Single hen

[Chicken on a mission]

Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read this

………Close your eyes and go back in time…

Before the Internet or the PC or Apple Mac.

Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack….

Before SEGA or Super Nintendo…

 

Way back……..

I’m talking about Hide and Seek in the park.

The corner shop.

Hopscotch.

Butterscotch.

Skipping.

Handstands.

Fingerbob.

Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the menace.

Roly Poly.

Hula Hoops, jumping the stream, building dams.

The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

Bazooka Joe bubble gum.

An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a

tune -Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a Screwball

 

Wait……!!

 

Watching Saturday morning cartoons….short commercials,

The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man, Zeebedee

Tiswas or Swapshop?, and ‘Why Don’t You’? - or staying up for Doctor

Who.

When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed

like going somewhere.

 

Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings.

Sticky fingers.

Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro. Climbing trees.

Building igloos out of snow banks.

Walking to school, no matter what the weather.

Running till you were out of breath, laughing so hard that your

stomach hurt.

Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for

giggles.

Being tired from playing….remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons were the ultimate weapon

Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

Choppers and Grifters

 

I’m not finished just yet…..

 

Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.

 

Remember when…

There were two types of trainers - girls and boys, and Dunlop Green

Flash and the only time you wore them at school was for P.E.

You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.

It wasn’t odd to have two or three “best” friends.

You didn’t sleep a wink on Christmas eve.

When "Ooops, word censored!"ody owned a pure-bred dog.

When 25p was decent pocket money

When you’d reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.

When nearly everyone’s mum was at home when the kids got there.

It was magic when dad would “remove” his thumb.

When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at

a real restaurant with your parents.

When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to

carry groceries and "Ooops, word censored!"ody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

When being sent to the head’s office was nothing compared to the fate

that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn’t because of

drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc. Parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of them!!

 

Didn’t that feel good?

Just to go back and say, Yeah, I remember that!

Remember when….

Decisions were made by going ” Ip Dip Dog Sh*t ”

“Race issue” meant arguing about who ran the fastest.

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in “Monopoly”.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.

And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.

It was unbelievable that ‘British Bulldog 123′ wasn’t an Olympic

event.

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.

"Ooops, word censored!"ody was prettier than Mum.

S"Ooops, word censored!"es and bruises were kissed and made better.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.

Ice cream was considered a basic food group

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true

Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest

protectors

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.

[The Dogmother]

That one always makes me smile and reminisce, thanks COAM!

[Chicken on a mission]

Me too. Makes me sad to think what my daughter will be missing out on though

[The Dogmother]

I am sure that with your help she will be able to experience some of those

[Laura & CTB]

Orange favoured chewable asprins - I'd pay loads for just one more taste...................

[Lesley-Jean]

That has brought a tear to my eye CoaM

 

I was there, I lived that way.

 

When we were at junior school we would think nothing of going to play in the park for an hour or two on a summer afternoon on our way home from school. Didn't need to tell Mum beforehand. The police would be called out now ! We lived in a multi residence house in London. No locks on ANY of the doors ! And the front door was only locked at night

 

One of may favourite things was walking to school across the (previously mentioned) park in the fog (London pea soupers). If you walked across the park fields you had to do it by dead reconing as you could see nothing but fog

 

We had so much more freedom then than children do now days, and I think that also gave the parents more freedom too.

[The Dogmother]

My memories are similar LJ

 

We used to go up to Norfolk for the whole of the summer hols. We spent all day every day out boating, fishing, buulding dens or just off walking - couldn't do that now, even in the village, which hasn't really changed that much.

[Guest]

Ahh What lovely memories

 

We used to go on huge family picnics, aunties, uncles, cousins, grandparents and we'd play cricket or rounders.

 

My dad was a carpenter and he made us this table out of an old toy chest lid and two chair legs, that fitted inside the boot of the car so my mum didn't struggle making the sandwiches etc

 

COAM some of those things brought a tear to my eye as well, Harry and Jules will probably not do a lot of those things, but as Clare said they will do other things and those things will be their memories of childhood. Then in 20 or thirty years time they will be having this same conversation

[Mrs Frugal]

Oh for a moment, I was 10 years old, in my black school plimsoles and Jacko roller skates whizzing down the hill at home again! Makes me all dewy eyed to think about it! Thanks Thalia - nothing like a stroll down memory lane, is there.

[Lesley-Jean]

Jacko roller skates, that's another memory Kate. Mine had red leather straps Mmmmm ....

 

Sometimes we would balance a Beno annual on one roller skate sit on it and whizz down the hill trying to balance. Grazed knees and elbows

[Mrs Frugal]

My skates had red leather straps too. I loved them and lived in them all summer. Best thing I ever had and they are my sweetest childhood memory! I could go so fast on them and do all sorts of tricks! We had a go-cart that my dad built out of my Silver Cross pram wheels. It couldn't steer in a straight line for toffee but my brother and I had such a great time whizzing down the hill from a footbridge on it, trying not to hit the brick wall at the bottom !

 

Did anyone else have a "Twenty" bike? All the girls in my class had them when we did our cycling proficiency test and I desperately wanted one too so my parents bought me a bottle green one for my birthday and I hated it ! My best friend's Twenty was purple and so much cooler looking than mine!

[bracken]

WOW that was fantastic!

You think our kids have everything that you can afford to give them nowadays,but,nothing compares to having a childhood like we did!

When you think about it,they have nothing really,do they.

Childhood today is all about personal possessions and not togetherness and counting your blessings