For the older members...

Just for a minute

Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read

this...............


Close your eyes and go back in time...



Before the Internet...



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

screwball.



Wait......



Watching Saturday morning cartoons, short commercials or

the

flicks.



Children's Film Foundation, The Double Deckers, Red Hand

Gang,



Tomorrow People, 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.

Playing Marbles. Ball bearings. Big 'uns and Little 'uns.

Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.

Climbing trees.

Making 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 on roundabouts, 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.





Space Hoppers.



Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops. Vimto and Jubbly

lollies. Fruit Salads and Black Jacks.



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.

(and they were called gym shoes or if you are older - plimsoles)



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

Curly Whirlys.

Space Dust.

Toffo's.

Top Trumps.



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



When 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 pupil 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 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

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.

..or I'm getting old

I remember all of these. Brings back some great memeories too

I loved that. I've come over all wistful.

That's so nice Geoff...... brought an 'ickle tear to my eye.

libs

Me too!

ahhhhhhhhhh the good old days eh!

oooh I remember those days....

Also flying around on my bike using my jacket as a cape by wearing the hood using the fastener under my chin to keep it on......aaahhh bliss.....

I remeber most of those it really did bring back some beautiful memories and a small tear and a grin as I remeber those days playing with my brothers and sisters.

Pushing each other around in a wheelbarrow was one of the best things we did as kids

I still love doing some of these, especially the pillow fights

The days were a lot longer, and, at the end, I'd come home with a sore throst from trying to imitate the noise of a machine-gun! When a box of matches was a prize that you treasured and didn't tell your folks about!

And my parents never worried about where the dog had got to - they knew he was with me, having a whale of a time either by the river, or in the woods. In fact, they worried even less about me, because the dog was there.

Ha'penny chews, tuppenny bangers, mysteriously red lemonade, black-and-white striped mint balls.........

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, the good old days! I miss them, but most of all, the dog. A Border Collie, of course, before they were popular!

Snorri
:smt035