the end of communism in Russia.
It was announced on T.V. News that Prince Charles and Princess Diana were to separate. His brother Andrew had earlier separated from Sarah Ferguson, and later that year Princess Anne announced her separation from Captain Mark Phillips.
Films of that year included ‘Silence of the Lambs ‘with Anthony Hopkins.
The television show ‘One Foot in the Grave’ – the exploits of Victor Meldrew, with Richard Wilson and Annette Crosbie which had been on since 1990, proving very popular, was to run until the year 2000.
In the theatre in November 1991 Alan Bennett’s ‘The Madness of George the Third’ was playing. We went to see it at the National theatre on South Bank.
The government announced that there was to be no more advertising of tobacco and cigarettes, which had always for years appeared on television, on roadside hoardings, in newspapers and magazines and on large billboards surrounding football and cricket fields. It was the start of a national ‘No Smoking’ campaign.
Neither of us smoked, although Les had smoked when he was in the Navy with the ‘DUTY FREE’ option of cheap cigarettes. He had given it up when Cathy was a toddler as it used to make her sick when he smoked in the car.
Neither of our children took up the smoking habit, thank goodness.
