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 was in the pregnancy/ toddler years then .Would go back to those years in a heartbeat. Just easy and fun,no SM to screw my brain to pieces ! Consider myself very fortunate.

Wow, my 16 year old's last day is the last exam day, no study leave at their school. They're doing leavers assembly and shirt signing between Physics in the morning and Further Maths in the afternoon of 15th June! I bloody loved study leave.

I was on holiday in Lanzarote, crying myself to sleep as Ayrton Senna had died in a crash at Imola 😭

I was in my third year at university and about 2 weeks away from my Finals! I'd hope I was frantically revising but it's just possible I'd have gone to a SU night or sit in a pub garden with a couple of friends, all of whom were also meant to be revising. I'd be wearing a wafty ankle-length cheesecloth skirt, indigo blue, with a cropped Indian block print sari top with beading on the hem (if I was having a skinny day) and something a bit less cropped if not. If it was chilly though, I'd probably be wearing brown Mary Quant leggings, a baggy top, a baggy grey wool cardigan over that, and black 6 hole DMs.

I was about to spend another summer doing fieldwork with friends before returning to do an MA, but would be waiting anxiously this coming summer to see if I got funding or not. The idea of applying for postgraduate funding and having about a 50% chance of getting it seems like a pipe dream now. My son won't have that.

I’m 31, living in Georgia, USA. My husband is in the military, works shifts and we rarely go out at the weekend.

32 years later, living in Colorado, USA. My husband is a civilian working with the military. We have 3 20 somethings living at home, trying to save to start their lives. We go out even more rarely…

Then, I’m 15, my best friend is over at my house and we’re going to sleep downstairs having stayed up very late talking and laughing and watching horror films. In the morning, we’ll get up and go into town to hang around the record shop, buy dewberry perfume and music magazines. Then we’ll head to her house to get ready to go out and sneak into a pub and a nightclub before staying at her house because her parents are less suspicious than mine.
Now, I’m sat on the sofa texting ds who is away at uni, dd and dh have both gone to bed. However, my best friend and I are still best friends, no nightclubs for us anymore though!

I was 12. I was in a youth music project and we practised for four hours on a Friday. But I had recently discovered Blur, Suede and Elastica. And my teens were just about to get interesting.

I had finished university the year before. Living with my boyfriend and now dh. Idk what we did the day Ayrton Senna died. I know we were in shock.

Now - in bed at 9pm shattered. Supporting dd, who is going through A levels. **

2 months old. Probably waking my mum up for a feed. Present day, I'm awake to feed my baby.

16 and we were either at the local park with a bottle of cider and 10 Marlboro lights or getting served in one of the local pubs.. there was an awful lot of cigarettes and alcohol involved, wherever we were.

I am 28, 4 weeks pregnant after TTC for more than a year so don’t know it yet. Couldn’t have felt unwell because it was a complete surprise a few weeks later to find out.
Since it’s Friday night we would have been watching Have I got news for you , my favourite programme then ( and probably now too! ) Fast forward 32 years and it’s Friday night and we were still watching Have I Got News For You earlier. ( Paul Merton and I have aged gracefully, Ian Hislop hasn’t changed that much!)

We (me and ex) have a one-year old child. She's probably on night shift (ex, not child), I'm watching Jools with a beer and hoping baby stays asleep. I've recently had a promotion, but am thinking of leaving my job for a better one. Those were happy days, and we were renting a massive flat in a beautiful old house.
(coincidentally, next week I'm meeting up with an ex-colleague I haven't seen since those days.)

Wow!! I’m 24. On this Friday night I would have been recovering from having my gallbladder removed on Tuesday. I had a five month old baby daughter. I also had a completely useless partner who I left two months later😳

I’d have been 5. So gone to school, come home to meticulously arrange my Play Mobil then reading before bed.

I was 15, and after doing my homework for the weekend, I would head over to my boyfriend's house where we'd drink Martini Rosso and lemonade, have sex a couple of times, then head to a nightclub. We'd dance lots, drink more, usually have a row when he thought "that bloke was eyeing you up", then agonise over whether to spend our last fiver on 2 more Woo Woos, or a taxi home. We'd invariably end up walking back to his, which took more than an hour up a massive hill. Get back to his, more sex, then a few hours kip before my Saturday job. Oh, to have that much energy!

These days, I'm 46, and have spent the evening doing Physics flashcards with my 17 year old DD in preparation for her upcoming AS Level exams. Then DH and I watched a couple of episodes of a series while he had a few beers. He's now headed to bed, while I'll stay up cos our 18 year old DD is away at uni and likes to call me when she's walking home from the club around 2:30am!

May 1994. Coming up to A-levels. Not really worried about exams, going out and dancing in clubs with ( now very famous) music bands and my mates. Spending ages getting ready- always the best part of the night - leaving the house at midnight to go out until 4am etc…

Now - married, 3 kids. Quite peaceful/sedate home life. But I did just have a boozy night at my friend’s house with 3 amazing female friends. . Some things don’t change!

Probably some revision for my imminent A levels before going to the local pub followed by clubbing with my friends.

I was mid 20s , married with a 15 month old , around this time we had just sold our house and were preparing to move into my mums as we couldn’t find a house to buy . On a Friday night I used to have a reasonably early night as I had to be at the yard for a 9 am lesson on my horse .

It's 1994...I'm 2 years old. I've had a hard day at nursery playing in the sand pit, and my mum has let me watch Tots TV as an evening treat. I wore navy polka dot dungarees and red buckle shoes with Rosie and Jim socks.... It's 7pm and I'm off to bed

I am 22 and either clubbing in Brighton or going away on a Territorial Army weekend - which I inadvertently joined when I went along to support a friend on a selection weekend. I joined but she didn’t!

I’m 25, in a relationship with a lovely guy, living with him, but feeling vaguely unhappy for no good reason. I’m probably out with my best friend, drinking wine, fantasising about running away to somewhere sunny and different. I have no idea why I didn’t just do that. A year later I will meet someone new, fall in love with him and leave that relationship. Then a year after that I’ll marry him. Then thirty years later we’ll still be together. And I’ll still never have run away to somewhere sunny and different.

1994 I was to young 2004 I was doing the same as you 😂
Tonight currently on my way home from a sensible night drinking for a friends bday, only had 4 singles and looking forward to not having a hangover 🙃

1994 - also 16 and very similar to you. Now my DS is preparing for GCSEs himself and my DD is preparing for A Levels….

I was 13 - smoking, drinking, shoplifting, sneaking out and having sex in parks, being bullied at school and fighting at home on a daily basis.

Today I'm 45, with a wonderful husband and 2 amazing children. I have a PhD, and a high-earning, fulfilling career.

I was diagnosed adhd and autistic in my early 40s - life has been a struggle sometimes, but I've also been very, very lucky.

I'm in my 30s, stressing, organising my wedding in July.

2026. I'm on my own, a 66 yr old widow.