Welcome!

Who doesn’t love a bit of nostalgia? I, for one, love to indulge in memories of days gone by. And Marijana Ransley’s letter (Page 24) this week gave me the excuse to have a wonderful trip down memory lane. Marijana writes about how she quelled the anxious beasts at her house (AKA squabbling siblings on school holiday) by chucking on a DVD of Sixties TV favourite The Beverly Hillbillies. Her kids loved the tale of a dirt-poor family who suddenly became millionaires so much, Marijana had a job of it trying to track down DVDs of the entire series. She then got her kids onto another favourite of mine, Gilligan’s Island. They loved that one too! At the risk of coming across as an old fogey, knowing that warmed my heart. I find it genuinely comforting to know that in an age when so many of us are glued to screens big and small for the best part of the day, playing computer games, scrolling through Facebook feeds or whatever, that something as basic and charming as a simple TV sitcom would hold our kids’ attention. Of course, I immediately went on YouTube to see if I could find some episodes. And I still reckon they’re funny and fabulous. But then, before I knew it, I began stumbling across all the other old shows that were either made or re-run from the ’60s and ’70s. There were so many I adored that I seriously wonder where I fitted in the time to have a childhood! Talk about being glued to a screen. Some other favourites I found include Bewitched, Happy Days, The Brady Bunch, Get Smart (how clever was that shoe phone?), Laverne & Shirley and The Love Boat. I’d love to hear which shows were your favourites growing up!