Perimenopause has introduced me to a very specific and rather humbling experience: walking into a room with purpose, only to immediately forget why I am there. It isn’t a vague sense of confusion, more of a full system shutdown. I have lost count of the amount of times where I have stopped and just stood there, staring blankly at a cupboard and hoping the reason might simply reveal itself if I just wait long enough.

The same thing often happens mid-sentence. I will be halfway through a perfectly reasonable thought when my brain suddenly decides it has done enough for the day. The sentence just… stops, and whatever I had planned to say packs up and goes on holiday. 

And yet, when doom scrolling TikTok the other day, the opening credits to Saved By the Bell appeared in my feed… and I still knew every word despite it being about 30 years since I last watched an actual episode of it. I wrote about Saved by the Bell before at the very beginning of starting the blog back in 2013 – it was the programme my sisters and I watched every summer holiday, and nothing else happened that day until it had finished. I was completely in love with Zack, wanted to be Kelly and was obsessed with the idea of having a friendship like Zack and Jessie’s. 

What followed was the inevitable rabbit hole of 80s and 90s nostalgia – theme tunes, adverts, TV shows, song lyrics, random pop culture and lifestyle moments – and all of it came flooding back. 

Here are just a few highlights:

The words to the Saved By the Bell, California Dreams, Pugwall, Round the Twist, Geordie Racer and (much to my delight), Maid Marian and Her Merry Men theme tunes.

The words to the Mysterious Cities of Gold, Danger Mouse, Dogtanian and the Three Muskehounds (I had this on vinyl at one point), Denver the Last Dinosaur, the Raggydolls and the Poddington Peas cartoons.

Eco-friendly cartoons like The Smoggies (I actually made The Bloke jump when I found this as I squeaked at how much I used to love it), and Captain Planet.

Inspector Gadget. I had a VHS of some of the episodes, and I remember that when McDonalds released watches as part of their Happy Meals, I would talk into mine and pretend that our beagle was Brains, Penny’s dog in the cartoon.

Tiny Toons How I Spent My Vacation special. I found some clips on YouTube and still remember all the words to the songs. 

The red car and the blue car had a race… 

The absolute fear I had of Zelda from Terrahawks and Texas Pete from Superted.

Watching Knightmare and shouting instructions at the screen.

Magic Steps shoes from Clarks that had a key on the sole, and the advert that went with them. (They were awesome, I owned a pair)

“Vanting” a Viscount biscuit

Joining the Club if you liked a lot of chocolate on your biscuit.

All the words to the Spitting Image and Star Trekkin’ songs

Black Lace’s Superman and Agadoo and all of the dance moves (I can practically see the silver streamers in the background)

All of the words and accompanying dance moves to Joyful, Joyful at the end of Sister Act 2

Apparently my brain has decided that nostalgia is more reliable than productivity, and honestly? I can’t really argue with it. I don’t remember why I opened my email, can’t recall what I needed from the kitchen and regularly forget names, dates and whether I have already told someone the same story. 

But if you need to know about surf dudes with attitude, sticking a deckchair up your nose, or why it’s alright if the teacher pops a test, I am your woman.