Jean's Journal: What we all watched in 1981
By Jean Farrell
Dear readers, I hope you are sitting with your feet up. These are the days to do so, after all the fuss. And I hope you are enjoying relaxing programmes on the television too.
As a child, Christmas began for me when I saw the annuals in Walsh’s window.
As a mother, Christmas began for me when I bought The RTE Guide. And it still does. I have mine beside me, with numerous programmes already marked.
I came across a 1981 Christmas RTE Guide recently and I’m going to share with you what the whole family watched together back then. Our children were small and we all had only one television.
Bosco was on every day. Other children’s programmes shown were Little House on The Prairie, Wanderly Wagon and Lassie.
That Christmas we watched Cross Country Quiz, Daktari, The Monkees, The Virginian, MASH, Hart to Hart, Blankety Blank, Upstairs Downstairs, SBB ina Shuí, Grizzley Adams and Flash Gordon, amongst others.
The Riordans was shown from 1965 until 1979. Glenroe was on-air from 1983 until 2001. So, that Christmas, in 1981, we watched Bracken. This was a kind of ‘follow-on’ from The Riordans and it was where we first saw gorgeous Gabriel Byrne, now a famous film-star.
‘Going Strong’ was also shown those days, with Ann O’Dwyer and Bunny Carr. Ann played the piano. ‘Old’ folk were in the audience. I’m probably older than most of them now!
The highlight of our viewing at that time was Dallas and Dynasty. These were shown that Christmas, in 1981, and how we loved them! How fascinated we were to get a glimpse into their glamorous worlds. The Ewings and Carringtons had bars inside in their houses,
they wore massive shoulder pads, they had swimming pools in their backyards and the women were gorgeous. So were the men! We watched their scandalous antics as pure escapism.
In the early 1980s most of us were busy parents of young children, in dull holy Catholic Ireland. We needed a bit of escapism.
I was particularly busy that Christmas of 1981. I came home from hospital with my third child on December 20th, a little baby girl. Her brother was only 20 months old and her sister was four. When they all eventually went to bed I badly needed to ‘escape’ to The Southfork ranch, in Dallas for an hour!
When I am with my friends many of our chats begin with, “Maybe I have told you this before but…” It doesn’t matter, because mainly we have forgotten it! Maybe I wrote about the following incident before, dear readers, but perhaps you have forgotten it!
This tale took place, in the mid-1980s, when our children were aged 7, 4 and 3. On Christmas Eve my husband and I were making stuffing, peeling sprouts, wrapping presents plus much much more. At 1 pm the phone rang (landline, of course.) “Hello,” said a strange voice. “You have won first prize in our raffle. The hamper must be collected before 4 pm because our pub closes then.” What raffle, what pub, I wondered. What was the man talking about?
He told me that he was phoning from Athy. I had no memory of ever being in Athy and, indeed, I didn’t even know what county Athy was in. “You have to be here by 4pm,” he said, naming the pub and then put down the phone.
We racked our brains and remembered stopping for lunch, one summer’s day, in some pub in County Kildare, on our way home from a camping holiday. It must have been Athy and I must have bought a raffle ticket.
I took off my apron. “Let’s go,” I said. You see, it was the first time ever that I had won anything and I wanted my prize. No-one else wanted to drive to Athy. My husband said it would be madness to head off, across country, on Christmas Eve. The three children were happy at home.
I talked about what would be in this Christmas hamper which awaited us. “Maybe a turkey, a ham as well as lots of chocolates and sweets,” I said to the reluctant children, as I put on their coats. “Maybe bottles of brandy, whiskey and wine,” I told my husband, as I tried to persuade him to go!
We abandoned all our many chores and set off without the assistance of motor ways and sat navs. I had a large map open on my knees. Our 3 small children were cranky and contrary in the back seat. Himself wasn’t speaking to me, as he drove along unknown roads!
The pressure was on to get to this pub in Athy before 4 pm. We did, just about. A burly disgruntled man handed me the hamper in silence as he closed the door of his business.
Everywhere else in Athy was closed too. We couldn’t even get a cup of tea. It got dark as we drove back to Athlone and the mood in the car was dark also! The traffic was horrendous.
When we eventually got home I opened the hamper. What a big disappointment! One cheap bottle of wine, a turkey beginning to defrost, tins of peas and beans, a pot of cheap jam and a small box of cheap chocolates were the contents!
What a lot of fuss about nothing! My husband was correct, we should never have gone across the country, that evening, to collect my prize.
I think of this journey-in-vain every Christmas Eve!
Nollaig shona daoibh to léir, dear readers. And take it easy!