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Post by Helmut83 on Apr 20, 2019 19:00:18 GMT
Well, given that the age average of this forum gives plenty of possibilities for a thread like this (because it's young, but not teenage-young ), let's try and see if this works. Yesterday I searched for a documentary on the eruption of Mount Saint Helens on May 1980. I'm sure a few of the Americans on this forum (and maybe the British too, why not?) who are 45 or more must remember where they were at that very moment, where did they live, and maybe even what they were doing when it came out in the news. Maybe some were close to the place, or knew someone who was somehow involved in the events, or have anything to share related to it. Once we have enough testimonies, someone else could ask about another famous and relevant event and we'll try to remember where we were and what we were doing.
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Post by eloneen on Apr 20, 2019 19:26:39 GMT
I don't have crystal clear memories of the moment I found out about the biggest eruption, but I remember seeing it on the TV news at some point, and hearing about volcanic activity at Mt. St. Helens for a few weeks before and after. I was in my first year of high school, living at home with my family in Louisiana, pretty far away from it all, but everyone was talking about it at the time.
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Post by BSJ on Apr 20, 2019 20:13:11 GMT
I don't remember enough to comment.
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Post by Helmut83 on Apr 20, 2019 20:15:14 GMT
I don't remember enough to comment. ...that makes me suspect you were into some very dirty business at that time.
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Post by BSJ on Apr 20, 2019 20:18:39 GMT
I couldn't tell you if I was living with a couple of girlfriends in a large duplex, or on me own in a large Victorian house that was sectioned into 4 great apartments. Had so much fun the 80's are a blur.
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 20, 2019 20:27:03 GMT
I remember the event but not where I was when it happened, I was 16 at the time and it didn't seem a big deal.
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Post by Helmut83 on Apr 20, 2019 20:28:00 GMT
I remember the event but not where I was when it happened, I was 16 at the time... Probably living with your parents while attending high school?
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 20, 2019 20:30:20 GMT
Just 7 months later and I can remember every detail of where I was when John Lennon was shot.
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 20, 2019 20:33:41 GMT
I had got up for school that morning an my dad had left a note before he had left for work saying that JL had been shot,my dad who hated 'modern' pop and rock found it necessary to write it down and inform us of this news....
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Post by Helmut83 on Apr 20, 2019 20:35:02 GMT
Well, you are British. I bet it was a bigger deal for Americans. Besides the spectacularity of the natural event, 57 people died and many states were covered in ashes, so I'm sure that in the US it must have been a bigger thing.
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Post by Timeblue on Apr 20, 2019 20:57:45 GMT
I'm not belittling it just that it WASN'T that important to me at the time...
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Post by unomusette on Apr 20, 2019 21:08:29 GMT
I don't remember it being reported hugely in the UK either, it was only later I realised how massive the effects had been.
The media made a lot more fuss about the Icelandic volcano a few years ago which produced an ash cloud that grounded flights for days on end.
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Post by Grroosss on Apr 22, 2019 5:12:44 GMT
I obviously wasn’t alive yet, but my dad was living in Washington state at the time... he has all sorts of crazy stories about how there was ash covering everything and people were supposed to wear masks to keep from inhaling it. He collected some of the ash and saved it in a jar, which he’s shown to me.
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Post by Horacewimp on Apr 22, 2019 7:53:42 GMT
I’m with BSJ the 80s especially the early years are a bit hazy and I don’t remember this at all. Didn’t really watch the news then (no 24 hour channels) and more important thinks to do (out with mates), there was no internet and I didn’t buy news papers so it passed me by.
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Post by orioles70 on Apr 22, 2019 12:48:09 GMT
In May 1980, I was just about to graduate from high school. I remember the news footage of ash raining down and covering everything. It was a massive explosion that removed a huge section of the mountain, but 3 Mile Island (one year earlier) made a bigger impression since it was closer to home. As a music loving teen, John Lennon's murder (later in 1980) made the biggest impression. I remember talking about it in my college girl friend's dorm room. Then we wisely put on a Todd Rundgren album (The Road to Utopia) to change the mood.
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