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Friday 15 March 2013

The young fogies of Weatherfield


Now there used to a time when the only hatchet-faced women and grumpy men came in the shape of Ena and Albert. As Mary Hopkin once sang, those were the days my friend. Fast forward a few decades and the cobbles are awash with twenty-something miseries.

For the vast majority of people, their twenties are a period of celebration. University is over, adult life begins but is not yet totally entrenched in the day-to-day routines that come in your thirties. It's a time for having a few laughs, settling down to your first job and maybe meeting the person you will possibly grow old with. Unless you live in Weatherfield.

A soon as you are out of sixth form (not that many Street residents ever seem to make it that far), it's time to saddle yourself with a life-partner, child and mortgage. The latter always engenders a sense of amazement, given that part-time shop work or assembling hideous knickers seems to be the only work on offer. With this veritable box of emotional delights comes unending misery. Cheery young blokes sport furrowed brows, pretty girls morph into bitter harridans. It can only be a matter of weeks before we see FayE charging across t'cobbles brandishing a shopping trolley on wheels and with a drab headscarf tied under her chin.

Take your pick from permanently desolate Tommy, shrieking Tina, grumpy Jason, morose Tyrone, worried Katy, weeping Kylie, bitter Eva . . . Widowed jailbird Fiz is positively Joyce Grenfell in comparison with the shuffling, wizened crowd of the young-old, shoulders hunched, misery etched upon their grey faces.

Come on, powers-that-be! Give these kids a break! Life can be tough but it doesn't have to be all the time. Let's see the younger members of the Street having a few laughs, maybe a holiday away together somewhere where nobody feels the need to cheat, harangue or kill each other.

Or failing that, an evening at the bingo and then home for a milky drink.

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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Too true, Clinkers. I always loved it when Curly went on about his astronomy - he clearly loved it. Don't any of the young people have any hobbies or interests? The only fun we've seen is David kicking around the odd football with Max.
Bev

Anonymous said...

That's very interesting, Clinkers. It does seem that tptb are substituting history in which older/elderly people behaved that way after years of life experience which left them cynical (although, really, Hilda, for example, still put forward a happy face).

Janice said...

And of course the real oldsters of Weatherfield are immature, care-free and living in a sit-com.

Frosty the Snowman said...

Very good blog again Clinkers. It is true that the young generation of 21st century Weatherfield do not aspire to doing anything with their lives bar having a "baybay"

Humpty Dumpty said...

Absolutely right, Clinkers. Even before Tina became pregnant, she and Tommy used to sit around the Rovers with the oldies. Their scripts could have been given to 40year olds and it would still have worked. They never seemed to go clubbing or go off for a wild weekend. Granted the writers have to find a way of keeping everyone on the Street and the easy way to do that is to give them a local job. But there are evening classes, online courses, teach yourself etc. Owen could have invested some money in an enterprise with Chesney. Do they not brainstorm ideas at writers' meetings?

There seem to be three clear sitcoms/soaps playing concurrently in Corrie. The under-25's have Holloaks scripts; the oldies have turned into Last of the Summer Wine characters; and everyone else has a pot luck bag of storylines. I'd like to see more inter-generational action. Dennis giving Chesney the benefit of his experience of ducking and diving, perhaps.

Anonymous said...

Well said. I really, really wish some of the young people on the street would aspire to do more than live and drink in the Rovers with their parents. None of them ever go to school or if they do they get kicked out and come home with a different head.

Mr Badass said...

Waiting for the Saturday update but how would Tommey Duckegg know the words to sing along to White Cliffs of Dover, is he a closet Vera Lynn fan? Not many people under 50 would even know that song let alone the words to it!

Llifon said...

If you notice, he didn't know the words really. But why did he go and sit with the oldies when Jason was at the bar?

Cobblestone said...

Why shouldn't Tommy sit with the oldies? He lives with Rita & Dennis, and there is clearly a strong affection between them. I had older friends in my local when I was in my '20s. Now I'm in my forties and have a lot of close friends in their twenties. Surely this is just the inter-generational mix that Humpty is calling for?
I do agree though that it would be nice to see the younger characters with a bit more to feel good about. But ultimately, Drama is Conflict. Happy people are not that interesting.

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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