Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read this...............

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.   Dirty knees with scabs on.  

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.   Turning round and round so fast that you collapsed on the ground and lie there watching the sky going round and round.   Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.  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 (And Pink Witches)

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.   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 you awaited a misbehaving student at home if your mum & dad found out.

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc.   Oh no.  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.

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...

Go on.   I DOUBLE-DARE YOU! :D :D :D

Margot

Ooooh, that brings back some great memories!!

Sarah.

Some super memories - dunlop green flash - that really made me smile!

25p decent pocket money? That was riches! ;) I had 6d!

I had thruppence.  A Mivvy cost 9 pence so it took me three weeks to save up for one but it was worth it

I had 2 SEK which I just converted and apparently it equals 14 p!

In Sweden it was the opposite as far as dogs go though, it was far more a case of "Remember whan all dogs were pedigrees"......... Think I was 9 or 10 before I first saw a mongrel, and it was years before I saw another. How things change.

Oh that's really made me smile & brought back some fantastic memories :D

awwww getting your pigtails pulled by the boy you secretly liked :)
-Remember you got looooooads in a 10p mixer bag??? would last me 3 days :)
-McGowans chews with the highland cow on them!!
-Pacers!!!spangles!!!!!!Tofo!!!!!!!
-Knock down Ginger!!!!
-(((((Ollly,olly,Oxen free!)))))))
-You werent embarassed to wear plimsoll's everyone did!!
-wearing a snuggly vest :)
-Jackie and Blue Jeans and Patches had sewing patterns not sex advice.. all you had to worry about was making the perfect Ra-Ra skirt...not how big your bum looked in it!!! :)
-Summer lasted for a Year or so it felt..... ( I would go to the beach in Norway!!!)
- Picking your nose without fear of mockery from your peers!!! :)

Awwwwwwww :D :D :D Me and Storm are off out now to make cow pat pies,collect tadpoles and build a den...deep in the woods! (about 2ft in!) :D :D
Love it Margot!! thanks!!!
Tag!!!!!!! your It!!!!!!! :P

*sigh*
Liquorice sherbet dip
spending a penny and getting change :)
6d pocket money lasted ages :D
Playing french cricket in the street
having your hair wrapped in strips (old towel/sheet) creating beautiful ringlets ;)
putting on your 'sunday best'
mum spitting on a hankie to wipe your face :P

awww lovely memories

*sigh*

Collecting thrown-away Corona bottles and taking them to a shop to claim the 3d reward!

Collecting thrown-away Corona bottles and taking them to a shop to claim the 3d reward!

Didn't we also collect off beer bottles at the 'outdoor' ?
well, not me personally of course

*whistles*

Gosh, it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just thinking back like that........... :)

aww..yes!!!! your mum winding rag strips round your hair for ringlets!!! My mum did that too :)
forgotten all about that!

And mine :D Anyone remember Toddilocks(sp) that helped hold the curls?

Toddilocks was used in our house too! My brothers swear that's what made them lose their hair so young (bald patches while in the 6th form )!

Wow, things have changed a bit :D

Oh yes Toddilocks :D used that on my daughter - never worked :P

Mind it would have helped if she'd had some hair :D :D

Fantastic nobody I've mentioned it to had ever heard of it

C'mon then Teri! what was it like when you were a 'Bairn'?
( a penny for your thoughts!..or was it a 'groat' in them days??? ;) :P ;) )

I think you better get whooshing gal :D quick!

Hoi, oi, oi - dinnae start hen :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I had a privileged childhood - scab free but the odd bump and bruise from falling off the ponies :D  Do vaguely remember having a penchant for strawberry mivvies though :P :P :P

I used to wear a Liberty Bodice :D :D I was so jealous of a friend whose kilt did up with Velcro :D :D

Parents didn't have a fridge until I was about 4 - we had a metal box fastened to the wall in the cellar where the milk was kept.

Daisy

Oh Margot
You as always are absolutely righ
Some of us indeed have lived
,d just forgotten what a very good life it was thanks for all the fond memories

I used to wear a liberty bodice too :D  Our house didn't have a fridge for a few years either.  In the summer the milk was stood in a bucket of cold water and the meat kept on the cold tiled shelf in the larder.  No trainers for playing out in either, just a pair of plimsoles.

Who remembers french skipping using about a hundred coloured elastic bands?  It was great when someone's mum's washing line broke and we would have hours of fun playing long line skipping.  Tree swings in our street were fantastic.  The biggest boy would climb an oak tree and tie a rope or old washing line and a tyre would be tied at the bottom for the seat.  The favourite tree to hang the swing had a branch overhanging a brook and we spent hours and hours days on end just swinging out over the brook.

Health & Safety would have a fit nowadays! Back then it called 'being young'! :D

French skipping
Tree swings

and that thing that we did with wool or string or whatever, you know, was it cats cradle?
rat a tat ginger :P
kirby :)

5 jacks. We used to play this on the doorstep sometimes when it rained.  Never dreamt of going in though.  Usually our camps were quite dry anyway.

>rat a tat ginger

We called it knock down ginger and played it with a long piece of cotton - the coward's version :D :D

:D :D - coward ha ha

loved playing marbles too (now I've lost mine)

I just had to 'google' Toddilocks and Liberty boddices
(didnt like to ask in case you'd think I was being a cheeky young whipper snapper ;) )

when I put in toddilocks it said "do you mean Goldilocks"..so I said yes..I dont know??.. and now I still dont know! :rolleyes:

:rolleyes: it was a lotion that was supposed to make your hair curl ;)

I think that list has just described my entire childhood I am always going on at my kids telling them what I used to get up to and now here it all is in a handy list! We were so much freer than kids today, we went out in the morning and did not think twice about coming back til teatime No continual mobile phone messages home giving our every move! How did it all change? I suppose its called progress but I think somewhere along the line kids forgot how to be kids and try to be little adults:rolleyes:

I see so many people walking, or cycling, or horse-riding, and chatting on their mobiles at the same time! What on earth is so urgent that it can't wait till you see someone? How on earth did we survive back then, when not every household even had a phone at all?

We had a sharp violent storm here 2 weeks ago.  It blew the phone, digibox, modem and wireless router. 15 year old was beside himself with boredom in the evening as shock horror he couldn't use MSN or watch TV programmes (could still watch videos and DVDs though).  After singing "TRAGEDY" I suggested he did what I did as a kid and read and then heard the age old lecture rising from within me like a genetically imprinted programme - You don't know how lucky you are, when I was your age, ..........yada yada yada :D

Incidentally during the strom a house around the corner had its chimney struck by lightning and it fell through roof while at the same time every electric socket in the house was blown out of the walls.

My liberty bodice was a creamy colour and I remember it being very soft.  It was basically a thick wrap around vest type thing that was tied up at the front was worn in cold weather. Also had a muff (no rude comments please) it was for keeping your hands warm.

I think we did have soft vests that crossed over at the front but the thing I always thought was my liberty vest was just a simple vest with botton holes front and back that the bottons on our skirts attached to.  In those days little girls were not thought to have waists :)  Now of course they have waists, mini skirts and thongs.  Our thongs attached our rafia sandals :)

A liberty bodice (among other essentials!) is advertised here.

Mine looked simpler than that I am sure but then my mother, like many at the time, would have undoubtedly run them up herself as she did all our clothes.

There's another image here.

I remember as I approached puberty seeing the masses of underclothes my mother wore, and feeling very gloomy that, soon, I'd be strapped into the same ... :( Thank heavens for the 60s and 70s and freedom!

Google gives a couple of hits for 'Toddilox' but only one for 'Toddilocks' - and they're all people asking "Who remembers this hair lotion?"! :D :D

Good grief, I found this on a museum site.  Boo hoo - going to cry into my cup of tea

http://museums.leics.gov.uk/collections-on-line/GetObjectAction.do?objectKey=274005

I can also remember something with rubber buttons so maybe I am getting muddled up but certainly had something that my mum called a liberty bodice that tied up like the one in the link.

Gosh the memories.

I remember when I was a kid we used to get cardboard boxes and go sliding down big the hill, it was great fun
Also I remember when my mum would dress me and she would tuck my vest into my knickers to 'keep my back warm' of course I did the same with my two when they were small.
And a screwball from ice-cream van cost 8p.
Walkers crisps cost 9p.
Mittens on string threaded theough your coat so you wouldn't lose one.

And a screwball from ice-cream van cost 8p.
Mittens on string threaded theough your coat so you wouldn't lose one.

oh yes, the mittens :D I used to do that for my eldest two, wasn't the 'done thing' by the time my second two came around :P

Tucking your dress into the leg of your knickers so you could do handstands :D
playing two ball against the wall

I loved two ball!!! I still have a go now with oranges! Really impresses the kids when I do it one handed!

:D @ alfredo :)
I can impress the kids with my juggling ;) can only manage 3 at a time though.
Isn't it funny how such small, innocent games used to be the best fun? Hang man, noughts and crosses, I spy, squares, draughts etc. Its great on holiday when there's no computers/playstations/gameboys and we get to play these games if the weather holes us in :) And the kids really do enjoy it :)
Now the nicer weather is here they do tend to play more football or hide and seek - at least they are out in the fresh air.
as long as they don't play knock down ginger!

I loved this and I'll be 45 next birthday and still impress my children by standing on my head! (never try when you've been drinking tho!) I can remember all our play days were spent with French Skippy and the rhymes I'm a little bubble car no. 48 etc., learning gymnastics (all self taught). 

:D love it, if only it was like that now.

funny mentioning bumper car no 48 - my 6 year old asked me about this yesterday and we were singing it together last night!

two - ball against the wall - that's another memory - what was the rhyme gypsy gypsy caroline?? and the actions that went with it - gosh and wasn't there the ball in a sock type thing?

so many happy memories hey :)

and riding your bike for fun - just up and down the road

>riding your bike for fun - just up and down the road

Without being crammed into a helmet!

Going to the chip shop to buy the batter pieces that had come off in the fryer and the tiny chips that were left behind in the oil and then having it wrapped up in newspaper. Or on pay day you might even get treated to sixpenneth of real chips!

I was the envy of my friends because my mum worked at the chip shop free chips whenever I wanted Yes I remember that ball in a stocking game! You got one of you mum's stockings, whether she  knew or not, and put a ball in the end, tied it round your ankle and skipped along jumping over the ball each time it came round!
Such happy days!