(Untitled)

[_speranza]

I was eleven in 1997. I'd just finished junior school and we were busy getting my brand new uniform ready to start my new school. I remember being astonished at the ghastly length of my new skirt and the size of my hockey stick, not being a girl who was at all hockey inclined

Comments

[wolfylady]

Have you seen The Queen? I don't care for royalty at all and at 11 I didn't have much interest in Diana, although now I'd say that I respect her as someone who didn't put on all the airs and graces, but when I saw that film I felt the same strange sort of personal grief come over me that I think most people did around that time. I remember where I was when I heard that Diana was dead, the same as I don't think I'll ever forget the complete confusion of watching the news reports on the London bombings turn from a mechanical error on the tube to a bus being blown up too. Strange times.
xxx

[_speranza]

Yeah, I've seen it. I thought it was a really good, solid representation of that time and was probably fairly true of the way they reacted. It wasn't too sentimental either which was refreshing.

Strange times indeed. xx

[aszy]

This is called Flashbulb Memories. They are really peculiar - you can remember exactly what happened, and most likely will never forget it. Just like 9/11 and 7/7. This is quite a poignant account of your memory. I find it quite remarkable.
xxx

[_speranza]

Most interesting. Bizarrely I found my memories of that which happened ten years ago much clearer than what I remember about 9/11 and 7/7. Those events I can remember snippets of, but that time ten years ago I remember much more vividly.

Hope you're lovely! x

[peppimint]

I remember waking up, walking into the living room, and finding my mum sat on the sofa, watching the news. I have always been a bright, chirpy, bundle of energy in the morning but, as soon as I saw mum's facial expression, I remember that my morning excitement stopped in its tracks. I felt as if somebody had dropped a very heavy rock into my tummy. My mum was pale faced and watery eyed. It was obvious that she had been crying. I asked her what was wrong. She told me that Princess Diana had died. I settled down next to her, we curled up into a mother-daughter hug, and watched the news for more details. I can even remember what my mum and I were wearing that morning... Mum - a purple, silk dressing gown, myself - a pink Aladdin nightdress. How strange that I've remembered such an strange little detail

[_speranza]

I think she was different which is why everyone responded to her in a much warmer way and reacted so much to her death. The Queen has lived through some remarkable things and seen the country change under her rule probably more than any other monarch but she's never been particularly warm to her public. She's in her own sort of bubble and your average British citizen has nothing in common with her. Diana made sure people were aware of the fact she'd suffered an awful lot and she was able to use it productively in helping others. One can't not admire somebody like that.

Yeah it's very odd how you remember those normally irrelevant things. It's fascinating.

Your Granny was so lucky. I would have love to have met her properly, I genuinely think there was something slightly transcendental about her, if you can attribute that to a person. Still, I have that tiny little memory of the bright yellow dress from a long distance. xx

[ohcherefille]

i remember exactly where i was when i heard. i was sat in a chalet in cornwall eating cocopops & a news broadcast interrupted the episode of buffy the vampire slayer that i was watching. & my parents thought it was a joke. & i remember watching the funeral & crying a lot & elton john singing candle in the wind. isn't it strange, the things you remember so vividly?

[_speranza]

It's very strange. I've found that one memory unlocks another too.

[_speranza]

Thanks.

That's the funny thing about memories I suppose. You can think you don't remember something but then you sort of remember that you associated the memory with something else. Jolly confusing. x