Back to the Future Day, 21 October 2015

By Val
@valmnz (17095)
New Zealand
October 20, 2015 3:02pm CST
Today is Wednesday, 21 October 2015 here in New Zealand. Some of you are probably still getting here, so I'm in the future for you. But, the important thing about today is this is the day featured in the movie 'Back to the Future', when Doc brown and Marty McFly gravelled in time from 1985 to 21 October 2015. That this makes this a kind of special day. I've been watching so many TV discussions and flashbacks re what the movie got right and what they missed. It's all been very interesting. Here the hover board and the lack of internet are much talked about, as is the absence of smart phones. But there was a watch that could tell the weather. I've been trying to think what I was doing back in October 1985. I had been married 14 years and was the mother of an eight year old, I was deputy principal at a small Wellington school and generally enjoying life. Do you remember what you were doing thirty years ago, when Back to the Future was taking a fun prediction about life would be like here now, 21 October 2015?
13 people like this
14 responses
Anna
@LadyDuck (502653)
• Italy
21 Oct 15
October 1985, let me think, I was married from 10 years, lived in Monte-Carlo and if I remember well it was the year we were in Los Angeles to visit friends who worked in the computer world. The first Halloween of my life.
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marguicha
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
22 Oct 15
@valmnz By all means! And I´m quite sure that we had more fun with our toys back then.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
Isn't it great going back to some of those memories
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Catherine
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
20 Oct 15
I was in Primary School, and my friends and I were absolutely fascinated by the whole concept of time travel because of Back To The Future. And now here we are in 2015, I had forgotten about that, so this is quite cool! :-)
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
20 Oct 15
There's been quite a big fuss about it here in New Zealand
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Catherine
@bluesa (15022)
• Johannesburg, South Africa
20 Oct 15
@valmnz , I will have to see if there is a mention of it here in SA tomorrow, though I have not really been near the radio or tv today and could have missed it, so luckily I had you that reminded me about this date in that very awesome movie, thank you for that, Val, brought some great memories back. :-)
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
@bluesa I think one of our breakfast show hosts is a keen movie enthusiast, which is why he's been on about it all week
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marguicha
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
22 Oct 15
1985: I had been married for over 20 years and had 2 daughter in the university. I conducted literary workshops that were a sort of catarsis for many people that did not dare speak up during the harsh times of dictator Pinochet. I also went to protests and was lucky enough as I never had trouble.
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marguicha
@marguicha (230350)
• Chile
22 Oct 15
@valmnz Looking back at it, yes. Even the bad parts of my life have highlighted the others.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
22 Oct 15
Sounds like you've led an interesting life.
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Always smiling
@allknowing (153529)
• India
21 Oct 15
I had given up my 9 to 5 job and started my own landscaped garden designing and executing business.
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Always smiling
@allknowing (153529)
• India
21 Oct 15
@valmnz The first order that I received was a big one from a builder through a nephew of mine who knew them. I had designed it on a piece of graph paper - a few thousand sq. ft.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
22 Oct 15
@allknowing it's good you still get the enjoyment from your own garden
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
That must have been exciting times for you.
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Jekca
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
21 Oct 15
Hmm, I believe I had started Kindergarden a month earlier!
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
So, at the time the movie meant little to you. Have you seen it since?
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Jekca
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
21 Oct 15
@valmnz deff, those are classics!
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Inlemay
@Inlemay (17712)
• South Africa
21 Oct 15
I was a stay at home mom with a little baby girl and a beautiful Toddler son - the second of our litter and very happy with knowing I had a little family on the go - married 5 years and we owned our first home that June - the one I still live in, 1985 had many memories
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
That is awesome. Did you see the movie?
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
@Inlemay it was definitely a movie of its times.
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Inlemay
@Inlemay (17712)
• South Africa
21 Oct 15
@valmnz I did - and while I watch Michael J Fox in his part in the Goodwife , those flashbacks come regularly.
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Glen
@glenniah (1197)
• Mandurah, Australia
21 Oct 15
I well remember watching Back to the Future. I had a five year old son and been married 7 years. It was my last year at Uni doing Social Work, I think. Good memories
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
I'm glad so many people have taken the time to look back thirty years. Many of us are similar ages here too.
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sishy7
@sishy7 (27166)
• Australia
21 Oct 15
I would have been in college still. I saw the original or the first sequel back then. But I never got to see the second and third sequels.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
I confess I've never seen the sequels. I have a thing about sequels, they're rarely as good as the first.
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Belle Starr (Iz)
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
21 Oct 15
I had just started a new job at a newspaper having graduated college in May. I had three children and was enjoying myself.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
Did you see the movie when it came out?
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Sharon
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
23 Oct 15
I was married at the time but other than that, I can't remember.
Marie
@Tampa_girl7 (54716)
• United States
21 Oct 15
I was living in Germany and working days and going to college at night.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
That sounds like it was a busy but probably exciting time for you.
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Sheilamarie78
@Sheilamarie78 (2586)
• Canada
22 Oct 15
In 1985 I was the mother to two little boys and I published a children's activity calendar. I figured if I could sell some of them I would give myself permission to write what was really in my heart, that is my poems and stories.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
22 Oct 15
And did they go well? It sounds like a brilliant initiative to me!
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Marsha
@MarshaMusselman (38865)
• Midland, Michigan
22 Oct 15
I think I was either graduating from a Bible College, or already back in my home town area settling in. I didn't realize that was when that movie was made, nor did I remember that was the date mentioned in the movie. At the time, it seemed so distant in the future did it not? Funny how time is.
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Valerie J. Routhieaux
@just4him (323168)
• Green Bay, Wisconsin
21 Oct 15
Thirty years ago I was still married and working somewhere, not sure where though. In 1985 my oldest was 12 years old, my daughter 11, and my youngest was 7. It was still a few years before I would be in college. I remember when the series first came out.
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Val
@valmnz (17095)
• New Zealand
21 Oct 15
It doesn't seem all that long ago, does it
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