It's history, now

[azalaisdep]

 Have been reading/watching the accounts of former Czech president Vaclav Havel's funeral in Prague.

It takes me back to the heady days of 1989, which as a teenager who'd grown up with the Cold War, with Polish Solidarity stickers on school folders and bags, were so incredibly exciting...

... and it's odd to reflect that for those even five or ten

Comments

[engarian]

I remember those days. I remember two Berlins, I remember the fall of the Wall, I remember the tanks in the Czech Republic, I remember when Sarajevo was beautiful. These were the stomping grounds of my parents and their relations, and seeing all of these things broke their hearts. I am grateful that they lived to see the fall of so much of this, and I hope that the fall of barriers and the growth of internet communication will allow us to come one step closer to a world of peace, joined by similarities instead of separated by dogma.

- Erulisse (one L)

[azalaisdep]

Amen to that.

I was living in Madrid as an au pair that November/December; several of the other girls in my language classes were German, one from West Berlin, and they came in to class every day overcome with excitement, having spent most of the evening on the phone to their parents or glued to the TV news. Incredible days.

[curiouswombat]

It really is amazing how much we have seen change in our lifetimes.

I remember the Prague Spring; watching black and white footage of tanks rolling into Prague - on my sister's 8th birthday. Being old enough to wonder if this might escalate... would we be having a party for her 9th?

It was fascinating to see the Czechs (and Slovaks) gain their freedom in the Velvet Revolution in the end - times had changed.

And Michael Wood - so droolworthy - in East Berlin. My daughter studied the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall in history... has walked easily in the places that Michael Wood had such limited access to.

Times really have changed.

[azalaisdep]

Ahhh, Michael Wood. Definitely - despite not being floppy-dark-haired like Brian Cox or Neil Oliver - on my personal "thinking woman's crumpet" list; just like the other two, it's the combination of being a brilliant communicator (with a very sexy voice) and absolute passion for his subject. I got an MW DVD box set last Christmas, and so rarely do I get time to sit down and wallow in telly that I'm still working through it all!

Oh, and he is Northern, too - Manchester lad!

(The reviews at the time are right about those jeans, though. Good grief.)