Somebody asked ‘feral youth of the 00s’ what they are up to these days and the answers were surprisingly heartwarming
Remember ASBOs? And David Cameron’s ‘hug-a-hoodie’ era? Back in the noughties it seemed that society was teetering on the brink of collapse due to youths making a nuisance of themselves, though that seems to have been the case throughout history and we’re all still here.
Over on the AskUK subreddit, user JohnnyDeformed89 has been pondering this, and posted the following:
‘Feral youth’ of the 00s, what are you doing now? I remember back in the 2000s the press were obsessed with kids and teenagers hanging around the streets in trackies and going on about the disorder they caused. Was this you? If so what are you up to now?
And lots of people who would have been demonised in those days turned out to be doing very well for themselves indeed…
1.
‘Married to the lad with the noisy, sup’d up Saxo who got me pregnant at 15. He’s a bus driver now and our eldest just graduated uni.’
–Remote-Pool7787
2.
‘I was a feral teenager, quite happily robbing shops and generally being a tit by throwing stones at police cars and running away. I’m a senior accountant now.’
–No_Direction_4566
3.
‘This was me but it was mainly because there was fuck all to do. I work in construction.’
–Southern_Scratch7086
4.
‘I was a feral youth in the early 80s. Expelled, arrested, on glue and then drugs. Arson for the hell of it, breaking and entering, taking and driving away cars and motorbikes, gang fights with weapons and without. I thought this was all pretty standard behaviour for Stepney 1980-1983 which probably says more about the company I was keeping.
Moved out of the East End in 1983 when I moved in with a girl at 17. Got a job, kept my head down, moved onto psychedelic drugs, travelled the world, moved to Manchester and built a life for myself. 59 now, Masters in Philosophy, married to a doctor. It’s been a good life, an incredible journey, and I’m a long way from where I started.
Teenage hormones are so powerful they should be illegal haha I expect other ne’er do wells have also settled down to life, partner, work and kids. I’m going to start singing the circle of life in a minute.’
–Groovy66
5.
‘Was one from 80’s to mid 90’s does that count? Proper ASBO material. Fell into a career in engineering when I was 17 after totally screwing up my education.
When I left school my dad gave me six months to find a job, otherwise he’d ’find one for me’ and that’s kinda what happened. Marched me around industrial estates looking for work and found an engineering company offering apprenticeships. I now work in aerospace.’
–cup-of-tea-76
6.
‘I wasn’t part of the tracksuit lot, I was one of the gothy greebos wearing ripped tshirts and massive jeans. We were sworn enemies, but we also used to hang around on the streets and drink in the park at night.
Got to know a few of the chavvy lads and they were sound. I’m now a senior tech dealing with telephony and IT. My boss was one of the tracksuit gang.’
–AzzTheMan
7.
‘Still wearing trackies, just a size bigger than I used to! The moped is now a fleet of shitbox cars, the Nova is now a BMW, the weed has been replaced by salad.
The girlfriend is still here, except we’re married and have five kids now. I volunteer with disadvantaged kids, trying to keep them off the path that I was headed down before my daughter came into the world and straightened me out.’
–Mdl8922
8.
‘I was one of those little fuckers. Uncontrollable between ages of 13-17. Don’t think i had one night at home between that time and was always up to no good. Sigh. Currently a financial adviser.’
–CodeBeginning6548
9.
‘I tried to be a part of that crowd, all my friends were but I never quite fit in, mainly because I didn’t smoke and didn’t like staying out all night. Now I’m a HR Advisor and scared of the next lot of teenagers.’
–Friendly_Order3729
10.
‘Feral youth of the 00’s here. Banned from all main stream schools in all of the UK by 15, Trackie wearing, weed smoking, petty theft, stealing bikes and cars. Proper feral.
I now work as a Data Governance Manager and earn about 53k a year. My friend who was equally as bad as me is a building surveyor. We often look back and think, how the fuck did we get here and not prison.’
–Few_Reward_7593