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Back in the ’90s, there was no social media, Encarta was the go-to for all your questions and you could happily play Snake on a 3210 all the livelong day. What made growing up in the ’90s even better was living in north London. Here are some things you’ll know if you were a ’90s teen on the north London scene.
1. You met your mates outside Camden tube station at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon (there were no mobiles so you had to be there on time). You then bought a Nirvana T-shirt, a studded dog collar, had something pierced and dared your mate to buy ten Marlboro menthols.
2. You wore Criminal Damage trousers (with no less than 12 pockets) to walk across Hampstead Heath. Then your mum made you take them off on the doorstep because they’d picked up fag butts and someone’s leftover dinner in their cavernous lining.
3. There were no tube barriers at Finsbury Park or Camden Town.
4. You could tell someone how to get anywhere on a bus in the quickest time possible, because the only buses they really needed were the 253, the 29, the 132, the 91 and the W7.
5. At one point you left your homemade pizza, flute or school hamster on the lovely warm back seat of the 29.
6. You hung out in Cantelowes Park for hours watching the appallingly bad skater boys, writing meaningful lyrics on your Eastpak in marker pen.
7. You tried a bit of ‘Taste the Mango/Banana Banana’ from the lovely banana man outside Finsbury Park station on the way home from school every day.
8. You knew William Ellis boys were naughty, Fortismere and Highgate Wood dudes had the best parties, JFS and Channing girls had big houses and short skirts, no-one really knew where Latymer was and Camden School for Girls… well, we were going to take over the world, and made sure everyone knew about it.
9. It was totally normal to get four night buses to Enfield to a house party, stand around for half an hour (in your Criminal Damage trousers, helpfully mopping up the cider) then leave and get all four night buses back home again.
10. You drank snakebites at The Purple Turtle, went to Feet First at Camden Palace on a Tuesday and Loony Tunes and Madball at the Dome on a Saturday.
11. If you were musical you were either part of HYMSO, LSSO or NLCC.
12. You hadn’t heard of south London.
Check out the top five things north Londoners say to south Londoners.