I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park - The corner shop - Hopscotch - Butterscotch - Skipping - Handstands - Football with a stone, an old Coke can or a football in desperate need of pumping up - Jumpers for goalposts - Swapping bikes - Fingerbobs. - Beano, Dandy, Buster and Twinkle - 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 with the bubblegum at the bottom - when curly wurly's were as long as your arm and wagon wheels as big as your face.

Remember . . .
Watching Saturday morning cartoons....short commercials, The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man Tiswas or Swapshop?, Banana Splits and Why Don't You? - or staying up for Doctor Who after Saturday tea. 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? When the second worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team And the worst was having the opposing captains argue about who had you last time Swapsies. When water balloons were the ultimate weapon When nobody owned a pure-breed dog - When 25p was decent pocket money and a 10p mixture would buy more than two sweets (25p!!! 2/6 was riches and a large Walls orange ice-lolly cost 3d and we still couldn’t afford it..Ed) When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a shiny penny. When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there. How 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 schoolchild at home.

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. 48k seemed like an enormous amount of computer memory
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 someone of the opposite sex. All day.

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!!!

John Haslett