Babysitter (early 1970s)

Me and Andrés had this babysitter for a while when we lived in Oakland. Her name was Jenny, I think. She had these great clunky '70s sandals that I loved to try on and attempt to walk in. Her father had some sort of business that involved selling blankets, at the least, because he gave me one. I still have it. Their house was also the first place I saw Indian fabrics with mirrors sewn in. I thought they were the absolute coolest. I thought she was the absolute coolest. She went to UC Berkeley, I think, and was a total California '70s gal.

Red shoes (early 1970s)

I had a pair of red plastic high boots. I had a pair of red patent leather clogs with straps on the back. I loved them both. I combined them with many and glorious colored clothing (purple being a favorite even back then). Hey, it was Oakland/Berkeley in the early 70s, I was just going with the flow! I don't remember what happened to the boots, but I distinctly remember the clogs finally breaking at school one day. I was so sad! I think my mom even got them fixed, but they didn't last long after that.

My diary (early 1970s)

I remember getting my first diary. Have no idea how old I was. It was one of those little ones with a strap that kept it closed and a little key, so that your super-secret thoughts could be kept safe from prying eyes. I remember being very excited about it, but I was never good at writing regularly. Athough I still keep a journal, the entries are extremely sporadic. Unfortunately, I only tend to write when things are not going so great, especially love-wise, so it doesn't make for terribly interesting reading. The poetry phase is especially frightening.

The author Megal McCafferty faithfully kept a diary, and she's retro-blogging it. It's great fun to read.

¡No me fio de tí, Zubi! (1998)

1998 World Cup. 2nd game of the group stage. I'm in a bar waiting for Pedro, as we're going to watch the match. They're showing the pre-match stuff, and one guy starts in with "No me fio de ti, Zubi" ("I don't trust you, Zubi". Zubi is Andoni Zubizarreta, the goalkeeper at the time), which he kept up through virtually the entire match. Guess he rilly, rilly, rilly din't trust him, huh?

Little did I know (1999)

The first year I started my Open University degrees, I was sitting at the living room table in my old apartment with Pedro, studying. I was sat by the window, it was late afternoon and the weather was lovely. I always liked studying there. I was doing a humanities survey course that first year, and there was all sort of good stuff in it. I leafed ahead in the book, and remember feeling all excited at the bunches of stuff I was going to learn. Little did I know how hard all that learning was going to get!

Tooth powder (late 1960s/early 1970s)

When I was little, my dad used to use tooth powder. (Who knows, maybe he continued until the day he died, but I only remember it when I was little and living in the Bay Area.) One fine evening, a curious little girl decided to see what would happen if she stuck her finger in the tin. Answer: it'll get stuck and you'll have to call for help + a very sore finger.