Leaving Home and The Boat That Rocked

The leaving home by two of the maytrees' children in their twenties,
last month and next week respectively, made for a little reflection
on life when I was in my own mid twenties.
One left to rent with friends, a huge house
between Vauxhall and Stockwell which may well have been a former
Russian 'safe house'. The other has just purchased at a discounted key worker price
a newly built flat by the park in Wandsworth with great views of London
probably including her brother's safe house and the Thames.

Their moves both compare well with my first move from home by
renting part of a semi in West Norwood.

The mood of reflection about earlier times in life was accentuated
yesterday by seeing the film "The Boat that Rocked." The theme (there was no
plot to speak of) was of the UK in the 1960s when only 45 minutes
worth of rock music a day was permitted to be broadcast by BBC radio.
This silliness left the way wide open for some rock entrepreneurs
to set up their own rock and pop music station on a ship
anchored in the North Sea just outside British territorial waters.

Radio Caroline as the first such pirate ship was called was an instant success.
Its signature tune was the old pop hit "Caroline" (The Fortunes I think)
and its brodacasts livened up the British 60s' generation's
listening and eventually livened up the BBC's own output, rendering
the eventual closure of the pop pirate ships (several more
joined Radio Caroline) less of a loss.

The film The Boat That Rocked was worth going to for the music
and for the snapshots of life it depicted at that time. Possibly its
main appeal will be to the 60s' generation as its wallow in nostalga
is fun even if a little too long.