Opportunities

[poliphilo]

If the Pet Shop Boy's Opportunities is a satire on Thatcherism why does it have such a beautiful tune? It turned up last night  on Andrew Marr's documentary about the Thatcher years and it sounded like a threnody for lost youth.

I've got the brains, you've got the looks
Lets make lots of money.

Me nostalgic for all that? Give us a break. I hated Thatcher.

But 1986 was sort of a special year for me. A crazy year. I dropped out of the church, fell in love a couple of times, had lots of sex. 

The wheel was in spin.

And it's like Marr says; those were revolutionary times. Thatcher had stomped on all the old institutions- the City, the Unions. Willy-nilly, she gave us freedoms.  

I had a girlfriend who was a painter. I had this idea I was going to be her agent. She said she'd let me. In the three months we were together I made phone calls, talked to people, booked her exhibitions. 

I've never been so go-getting before or since. 

But she- ahem- slipped out from under me. And my career as an entrepreneur went with her. No red braces. No cell phone the size of a brick.

But just for a moment- just for a moment- I could have had it all...

Rien ne va plus.

Comments

[besideserato.livejournal.com]

You paint it so vividly, I was almost there among paint stains and giant cell phones!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Ah...our long gone younger years. So alive with possibilities.
You word paint so well.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Age is alive with possibilities too. It's just that time has become finite.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

For me 1986 was a year of clunky braces, my first car, and losing my virginity. Odd that you should post this now, when the girl I lost it to called me out of the blue after years of no contact.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Life's like that. Full of coincidences.

Maybe there's a pattern. I'd like to think so.