Generation gap: New wave, old raver

Margaret Monod, 47, from Brighton, loves telling her cousin, Daniell Morrisey, 28, about her days as a disco raver. But can Daniell persuade her to go clubbing with him in London? No way. Interviews by Veronica Groocock

Daniell

`She has hinted at parts of her wild youth and I'm probing her for more details'

What I like about clubs is primarily the social life and mixing with different groups of friends. I just like the whole event - the loud music, the atmosphere, the smoky dark atmosphere, the lasers.

I like a big crowd, a big club. Margaret likes it to be less crowded and a bit quieter. She has hinted at various parts of her wild youth and was telling me about some clubs she used to go to. It certainly sounds like she had a good time and I'm probing her for more details. I see Margaret as quite an outgoing, sociable person. We have a really good laugh together, but when it comes to clubs she's obviously calmed down in her latter years, which I'm sure will happen to us all.

I like to dance, meet new friends and have a good time. I usually wear a skimpy tight T-shirt and jeans: white, blue or black. I go to an assortment of clubs - mostly techno, house, garagey type of clubs, although sometimes you get fed up with it several weeks in a row. You might want to go to something silly like an 80s night, for a bit of a laugh. I usually end up going to the same places, but I'm always happy to try somewhere new.

And I like it to be a proper evening - I can't stand these poxy West End clubs that close at two or three in the morning. I'd prefer to go out for the whole night, until six or seven in the morning, and get the tube home or crash out at a friend's house.

The loud music is just part of the whole experience of dancing and having a really good time. Most clubs have quieter areas, and if you want to go off and talk you can. But on the dance floor I want it to be as loud and as buzzy as possible. I quite like drinking - a few beers or whisky. If I was into E it's pretty easily accessible, I always see it about.

When you're in quite a stressful job and you work hard, going out to clubs is all part of relaxing after a hard week. It's a way of getting it all out of your system. You can leave the tribulations of the day on the dance floor. A bit of heavy music and a bit of action rounds off a good evening drinking and chatting with your mates.

I quite like clubs where they've got different sounds on different floors, or in different rooms so you can mix and move around during the night. I also find nightclubs excellent places for a bit of amateur anthropology. People-watching is fun, seeing how people interact socially, how they use clubs and behave in them.

I'd like to take Margaret out and show her the lights of London as it is now. I've suggested it to her, and I think she was vaguely tempted, but in the end she decided against it. I'll see if I can change her mind. I would love to see her on the dance floorn

Margaret

`It was easier when it was just rock'n'roll. I've no idea what house and garage mean'

One weekend recently invited me to go to a club with him and I'm afraid I turned it down. I think he was probably secretly quite relieved. He probably didn't want to be seen there with somebody who looked like his mother.

I feel that I have to go to discos so that I can pretend that my youth hasn't completely passed me by, but I don't like the noise and I don't understand all the different types of music. It was easier when it was just rock 'n' roll; now it's house, garage and indie, and I have absolutely no idea what they mean.

I'd rather sit at home reading, or take a book with me to read. At my age I have to have a lie down beforehand: if I'm out after 9pm I have to go to bed in the afternoon. I would enjoy it more if I had a cup of tea and a quiet social chit-chat with friends; that's what I think a disco or club should be like.

I'm not keen on crowds on the dance floor, but I suppose the only advantage of that is that if bodies are pressing up against me, people won't notice how badly I'm dancing.

The only sort of dancing I ever really liked was jive and rock 'n' roll. And I liked the twist (I won a few competitions), but that's never come back into fashion, unfortunately. The last disco I went to was in the basement of a pub in Hove. The music was very loud but I did like some of it because they played some Fifties music - Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues", and the Ronettes.

I'm more of an observer. I quite like watching people getting off with other people, and having arguments. I quite often seem to be the one that both sides come up to and spill out the story about how they've just had a row. I don't mind that - I'm quite nosy, so it's interesting. Maybe they see me as a bit of an agony aunt, though I try not to take sides.

I enjoy dressing up, but I prefer taking on another "character", rather than just looking "dressed-up". I'm OK if I'm going in some sort of fancy dress. Then I can dance the night away - till about 9pm. I have been known to stay till 1am or 2am - you can usually find a bit of space to lie down and go to sleep.

I don't like the smoke, I find the flashing lights irritating, and the noise really gets to me. I'm sure it's because I feel old. I get fed up with lip-reading, and I don't like that pulsing beat which is supposed to make you leap up and move. The only pills I'm likely to pop are aspirin for a headache.

It's very kind of to want to take me out, away from my dull, mundane existence in Brighton. I don't think I could stand the pace, though. I certainly wouldn't stay all night like he does. I could go back the next morning instead to see what it was liken

Last week's interviews were by Andrew G Marshall