overyourhead

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be...
I got this from Sarah-Jane. And it did make me smile. An ode to the past I guess.

The following makes you feel old ..but it also brings back loads of good memories. If you were born after 1980, this does not apply to you... Kids of today are wrapped in cotton wool......... Read on.

If you lived as a child in the 50's, 60's or 70's, looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Our cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, when we rode our bikes we had no helmets.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

No mobile phones. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound, personal mobile phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends.

We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves!

Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian - how did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment.....

Some pupils weren't as smart as others so they failed an exam and were held back to repeat the same year. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law - imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

And you're one of them. Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before lawyers and government regulated our lives....... for our own good...... If you're not smiling by the end of this, then what were you doing when you were young?

Close your eyes and go back in time...Before the Internet...Before semi-automatics, oyriders and crack.... Before X-Box, 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 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 poo. 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. 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, 25p was decent pocket money, Curly Whirlys. Space Dust. Toffo's. Top Trumps. You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.

Nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there.

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 "Ip Dip Dog sh!t ".

Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly". The worst thing you could catch from your opposite (boys/girls) 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.

Well, maybe - but it's fun to look back sometimes.