Thread by @garius

This. My main memory, as someone who was born in 1980 in small town England, was the novelty of trying to get one of the new atlases/textbooks in geography class that 'Commonwealth of Independent States' in it, rather than USSR.

https://twitter.com/Artemisapphire/status/1453436296005922816

I do remember the Berlin Wall coming down though.

Mostly because my dad made me watch it, as he said it would be important for me to be able to remember it happening one day.

He was right.

IRA was a constant thing though in our heads.

Multiple school evacuations due to suspect packages. Plus I was 'blown up' once. Was on the bridge when the Stevenage rail bomb went off in 1994.

Trips down to London always had a hint of danger, especially Docklands.

Basically, I think Cold War memory for 80s kids in the UK was often related to family situation and geography.

As London/London adjacent, it was ALWAYS IRA that were the mental worry. Not the soviets shooting missiles.

Oh, should add that getting blown up by the IRA (i wasn't. the blast did knock me off my bike though) only gave me increased cred at school for about a week.

Kids are fickle.

I do have a bit of an addiction to late Cold War books though. They tell you a lot about the period they were written in.

Remember! You can cash in stream points on Sundays to get me to tell you about anything on my bookshelves. twitch.tv/gariusthebrit