It’s Friday night-1994

[Cositseleventhirtyandtheclubisjumpinjumpin]

How old are you, what are you doing?

I’m 16, almost due to do GCSE’s and have an amazing summer, only bettered by summer of 1995, the following year.
I’m out, either at a house party or drinking in the park or around the village. I spent ages getting ready in crop top or maybe a body, oversized denim or check shirt, usually tied around my waist, kickers & jeans. Hair long and wavy, coffee shimmer lipstick, bronzer and heavy eyeliner. Met up with the other four friends in our group to drink vodka or cider, smoke Embassy number one and probably some weed later on. Excitement’s in the air as it is every Friday night, we’ll probably meet up with the boys two years above us, maybe drive around in cars, possibly go with one of them (snog/kiss) but the most fun part is when all five of us girls get drunk together and howl with laughter, rarely has there been friendships as precious as those early ones.

This Friday night-I’m 48, lay in bed next to my sleeping 7 year old, live abroad and am a sensible adult.

I would probably be chaining myself to a tree to protest logging, or riding the rails on a freight train into the desert or paddling my sea kayak to an island and watching the stars in the water or sneaking into a Grateful Dead concert. I was in the US then, early 20s and touring the world.

In 1994 I was in my 20s and in a relationship. For a Friday night I'd either be in a pub in London with workmates, restaurant with my then partner, or as the weather's good possibly camping in a field somewhere with aforementioned partner and various biker friends.

I'm now in my 50s and very happily single. I've cooked myself a particularly delicious mushroom biryani and I'm catching up on TV and social media.

Wow, so interesting! And now?

Now, I’m a very respectable 50 something with DC flown the nest and plotting my next adventure.

Same! Also 16. Friday night was underage drinkers night in local pubs. Doing the "route" between pubs. Wearing knee high boots and short skirts, drinking penod and black or taboo and lemonade after 5pm pre drinks of MD20/20. Probably wearing Eden or Lou Lou perfume and managing it all on less than a tenner.

Fast forward to now, waiting up to 10pm to collect son from his job whilst scrolling mumsnet, seething about my day and mentally composing a Mic drop resignation letter.

The other thing I'm doing this evening realising that 1994 is FUCKING THIRTY FUCKING TWO FUCKING YEARS FUCKING AGO. FUCK.

Gosh, how the time flies.

Ahh the pubs too, when they all knew we were underage but everyone got served anyway. I always asked for a lager and lime?! No idea why, maybe cheap? We generally drank in a passage before though.
Oh how I miss sitting round a table drinking, laughing and smoking
Saturday nights were going to clubs and necking all sorts

Friday night was county youth orchestra

For example, going canyoning in the alps in a few weeks.
Many streams only exist in spring as the snow melts.

Scary isn’t it?!

I’m 9/10 - probably went horse-riding after school then had a chilled evening at home watching tv, reading and relaxing.

41 now and quite often think I’d like to be a few years older but only because being an older teenager in the mid-90s must have been brilliant. The music… I would have loved to have been old enough to go out!

I'd have been 14 lolling in a bath for hours with some of those body shop bath oil pearls waiting for my boyfriend who looked like Axl Rose and was 17 to arrive. Then we'd probably just have dinner and watch Friday night TV with my parents and brothers! Then we'd go ice skating on Saturday morning, which was all the rage round my way. I was a kind of semi hippie goth girl so I'd be all flowing chiffon, stripy tights and patchouli oil all topped off with a floppy velvet hat.

Them was the days!

orchestra then pub.

It was incredible

We had the real raves then, not the poor initiations of later. ;)

I’d be grabbing my white gloves and glow sticks to go raving at my favourite club with a bag of whizz.

If I would have happened to be staying in-rare by that age, but possible, i’d sit with my mum all cosy watching Cheers & Roseanne…possibly with a Pot noofle..I think, then Friends a bit later, but I mainly watched that with my boyfriend

Except for the time my little brother got arrested for stealing the French flag off their embassy one night.

Yes that was my D of choice too :) ahhh

All good fun though

Nice. 😊 i also went to heavy industrial gigs where we’d mosh and I’d crowd surf. So much fun then.

Same but probably any free party/rave we could get to. Don’t regret anything.

Oh, I had forgotten about Pernod and Black! Used to drink it a lot but would hate to do it now!

Yep and with no cell phones our parents were none the wiser.