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. Fingerbobs. Beano, 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. Wait..... Watching Saturday morning cartoons....short commercials, The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man, Tiswas or Swapshop?, and Why Don't You - or staying up for Star Trek. When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere. Earwigs, wasps and bee stings. Sticky fingers. Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro. Climbing trees. Building igloos out of snow drifts. 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. I'm not finished just yet..... 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 "gym".

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 a decent allowance. 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 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 headmaster's office was nothing compared than the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.

We were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drugs, muggings, abduction etc. Our 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 "Eeny- meeny- miney-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 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.

-- (cin@cin.cin), July 10, 2001

Answers

"The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs."

I thought they were called "cooties"... :)

-- EmmaP (EmmaP1616@hotmail.com), July 10, 2001.

Thanks cin, I've just relived my childhood with memory flashes with each sentence of your post.

"If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED."

I guess I have! And with today's perspective, I guess I've lived a pampered and protected happy childhood too. Seems sad to me now the childhood kids have today.

-- (where's@mommy.now), July 10, 2001.

Wow.

Yeah, I remember that. I also remember that horrible feeling I would get when it was time to go buy new clothes because school started again in one week! OH NO!

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), July 11, 2001.

I remember runnin' down by the crick

bein' young and wild and quick

drivin mamaw near insane

draggin' in the mud and rain.

Buildin' hay forts up in the barn

ridin' ponies out on the farm

diggin' holes clear to japan

catchin' frogs in coffee cans.

Down in the country.

Watchin' westerns on TV

a cowboys whaat I wanna be

jokes and tales before we slept

oath's of secrecey we kept.

sleepin' in that ol' featherbed

pullin' a string for the light overhead

dancin' cross cold linoleum floors

go have breakfast and do the chores.

Down in the country.

Skippin' rocks way across the pond

talkin bout what lays beyond

show my courage and tickle fish

saw a fallin' star and made a wish

rollin' tires off the hill

chasin' chickens like youngin's will

tell myself when I's a kid

gonna live like grampa did.

Down in the country.

With just a lil winter mixed in, those were the most fascinating summers and memories a fella could ask for.

-- capnfun (capnfun1@excite.com), July 11, 2001.

I forgot to mention, this was an e-mail forwarded to me.
unk, by the time school shopping came around, I was EXCITED to get new stuff and get back to school and see who's class I was in and who was in my class.... heehee Cap is that one of your songs? Awesome =)

-- (cin@cin.cin), July 11, 2001.

Hiding down by the river with a bow and arrow set made from willow branches cut from the trees down by the water. Hearing the ducks and frogs upstream, and knowing I didn't have to be anywhere else all summer.

Sometimes adulthood sucks, doesn't it?

-- Bemused (and_amazed@you.people), July 11, 2001.

Do overs

Batman

skippin rocks on the river

tubin' down the Sante Fe or the Itchnetucknee

swim practice at 6:00AM

you could play baseball anytime you wanted (that was the best!)

gettin' a switch for momma to whoop me (funny now, NOT THEN!)

'camping out' in the backyard

riding my bike to the corner store for a real fountain drink (Coke with real cherry juice!)

Orange push-ups from the Ice Cream Man

I just decided I wanna be a kid again.......

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 11, 2001.

Have no fear, Deano,

To those of us from the classic bomb - you'll always be a teenybopper!

-- flora (***@__._), July 12, 2001.

In my day we had to trudge through snowdrifts ten feet high just to get to summer camp.

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), July 13, 2001.

41 year old teenyboppers are hard to come by these days flora. I'll take that as a compliment...lol!

MSOB - I'm sure it was all uphill too.....

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 13, 2001.

SOB... LOL!

-- (cin@cin.cin), July 13, 2001.

...playing kickball and softball in the street, and holering "CAR", having a lemonade stand...

-- (cin@cin.cin), July 13, 2001.

hey cin do you remember the new school shoes smell? I used to keep them by my bed and check'm out all night long : - ))

-- (doomerstomper@usa.net), July 13, 2001.

"MSOB - I'm sure it was all uphill too....."

Sure was, Deano. Both ways!

-- Miserable SOB (misery@misery.com), July 13, 2001.

MSOB

LOL!!! I think my parents took the same route you did!!

Deano

-- Deano (deano@luvthebeach.com), July 13, 2001.