What was going on when I was born?

The Islanders defeated the Devils, 7-1, at the Nassau Coliseum tonight as Clark Gillies and Denis Potvin had two goals each. Wayne Merrick, Duane Sutter and Brent Sutter got the other goals for the Islanders. All the Islander goals except Potvin's second goal, the last of the game, came aganst Glenn (Chico) Resch, the Devils' goalie, formerly with the Islanders. He was replaced by Shawn MacKenzie 9 minutes 42 seconds into the last period.

A considerable body of opinion in Western Europe is opposed to deployment on the continent of any nuclear missiles and, in particular, the 572 cruise and Pershings that the North Atlantic allies propose to install next year. Last week, after the House defeated MX production and basing plans, the Reagan Administration was more concerned than ever about allied solidarity.

Sharply rising prices for gas and electricity, cuts in welfare benefits and rising long-term unemployment are making more people than ever fall behind on their utility bills, leading to record numbers of utility shutoffs. There will be 300,000 involuntary gas disconnections this heating season as against 260,000 last year, according to a survey of state public utility commissions and utilities by the Citizen/Labor Energy Coalition, a nonprofit consumer group. ''There's just a lot more people going into this winter without any fuel than we've ever had in the past,'' said Charles Hill, managing attorney for the National Consumer Law Center in Washingon. ''There's going to be a lot more people doubling up; there's going to be more people using their oven, and if this is a cold winter there's going to be a great number of people in a great deal of trouble.''

The $5.5 billion gas tax and highway repair bill trucking through Congress hit a little pothole in the Senate last week. A group of conservative Republicans mounted a filibuster on the merits - Reaganomics-style.

Who needs another number in these days of access codes, credit cards, and digital everything? Unfortunately, the people of Essex, Conn., do, officials there believe, to make it easier for emergency and service vehicles to locate residences in the growing community. Ellis Baker, a retired industrial engineer, was named chairman of a special committee to organize numbering houses in the town, whose populaton is 5,200, up about 100 percent in the last 10 years.

THE LONGEST WAR Israel in Lebanon. By Jacobo Timerman. Translated from the Spanish by Miguel Acoca. 167 pp. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. $11.95. FROM Argentina, where he had been imprisoned and tortured as a champion of human rights and as a Jew, a country where people were disappearing daily never to be found, where generals who turned to Israel for elaborate weapons systems still suspected Israel's Prime Minister Menachem Begin of secretly supporting the Montonero terrorists - from this Argentina of mindless brutality and repression, Jacobo Timerman immigrated to Israel in 1979. He was an old-time Zionist. On his arrival he announced, ''I have finally come home.'' He was given a hero's welcome. Amos Oz, the novelist, asked Mr. Timerman about his plans. Mr. Timerman said he wanted to be happy, something he had never been. Mr. Oz replied that human beings do not need to be happy, nor can they be. The exchange between the two writers was probably a bit playful. Mr. Timerman, however, would remember it, thinking that only an Israeli could say this with such ease, such coolness, and at the same time be so young, good-looking and successful.

Marvin H. Meltzer agrees that the 16-story condominium he designed for a 40-foot-wide site at 224 East 52d Street can fairly be called a ''sliver.'' That is a disparaging term used by critics of overdevelopment in the city to describe buildings that are disproportionately taller than they are wide and that loom over their low-rise neighbors.

After engaging in feuds that they agree were excessively harsh and perhaps disruptive to municipal government, Mayor Koch, City Council President Carol Bellamy and City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin say they are trying to mend their relationships. In the last two weeks, Mr. Koch has invited Mr. Goldin and Miss Bellamy to separate lunches. And after a lapse caused by his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign, the Mayor has decided to resume holding regular breakfast meetings in his office with Mr. Goldin, Miss Bellamy and Thomas J. Cuite, the City Council majority leader. ''I guess we all need to do some rebuilding,'' Miss Bellamy said. ''From my viewpoint, the relationship can get back on track,'' Mr. Goldin said. ''I think the Christmas season, a little eggnog, is always helpful,'' Mr. Koch said. ''And Hanukkah, too.'' As the city's top three elected officials for the last five years, Mr. Koch, Mr. Goldin and Miss Bellamy have agreed more often than not on the major issues facing New York. And the disagreements they had were generally settled through diplomacy and compromise on the Board of Estimate, where each has two votes.

A week ago, Leon Bright could not play because of a badly sprained neck. Floyd Eddings did not play because third-string free-agent wide receivers do not always get into pro football games. Today, Bright's nine punt returns for 143 yards and Eddings's five pass receptions for 148 yards made them the unlikely heroes as the Giants dominated the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-7. This was the third straight victory for the Giants.

YONKERS AS bitter and frustrated as betrayed lovers, politicans in City Hall last week vowed reprisals against the United Technologies Corporation for deciding to close the historic Otis Elevator plant here and eliminate 375 jobs. ''We want to make U.T.C. a bad household word,'' Mayor Angelo R. Martinelli said of his self-declared ''war'' on the Hartford-based company. ''We want to make U.T.C. known as the company that raped Yonkers.'' The angry mayor was joined by about 30 local, state and Federal officials at a recent City Hall meeting, during which he threatened to sue the company for damages, ask the state to review nonbid contracts with United Technologies and even picket the company's headquarters.

WASHINGTON ''IT is with complete amazement that I am writing to disagree with the President's proposal to tax unemployment benefits. Those people must be in Disney World to believe that the people on unemployment lines are doing this because they want to.'' ''I am writing to urge Congress not to fund the MX. MX escalates the arms race and makes future negotiations more difficult.'' These are among the typical letters that Long Island Representatives have been receiving in increasing numbers from their constituents during the post-election session. According to Congressional aides, Long Islanders have been asking their Representatives to vote against the MX, the proposed increase in gasoline taxes and the unemployment-check levy, and to insure that Social Security benefits are not cut. The Island delegation's offices in Congress have also been receiving a steady flow of ''case-worker'' mail dealing with specific constituent problems - for example, someone having difficulty getting unemployment benefits - and a number of letters and postcards on a smattering of other issues.

The Banks Fight Back A new banking era begins Tuesday when commercial banks and savings institutions begin offering their answer to the high-yielding moneymarket mutual funds. The banks' new accounts have no rate ceilings and are Federally insured, but require a $2,500 minimum balance, and limit the number of monthly withdrawals. Next month, the banks get a stronger weapon - the insured ''super-NOW'' accounts, also free of rate ceilings but with no limit on withdrawals. The new competitive freedom, experts say, will likely have two effects: The cost of attracting money will rise, and there will be sizable outflows from money funds, which now harbor about $230 billion.