wonder what our kids will look back on when their 40...
Close your eyes and go back in time...
Before the Internet or the 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.
Football with an old can. 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 GreenFlash - 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 nobody 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 nobody, 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 **** "
"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.
Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes 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
