What was going on when I was born?

The Suffolk County Executive, reversing a long-held position, ordered county employees yesterday to run a test of an emergency evacuation plan required for the Shoreham nuclear power plant to go into operation. The official, Peter F. Cohalan, said that if the drill was successful, he would no longer oppose the opening of the plant. Immediately after Mr. Cohalan's announcement, Dr. William J. Catacosinos, the chairman of the Long Island Lighting Company, which built Shoreham, announced that the utility had paid the county $131 million in back taxes on the plant. The utility had refused to pay the taxes to protest Suffolk County's opposition to the plant, which is in Brookhaven on Long Island's North Shore.

Thousands of peasant families in search of a livelihood migrate each year to the low-lying fringes of this impoverished country. Once there, they say they will remain despite the hazard of being washed violently away. On the tiny island of Urir Char, Mohammed Abdullah, 50 years old, with thick graying hair and a face of sad resignation, told why in simple terms this week. ''We came here to start a new life,'' he said. ''There is no place else for us to go.''

In January 1981, a Presidential commission touched off a heated debate by proposing that the Federal Government stop spending money to restore old industrial cities and instead help the inner-city poor to move and find jobs elsewhere. Now, more than four years later, the Reagan Administration has taken a series of actions that, in effect, have begun to carry out that proposal. The Administration has sharply reduced Federal aid intended to restore the cities, all but halted construction of federally subsidized housing and is now instituting the first subsidy that could be used by the chronically unemployed to move to where the jobs are. This subsidy would be a housing voucher to help pay the family rent anywhere in the United States. Nobody can predict how many people would move or find jobs.

Officials of the Koch administration are investigating whether city-financed social-service agencies run by the Archdiocese of New York require acceptance of Catholic religious beliefs as a qualification for employment. The inquiry came to light last week, when a lawyer for the archdiocese filed papers in connection with his client's court challenge to Executive Order 50, Mayor Koch's policy prohibiting job discrimination by agencies that receive city aid. In the papers, the lawyer, John P. Hale, argued that church-run agencies have the right to ask employees to read, acknowledge and, if asked, sign a statement - known as a ''Catholic Identity Statement'' or ''Mission Statement'' - that includes descriptions of Catholic religious doctrine. Spokesmen for three agencies said yesterday that they use such statements, and the city is attempting to determine whether others do the same.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said today that talks with King Hussein of Jordan during his visit here this week had advanced the prospects for Middle East peace ''in a very significant way.'' But he said differences remained on the key question of how to organize negotiations between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. In a news conference summing up the Administration's view of the four days of talks that ended tonight, Mr. Shultz said, ''There are obstacles between here and the time when King Hussein and his delegation can sit down at a table with Israel, but there is motion today. Impetus to Peacemaking ''The King's visit has given impetus to the process of peacemaking. I think what the King has done is move the process in a very significant way.''

When Brigitte Gerney opened her eyes yesterday after surgery at Bellevue Hospital Center, she gave thanks to those who had helped her during what she called ''this terrible ordeal.'' The 49-year-old Manhattan woman, whose legs were crushed when she was pinned for six hours beneath a fallen construction crane on Thursday, said in a statement dictated from her bed: ''I have so much admiration for all the people who were with me, and was so, so impressed at how human they were in addition to doing their job to get me out; they prayed with me and talked to me and gave me confidence.'' Doctors voiced hope that her legs could be saved, but said the outlook was unclear. The construction site where the crane fell, on Third Avenue between 63d and 64th Streets, was closed yesterday as Mayor Koch announced that he would seek criminal charges against everyone responsible for the accident. He also announced emergency inspections of all 1,000 construction sites in the city. [Page 27.] 'Sensational' Will Mrs. Gerney greeted visitors yesterday, including police officers who had aided her at the accident site. They told her she was the most courageous person they had ever met, and doctors praised the courage that has also brought her through several other accidents, two bouts with cancer and the deaths of her husband and a son.

Bellhops, maids, clerks, chefs and other workers struck 45 of New York City's biggest and best-known hotels early today in a labor dispute that was expected to affect tens of thousands of hotel residents and guests. The walkout, by 12,000 to 15,000 employees, began at 12:01 A.M. despite continuing negotiations between the Hotel and Motel Trades Council, representing nine unions, and the Hotel Association of New York, representing management. Both sides, however, said early today that little progress was being made. ''The parties are farther apart,'' said Albert A. Formicola, the president of the Hotel Associaton, as he emerged from negotiations at 12:30 A.M. Pickets appeared at midnight outside the Plaza, the Pierre, the Essex House, the Helmsley Palace, the New York Hilton, the Sheraton Centre and other prominent Manhattan hotels.

Occasionally hidden behind high walls but more often standing proudly among lawns and trees, the tourist sights of this city are monuments to a 31-year-old dictatorship. ''This is the Interior Minister's place,'' one local said, driving a visitor past the multihome complex of Sabino A. Montanaro. ''And here is Gen. Andres Rodriguez's home,'' he went on, pointing to a Versailles look-alike built by the commander of the First Army Corps. The presidential mansion of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, set in a huge park and guarded by soldiers, cannot be seen from the street. But the unfinished and now abandoned copy of the White House ordered by his son, also Alfredo, is usually part of the tour.

President Ferdinand E. Marcos, in remarks made public today, has dismissed as perjury the testimony against the military men who are on trial for the assassination of the opposition leader Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Opposition figures immediately accused Mr. Marcos of trying to sway the three-judge court that is now hearing the case against 26 defendants, who include the former Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Gen. Fabian C. Ver, a relative and close friend of the President.

An Italian investigating magistrate ordered today that a trial be held for six Lebanese accused of conspiring to blow up the United States Embassy in Rome last November. The six are Shiite Moslem supporters of the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

The organization that governs soccer competition in England, acting two days after English fans helped instigate a fatal stadium riot in Brussels, announced today that no clubs under its jurisdiction would enter European competition next season. ''It is now up to English football to put its house in order,'' the organization, the Football Association, said in a statement. The national team of England, which has no international matches scheduled on the Continent next season, is not affected. The team has three World Cup qualifying games left, all in London. It is also to play the United States team on June 16 in Los Angeles before going to South America.

The Greek election campaign came to a close tonight with the last of three huge and exuberant rallies in the capital, this one featuring Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou. Saturday has been set aside as a day of calm. On Sunday, Greeks will choose from among the Socialist Party of Mr. Papandreou, the New Democracy Party led by Constantine Mitsotakis, the two Communist parties and minor groupings not represented in Parliament. The race is close, with most political commentators giving a slight advantage to Mr. Papandreou.