Spending Time in 1969 Probably Part One

 As I wrote a few months ago , I am exploring the year 1969.  As of this writing  that was 45 yrs ago.  I am sort of exploring some issues of how the 60's ended.. But let me write down some initial observations. I have done over 15 interviews , grew my hair longer , drove a rented VW aircooled , spend a fair amount of time in my hometown. My hair drove my wife crazy ,  so I have now cut it.  But this is kind of a few things I noticed. I took roads that existed in 1969, trust me it took longer to get places. Many of the interstates were not completed , the 9J overhaul had just begun. Driving down Albany's Central Avenue is a chore compared to zipping down an express lane. But you see all the old business districts that no longer are vibrant. In my hometown area of Castleton NY is all most dead. I would not be surprised to see tumble weeds blow down Main Street. Houses boarded up , business mostly gone. We have become used to our quick communication society , cell phones , the Web , a wide variety of Apps.  Living in 1969 was  very different. I stopped and used a pay phone to call my wife.  A throw back moment , not convenient. But , I enjoyed the lack of interruption. Oh.....no cable news....for a few days watched the NBC Nightly News and read the Times Union newspaper. You had to spend more time being an informed  citizen. I could not manage the diet well.......we were not a society that ate all that well. It was beginning to happen , but we were still a drinking , smoking , high fat society for the general population. Nobody had heard of non smokers rights. However , I think the one revelation I had was that P.J. O'Rourke was right. He once said in one of his books that there is a limited amount of types of people in the world and you met all of them in High School. Rooting around in the past and being in the present , interviewing people about the end of the sixties , it struck me , that the same personality types keep coming up. I graduated High School with everyone of them.....really. From the crazy liberal to the crazy conservative and the middle of the road guy.  The English major type to the carpenter. The back slapper to the shy guy to the lady's man. They all wandered   the corridors of Maple Hill High School.  So.....that is what my first impressions have been. Still working on it as 45 yrs ago winds down.