Better Times ??????????????????

46traveller

Member
who remembers.
who remembers

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 Playstations, x-box 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.
Fingerbobs.
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 or the flicks.
Children's Film Foundation, The Double Deckers, Red Hand Gang, The 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.
White dog sh*t.
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.
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.
Twist grip 3 speed gears
Everyone had Police sirens on their bikes.
Small narrow skateboards and adjustable rollerskates
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 nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money
Curly Wurlys. 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 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 " eanie meanie minie mo "
"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.

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

I DOUBLE-DARE YOU
 

welb1931

Member
How well I remember...and coming home from school on a cold day to a steaming hot plate of tripe and onions...
 
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duffy

Member
Young boy in Penzance, back then---

--digging lugs for bait in the harbour basin, then fishing with handlines bought for sixpence from the barbers in Queens Square. Sitting on the end of the lighthouse pier with your legs dangling over the edge trying to catch a pollock or a pout, pulling your lines in quick when the Scillonion docked and shouting "first cuts!!" when your line got caught up with your mates.

Leaving home in the morning and spending all day on Penzance beach just wearing your cozzy, crabbing, trying to catch "Bullsods" (blennies) in rock pools and when the tide was low, making sand dams, getting home tea time not bothering to wash and after scoffing down your tea, going straight out again to meet your mates to wander around the harbour and the prom or the town. Getting home in the dark without being told off. Scrubbing clean in the kitchen sink then sitting round the radio with everybody listening to Radio Luxembourg (pre-'60's and pre-telly). Then having supper and off to bed knowing you have got the rest of the Summer holidays to come and you KNOW the sun will shine everyday. :cool:

Do you remember the BBC weather forecasts in the mid-late 1960'? Around June you hear about this "High Pressure area" drifting North from the Azores and how it used to settle over the UK for a long time bringing those hot summers?
 
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Tropicgal

Janner/ Senior Member
Memories! As I lived in Madron growing up my memories of the Summer holidays are leaving home after breakfast with your bike, your friends and a bag with some sandwiches or a piece of cake and a bottle of orange squash, cycling up to Madron Carn. Spending the morning playing at the Carn then down to Trengwainton Woods and the hill climb in the afternoon. Getting home tired and hungry at tea time. Sometimes we went to Wishing Well or the Baptistry where we would catch tadpoles in jam jars or to the 'Forest Carn' where we would look for the 'bat cave' (we knew it was there but never found it!).

When we were a bit older we would get the bus into Town and spend the day at the bathing pool or on the rocks on the Prom. Occasionally we would walk along the Eastern Green and cross the railway line to the beach and then walk either to Long Rock or Marazion where we would spend the day on the beach lathering ourselves with either Nivea cream or olive oil (we didn't know about SPF factors or the damage we were doing to our skin). We would take our transistors with us and listen to Radio Caroline. Happy days!
 
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