MEMORY LANE

Those were the days…

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 in 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 a van that plays a tune –
	chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe a neopolitan 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
	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, 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 transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
	Choppers and Grifters
	Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.

Remember when…

	Dunlop Green Flash and the only time you wore them was at school for P.E.
	You knew everyone in the street and so did your parents and 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 the gutter for a muddy 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 anything 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 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 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.
	Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors