Get Hip Man

I have had a curious message from a web site called UKHippy.Com.

Quote: "Back in the day, hippies were at the cutting edge of social change. There were love-ins, sit-ins, expanded minds, festivals and tie dye! Nowadays it's all a bit dull. Revolution has become mainstream and everyone's too happy clicking 'like' on Facebook to bother getting involved. And we all know that 'liking' something, won't change the world!"

This set me off thinking about when I was a much younger man. I never considered myself to be a hippy, hipster or hip for that matter. I was not even a 'Mod' if anything I was a 'Rocker' because I rode a motorcycle. But I could never get myself into all the Mod-v-Rocker stuff. I just loved riding my bike and it seemed to attract the right sort of girls.

But it was a more relaxed time, in an era before aids. A time when there was an amount of promiscuity in certain lifestyles. The hippy culture seemed to me to be interchangeable with the Beatnik and Teddy Boy culture. One was sexual freedom, Che Guevara and flower power. The other was a time of student rebellion, sex, drugs and sausage rolls. The uniform was a black turtleneck sweater, bongos, berets and dark glasses.

The sub cultures seemed to come and go over the years. A new lifestyle era apparently comes with each generation. Such as Skinheads, New age travellers,  Eco-warriors and Goths. But I am sure that there are many long haired hippy's and scruffy beatnik's from my generation. Who now have shaven heads, mortgage, wife, kids and a family dog.  It took a while, but we have eventually taken our dad's advice and got our hair cut. But I'm not sure we ever changed the world.

Later...