Doomsday memories

Sir, – Alison Healy’s recollection of an impending end of the world in 1982 (An Irishwoman’s Diary, April 27th) struck a chord with me. During the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, a strong consensus reverberated around my Co Meath school that the end was nigh. As it was October, my Lenten sweet stash was not my concern, as in Alison’s case. The walk home from school was normally a leisurely, relaxed affair. I clearly remember the nine-year-old me, hurrying home on that dark overcast evening, to eat my dinner before the anticipated apocalypse. Regarding the question of facing the end on an empty stomach, the answer was nay. – Yours, etc,

GERRY CHRISTIE,

Tralee,

Co Kerry.

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Sir, – I was interested to read Alison Healy’s preoccupation with weighty matters, like the end of the world, while she still in primary school.

In the mid- to late-1960s, when television offered few choices, we waited with bated breath from one week to the next to finally witness the Fugitive, aka David Kimble, being captured. The Fugitive, a long-running American drama series, was about a doctor on the run, having been wrongly convicted for the murder of his wife. A week didn’t go by when the word would spread though our primary school class, “They’ll get him tonight”. The real killer, The One-Armed Man, seemed to have outwitted them at every turn.

So much for parental guidance, back in the day. – Yours, etc,

NUALA GALLAGHER,

Castleknock,

Dublin 15.