Not So Secret Journal

Well day Two came and went in a flash, it’s hard to believe I’ve spent the last 14 years making friends (some I’ve now realised I can live without) and creating a following on social media and not miss it in the slightest.

So how were we “social” before social media? How did people find shit out?

My mum and Nan always knew what was happening and we didn’t have any internet in the 80’s and 90’s, (God I sound old!) So, here’s how they found out.

Your auntie Joan, who wasn’t really your auntie, she was just someone your mum knew, but it was polite to call her auntie. You would bump into her on the way to the shops and she would tell your mum all about the gossip she overheard in the pub whilst she was out at the darts the night before. You would stand there for hours whilst they had a full-on gossip session in the street. You could have slowly walked to the shops 5 miles away and back; in the time it took them to have a conversation, and no one would have noticed.

Your Auntie Noreen, she wasn’t your auntie either, she worked in the local fruit and veg shop, but she would tell your mum all the gossip when she went in for her 5lb of spuds for your dad’s tea, because there was no nipping to Asda for spinning mops and big shops in those days.

There was your Auntie Maureen, she was related to you somehow, but God knows where from and which side of the family, you knew they were actual family when they came round to the house and stayed for hours, like they didn’t have a home to go too. The only way your mum could get rid of them was to say, “God is that the time, I’d better put the tea on. She would pop round with her holiday photo’s, you know the ones where you had to get the processed for a week at Max Spielman’s, only to realise your uncle Barry had his finger over the lens the whole time and you got absolutely no pictures from the once in a lifetime holiday to Benidorm. Auntie Mo was livid!

Then there was Pam, she worked in the Kwicksave and everyone loved her because she knew the most gossip ever! She knew all about your actual Auntie Maureen’s pictures and the fact that your uncle knobhead (my favourite phrase) was taking snaps of a topless woman on the beach and forgetting your Auntie Mo was going to see the picture first as she took them to be developed.

I would say life is easier now with the internet and socials, but then again, I loved life without the socials. Growing up when I did was easier, we have no photographic evidence on the internet to show our shell suits we got for Christmas, or those perms that we thought were amazing or the fact your mum dressed you and your siblings in matching outfits constantly so that people knew you were sisters when you went out anywhere.

Nowadays, we can see if uncle knobhead has liked, Suzie from the pubs holiday pictures and auntie mo fuming, we can see, most of the time who is friends with who and then ask them, why are you mates with that knobhead! I think there’s more pressure too to compare yourself to Tom, Dick, and Sally, you don’t even know these people but they have a gorgeous clean house and holiday every year in Bali. Sally has the body to die for and has no cellulite (all filters)

I hate the competing I see going on sometimes on the socials, who’s got the biggest bundle of presents for their kids for Christmas, or who can post the best birthday surprises for their kids.

 I hate the underhandedness that comes out of it too, when you hear about girls “sliding “into married men’s messages and it’s all too easy now, until you get caught.

Am I missing it, nope, I’m loving the fact I don’t have to watch so called influencers showing me how amazing their posed bodies are or be told how shit I am because I can’t stick to my food tracking 100%.

Bring on day 3 and all the joys it may bring, if you see me and you have gossip feel free to let me know the old fashioned way.

Love ya x