What was going on when I was born?

The Delaware River Basin Commission, citing a four-month dry spell in upstate New York, issued a drought warning today and cut 120 million gallons a day from New York City's allowance of Delaware River water. The cut is effective Saturday and reduces the city's daily allowance to 680 million gallons from the normal 800 million. The commission reported that its three reservoirs were down to 39.2 percent of capacity today, compared with 65 percent in a normal year at this time and 32 percent in the 1980 drought. Joseph T. McGough Jr., Commissioner of New York City's Department of Environmental Protection, said that for the time being the loss from the Delaware reservoir system could be made up from water in the city's Catskill and Croton reservoir systems.

Although there is widespread concern about the explosive growth of bank lending abroad and bank exposure to huge losses, there is considerable disagreement about whether Federal regulation of the loans is sufficient. Some members of Congress and Government agencies want Federal regulators to restrain foreign lending and limit bank exposure. They also urge banks to take a closer look before lending to foreign borrowers. Almost all parties, including bankers, agree that more information is needed about foreign borrowers.

In a major step in its campaign to denationalize state-controlled businesses, the British Government today released details of its plans to offer private investors 51 percent of Britoil P.L.C., which has a stake in almost one-third of all North Sea petroleum properties. The tender offer is designed to raise a minimum of 548 million for the Government, or the equivalent of about $910 million, in gross proceeds. That sum would make it among the largest British offerings of a stock with no prior trading record. The minimum tender price would put a market value on the whole company of 1.08 billion, or $1.78 billion, placing it in the top 15 British companies on the London Stock Exchange.

''You have done commendable things for many people. For this you received personal gratification, affection, respect and high office.

Sue Mittenthal frequently writes on issues that affect children. AT first glance the kindergarten room in the New York City private school appears unremarkable: the customary building blocks, a colorful spectrum of clays and paints, collections of autumn leaves and racks of books for story hour. But closer inspection reveals an array of materials traditionally alien to a class for 4- and 5-yearolds: sets of alphabet letters for group phonics lessons, lined notebooks for writing practice, picture cards and charts displaying words and sentences, and mathematical games to teach the principles of the number system. While a wide variety of preschool programs still exists, the 1980's may see more and more kindergartners poring over readers, workbooks and ditto sheets. Pressure to cover academic subjects so early, most kindergarten teachers agree, is coming from anxious parents.

Attack and defend: In the fantasy world of video games, that is the theme played out daily on millions of American television screens. And much like the characters in those electronic conflicts, Coleco Industries is bent on conquest - the $5 billion home video game market - at the expense of two well-entrenched rivals, Atari Inc. and Mattel Inc. To that end, the Hartford-based company recently introduced its Colecovision home video game system, a cartridge-playing console, to face Atari, the industry leader, and Mattel, the marketer of Intellivision, in the marketing arena. Industry analysts and toy store owners say Colecovision's graphics -especially color quality - are generally superior to those of its competitors, and that in many stores it also enjoys a price advantage. But marketing battles, especially at Christmas, are never easy.

The Government announced today that it had reached a long-awaited agreement with the International Monetary Fund on an austerity program aimed at easing the crisis caused by the nation's huge foreign debt. Under the agreement, Mexico would receive $3.84 billion worth of credit from the I.M.F. over the next three years, but the Government must slash public spending, raise taxes and curb imports to qualify for the funds. The austerity program could stabilize the Mexican peso, which has lost 70 percent of its value since February. But Government officials said today that it would also bring an economic slowdown and thus higher unemployment and a sharp drop in living standards.

Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Soviet leader for 18 years, died yesterday, the state television announced this morning. The announcement, carried simultaneously on radio and television and on the official press agency Tass, said: ''The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the Presidium of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet and the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. inform with deep sorrow the party and the entire Soviet people that Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, general secretary of the C.P.S.U. Central Committee and president of the Presidium of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet, died a sudden death at 8:30 A.M. on Nov. 10, 1982. ''The name of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, a true continuer of Lenin's great cause and an ardent champion of peace and Communism, will live forever in the hearts of the Soviet people and the entire progressive mankind.'' Cause of Death Not Given The two-minute announcement was read twice on television by a dark-suited announcer. As he spoke the screen displayed a recent photograph of Mr. Brezhnev bordered by orange bands.

A national strike called for today by the underground leaders of the Solidarity movement appeared to have been generally unsuccessful in the face of a carefully orchestrated Government campaign backed up by a display of police power. As darkness fell, caravans of armored vehicles of the riot police fired tear gas and water cannons at any groups on the streets near the Old Town section of the capital, then took up positions at traffic circles and intersections to prevent crowds from forming. A march through the center of Warsaw did not materialize and it appeared that there had been only spotty response to the strike call intended to protest the recent banning of Solidarity. However, in Nowa Huta, the steel center, there were clashes between demonstrators and the police. (Page A13.)

A British linguistics expert pleaded guilty today to charges of passing secrets to the Soviet Union on the activities of a classified electronics listening post. The expert, Geoffrey Arthur Prime, 44 years old, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by Lord Lane, the Lord Chief Justice, who said that Mr. Prime's treason had caused ''incalculable harm'' to the security interests of Britain and its allies. According to United States sources, British intelligence officials have determined that the case represented one of the most potentially damaging penetrations of Western intelligence since World War II. Details of Case Excluded ''The legal phase of the case is over, but the assessment of the intelligence implications has really only just begun,'' said one American intelligence official.

RESTORING antiques is a tricky business. In the last 20 years there have been tremendous technical and research findings in the restoring of almost every imaginable antique. Yet the skill required for restoration is the painstaking kind used by master craftsmen of old. While it's possible to do too little, it's also possible to do too much to a piece and strip it of its value. Museum curators say that a really good restorer is one who can occasionally advise that nothing be done to an antique. Repairs can be done by a host of people. For most run-of-the-mill pieces, repairing something so that it is serviceable is adequate. But for a piece that has esthetic or monetary value, sentimental or historical worth or that might be suitable for donation to a museum some day, museum curators and conservators insist that proper restoration techniques, those that include good conservation, be employed.

A helicopter shuttle service between Manhattan's East 60th Street heliport and Kennedy International Airport has led to a dispute between residents and the operator, Pan American World Airways, over the noise of the flights and the airline's right to continue them. The heliport was already being used by about 20,000 privately operated helicopters a year, and the shuttle service, which began in June, is expected to add 6,000 more flights. Residents of buildings adjacent to the heliport have complained to city officials that the additional flights cause unacceptable noise. They have also charged that Pan American lacks the necessary city permit to operate the shuttle.