What was going on when I was born?

In his regular job at the Consolidated Edison Company, Martin Scott sits behind a desk in an air-conditioned Manhattan office, preparing documents for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about the Indian Point 2 power plant. But over the weekend, as he shoved heavy work gloves into a pocket of his paint-splattered jeans, he reflected on his new job - oiling heavy equipment, operating circuit breakers, painting and doing other maintenance work at a generating station in Astoria, Queens. They are tasks he will perform for as long as 16,000 members of the Utility Workers of America continue a strike that began at 12:01 A.M. Saturday. ''Mentally, it's totally relaxing, and a change of pace, but physically, it's something else,'' said Mr. Scott, who has been with Con Edison for 20 years. The 42-year-old engineer, a union shop steward during the last strike against Con Edison, in 1968, was asked if he liked his new responsibilities.

The Government warned the Roman Catholic Church today that continued opposition demonstrations during the visit of Pope John Paul II would harm the relations between church and state and delay the lifting of martial law. Shortly before the Government spokesman, Jerzy Urban, made this announcement at a hastily called news conference in Warsaw, the Pope celebrated an outdoor mass attended by about a million people at the sanctuary of Jasna Gora, the guardian of the venerated image of the Black Madonna. Supporters of the outlawed Solidarity union and other banned groups held up banners and cheered as Pope John Paul demanded freedom for Poles. 'Truth, Freedom and Solidarity' In a final ceremony at the sanctuary tonight, the Pope said, ''I am a son of this nation and that is why I deeply feel all its yearnings, its wish to live in truth, in freedom, in justice and social solidarity.'' At the mention of the last word, cheers rang out, and the Pope asked not to be interrupted. His speech also stressed a need for reconciliation.

New Jersey hopes to complete within a month soil tests at eight remaining sites it suspects may be contaminated by the toxic chemical dioxin, the state's Environmental Commissioner said yesterday. ''It's our desire within a month that we've tested all'' the sites, said the Commissioner, Robert E. Hughey, ''and can take corrective action and can put it behind us.'' On Saturday, Governor Kean announced that dangerous levels of dioxin - ranging between 0.04 parts per billion and 11 parts per billion - had been found in the soil at part of a large chemical plant in Clifton. The plant's contaminated portion, which produced hexachlorophene, an antibacterial agent used in hospitals, was ordered closed by Mr. Kean.

Confirmation of Paul A. Volcker to direct the Fed seems sure, but many legislators will use the hearings to raise questions of policy. They acknowledge that Mr. Volcker has curbed inflation but worry about the costs in terms of economic stagnation. (Page A1.)

It seems as if most things here are very small and very busy. There are little vacuum probes that dart up and down, selecting good integrated circuits from bad among hundreds on a silicon disk. A nearby machine whirs and clicks as it stitches each tiny chip to a larger circuit with 40 pieces of gold wire, one-third the diameter of a human hair, in 14 seconds. Soon to come is an assembly machine that will place 256 electronic components on a circuit board in 2.4 seconds. This small northeastern Indiana town is one of the high-technology corners of the automobile industry, the headquarters of the General Motors Corporation's Delco Electronics Division. Starting from raw silicon here, G.M. produces many of the microcomputer chips that go into the command modules that govern the engine operations of modern G.M. cars.

Pope John Paul II's eight-day visit to Poland, painstakingly arranged by the Communist authorities in hopes of bolstering their virtually nonexistent popularity and ending their international isolation, has turned instead into a vast public outpouring of support for the outlawed Solidarity union. The result, in the view of many diplomats and others here, has been a stunning propaganda disaster for the Government that could conceivably have serious political repercussions for the Government of Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski. Day ofter day, hour after hour in the first days of his trip, the Pope has been using words and phrases that everyone understands indicate support of the banned union movement and opposition to military rule. At each stop vast crowds carrying illegal red and white Solidarity banners roar their approval and the scene is recorded by the nearly 1,500 journalists welcomed by the Government. The Pope was at it again today, devoting more than four pages of a five-page homily at a rainswept outdoor mass at the Jasna Gora monastary to the subject of ''freedom'' - and few Poles needed further explanation of what he was talking about.

LONDON THE red brick house looked tastefully elegant in the hilly suburban surroundings of Kingston-Upon-Thames. Flowers filled the spacious, well-manicured front, and a quaint brown sign wrapped around a large willow tree, in old English lettering, read ''Willow Cottage.'' ''Chrissie really can relax here totally,'' John Lloyd said, lounging on a floral chintz-covered couch in the living room and finishing a dish of mixed fruit while his wife had a massage in one of the bedrooms. ''She can putter around and doesn't get bugged as much. And we're only five minutes or so from Wimbledon.'' Chris Evert Lloyd and her husband purchased the house last year after the couple had driven past while looking for another house that was for sale in the area. ''We both loved the look,'' Lloyd said, pointing to a bay window through which a rear patio and sprawling lawn could be seen. ''Chrissie and her mother went with a decorator here and furnished everything.''

When Myrtle E. Morris retired as a New York City office worker 30 years ago, she had her husband, her health, a home and a car. Now, at the age of 83, she is widowed and nearly blind, and she lives in a retirement home. Her driving days are only a memory. ''I didn't look forward to being shut up in a room 24 hours a day,'' she said, explaining the disappointments the years have brought her: ill health, shrinking finances and, worst of all, loneliness. ''I hate to say it, but I think it's a miserable life for all of us,'' she said.

For many New Yorkers, it is as much of an annoyance this time of year as sunburn and humidity. ''I really, really hate standing in line a long time to get a rental car,'' said Anne Flandreau, who had just finished an hourlong wait Friday night at the Avis office at 76th Street and Broadway. ''I have to go through this about three weekends a month in the summer,'' said Miss Flandreau, who works in an insurance company and was leaving for a weekend in Ocean City, N.J. ''If these lines keep up, Avis better start handing out Valium tablets along with the car keys.'' It isn't a problem just for Avis. From Friday night through Monday morning in the late spring and summer, lines at many New York offices of other major rental car agencies are jammed with people trying to get out of town or back home again.

Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale said today that he believed ''it is inevitable that American troops will be sent into Central America'' because the Reagan policy was ''failing.'' He accused the Reagan Administration of ''widening,'' ''Americanizing'' and ''militarizing'' the war in El Salvador, and added, ''If I hear what they're saying, where they're going now will lead to the introduction of troops in any event.'' Speaking on the NBC News program ''Meet the Press,'' the Democratic Presidential candidate said, ''I utterly, and completely, and profoundly oppose'' American combat involvement. Later, in a telephone interview, he said that despite President Reagan's promises not to send combat troops, he believed the Administration's ''actions will lead to that end.''

A flurry of promising economic news in the last 10 days has prompted economists across the United States to revise upward their second-quarter forecasts for economic growth. Experts, who earlier this year said the recovery would be weak from April to June, now acknowledge that it will be powerful and widespread. Data on the gross national product - the broadest measure of economic activity in the United States - are not yet in for the second quarter. But the statistics that have emerged from Washington of late have been sufficiently impressive to cause the nation's economists to take another look at their numbers, and in some cases double their estimates for growth.

Wall Street officials yesterday endorsed the reappointment of Paul A. Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. They cited his efforts to temper inflation and his role in meeting the complex problems of international debt. Members of the financial community, who are sometimes wary of rigid stands, also praised Mr. Volcker for what they regard as his pragmatic approach to overseeing the money supply of the United States. ''The financial community has been an advocate of his appointment and should be very happy with it,'' said John J. Phelan Jr., president of the New York Stock Exchange. ''He has done a remarkable job of bringing inflation under control and guiding the economy through a very difficult time. He has an established record in which everyone has confidence.''