THIS picture makes me feel so very old, but it also proves how far we have come in a few short years.

The photo was taken in late 1970 and shows the official opening of the Octagon Shopping Centre in High Wycombe by the Duchess of Kent.

We found it as we prepared background for a feature on the 40th anniversary of decimalisation which happened in February 1971.

I remember the money change-over quite well.

I recall being taught about it in my infant school, and how excited we all were to see how new pence would replace the old shillings.

But being able to remember back four decades doesn’t bother me; it’s the Octagon picture that makes me feel ancient.

It’s the clothes, the policeman, the black and white drabness of it all.

It wasn’t just the fact colour pictures were rarely used in newspapers; I recall everything was in black and white for real in those days.

It was only 40 years ago but times were tougher and everything was more austere.

I beg to differ with those who refer to ‘the good old days’ because I genuinely think we are all more prosperous and there are far more opportunities for everyone in the UK in 2011.

We may be in an economic nightmare, but I bet most families in Bucks have two cars, two mobile phones, computers, huge flat screen TVs and eat out several times a month.

It also stuns me to see it was only 40 years ago that High Wycombe was celebrating a royal visit to open its new shopping centre.

I liked the old Octagon but frankly it doesn’t compare with the new Eden, which opened just three years ago next month.

We all bemoan the loss of independent shops, and Eden came in for a barrage of criticism from traditionalists when it first opened. But all I see these days is a tremendously busy town centre, packed with shoppers.

There is a great tendency to look at the old days through rose-coloured specs.

But as I approach my 48th year, I am now beginning for the first time to be able to talk about some of the old days with a bit of personal authority.

I beg the indulgence of those far older than me who can remember way back to the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Maybe there were better days for the populace then in between wars and rationing.

Maybe it was nicer before the digital age and mass TV, and maybe there was less crime. But somehow I doubt it.

I was a child of the 60s and 70s and can say beyond all doubt that the world has changed beyond recognition, and I believe it has changed for the better.

There is more democracy, there is more openness and better communication, and there are more chances to advance outside the class system, which thankfully is a disappearing concept.

And now I have a child of my own, I also see the huge extra-curricular and sporting opportunities out there for youngsters.

I really don’t remember there being so much around in my childhood.

I am positive many readers will violently disagree with me and point to their era being far better than the modern one.

People who believe this, though, may well do so because they long for a return to the era of their prime when they were at their happiest and healthiest.

But my own memory tells me the 70s were dismal, the 80s were embarrassing and the 90s were irrelevant.

2011 is where it’s at, and sometimes I wish more people would seize the present day and realise how lucky we are all.

* THANKS to all the readers who wrote in supporting my comments in my column of two weeks ago regarding the campaign to win back services for Wycombe Hospital.

I will update you all in due course, and feature some of the feedback.