I found this ages ago. A bit long, but well worth a read if only for the memories!............
Close your eyes and go back in time....
Before the Internet and Sky TV....
Before semi-automatics, drive-by shootings, joy riders, muggers and crack....
Before Mobile Phones, IPads and X-Boxes...
Way back........
I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park. When Mum did the weeks shopping in the corner shop.
Hopscotch. Butterscotch. Skipping.
Tucking your skirt into your knickers for handstands. Football with an old can.
Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the Menace, Dan Dare in the Eagle.
Only two basic flavours of crisps – plain and salt ‘n’ vinegar and blue bags of salt in your crisp packet.
A tanners worth of chips, jumping the stream, building dams. The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
A fortnight’s holiday away was spent at Skegness or Blackpool.
When Gay meant brightly coloured. School puddings – (frog spawn) semolina!
Bazooka Joe bubble gum. Blackjacks. Sucking on pyramid shaped Jubley’s until your lips were numb. An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a decent tune. Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a screwball.
Watching Saturday morning cartoons, short commercials or the flicks. The “Tanner Rush” at the Odeon on a Saturday morning. Children’s Film Foundation, The Double Decker’s, Red Hand Gang.
When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere. Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings. White dog shit. Sticky fingers. Playing Marbles. Ball bearings. Big 'uns and Little 'uns. 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.
There were only three channels on TV, but there was always something to watch.
Christmas TV Specials – Morecombe and Wise, the Two Ronnies and The Great Escape. Dave Allen, Adam Adamant, Jackie Pallo wrestling on a Saturday on World of Sport. The ITV Seven. Quatermass and the Pit.
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. Eating raw jelly.
Remember when... There were three types of trainers – girls, 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 nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 2/6d was decent pocket money.
Curly Whirlys. Space Dust. Toffo's.
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
And nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there.
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!
Decisions were made by going "Ip Dip Dog Shit". 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 the opposite sex!
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 your Mum. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Real winters. White Christmases. Thick fog. Open coal fires. Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
When having the slack from the back of the coal lorry, was respectable!
When two fags an’ a strike, has nothing to do with gay rights, or industrial action.
When social services, was why the cops didn’t nick the ladies on the street corner.
When earning a crust meant mucking out the bakers yard in exchange for the stale loaf ends, to make a bread pudding.
When parking wasn’t an issue because no one had a car.
Being sat outside the pub with a packet of crisps was a treat not abuse!
When being top and tailed was a standard sleeping arrangement for kids.
When we weren’t allowed round any single Mum’s with a telly, because it meant she was definitely self employed!
When we didn’t care, because giving the kids sixpence for the telly was an additional levy they had to pay!
When getting the telly taken away, meant either the rental hadn’t been paid, or the meter had been jemmied off the back. (Often both!)
When ‘’want to watch our telly?’’ was a social invitation.
When neighbours would put straw on the cobbles to dampen the noise when someone was dying.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.
imp:
