Those Were The Days!

[Malcolm Robinson]

How did we manage to survive !!!!!!

WE WAS BRUNG UP PROPER!!"And we never had a whole Mars bar until 1993"!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonald's , KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because........

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

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. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY ,

no video/dvd films,

no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no

Lawsuits from these accidents.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.

They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO

DEAL WITH IT ALL !

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

PS -The big type is because our eyes are not too good at our age anymore

[Keith Scantlebury]

Spot on Malcolm.

[Adam Hogg]

A bit of a rant on Malcolm, but true none the less, those where the days . One fact though it was not the hills they used the go carts on it was the pit heep or so my dad says.

[Orloff]

A bit of a rant on Malcolm, but true none the less, those where the days . One fact though it was not the hills they used the go carts on it was the pit heep or so my dad says.

We used to ride our "bogeys" as we called them down Furnace Bank, and if you were really brave, the Hairpin. It was after the "New" bridge had been put in though. Mind you some vehicles still used both hills, you were just careful, (or daft). It's just like Malcoms piece said!!

[Cyril]

We used to ride our "bogeys" as we called them down Furnace Bank, and if you were really brave, the Hairpin. It was after the "New" bridge had been put in though. Mind you some vehicles still used both hills, you were just careful, (or daft). It's just like Malcoms piece said!!

Or RUN through the black bridge on those two planks which ran in parrallel to the railway tracks............mind you I,m not condoning that now .........or swinging from a rope tied to a branch overhanging the rockface on the way down to Humford baths (as was)... it must be at least 50 feet high... a mere step compared to that bloody bridge.......... lol

[Orloff]

Or RUN through the black bridge on those two planks which ran in parrallel to the railway tracks............mind you I,m not condoning that now .........or swinging from a rope tied to a branch overhanging the rockface on the way down to Humford baths (as was)... it must be at least 50 feet high... a mere step compared to that bloody bridge.......... lol

We used to do that too, never told parents tho, get a good hiding for that!! We also used to pee on cars on the new road below. (did I just say that!!!) I admitted to me mam (in the '90s ) that I used to do all that, she was horrified and said that if she had known it she would have slapped me. my wife was just looking over my shoulder readin what I was doing and said "on behalf of your Mum" with that she promptly smacked me on the back of my head!!!!!!..........If me mam were still alive, they would have got on like a house on fire.

[Merlin]

We used to ride our "bogeys" as we called them down Furnace Bank, and if you were really brave, the Hairpin. It was after the "New" bridge had been put in though. Mind you some vehicles still used both hills, you were just careful, (or daft). It's just like Malcoms piece said!!

You think the hair pin was bad Orloff, we used to ride our bogeys at GuidePost from the Queens Head down Sheepwash Ave then Sheepwash bank then along Welbeck out onto the main road past the Anglers Arms and only stopped at Sheepwash Bridge! If you were really brave or mad, at the bottom of Sheepwash Ave you did a right turn down Dene road and prayed that you could take the 45 degree turn at the bottom, if not end up down someones yard and oot tha back garden and into the Wannie HAHA Great Times!

[shybedlingtonnew(ish)bie]

I was born in 1977 and I can relate to a lot of this too, Malcolm. The most disappointing thing I have had the misfortune to be involved in recently, in relation to the way kids are 'brought up' today was a mother complaining at my nieces birthday party. I was in charge of the music during passy the parcel and she complained that her child hadn't had a 'chance' to have a go. Apparently even though there was 50 kids in the circle I wasn't giving each a fair go. I don't think my sister wrapped it 50 times, like!

Life is full of disappointments, you can't always win and need to accept this gracefully. Children need to learn this too, as well as good manners (which seem to have gone out of fashion) and learning that you can't always get your own way. My other half received a swiss army knife for his 5th birthday and a soldering iron for his 9th. We want to encourage our kids, when we have them, to take a calculated risk. If they succeed the sense of achievement, freedom and the confidence boost will be massive, if they get hurt then they'll have learnt a lesson. I'd like to think that they too will ride their go karts down a hill. We'll bring them up to have manners, to say sorry, to be kind to people, to do as they're told or there will be consequences such as stopped pocket money. Sadly these things don't happen a lot today my nieces and nephew are either frightened of their own shadow or have a blatant disregard for what their parents tell them, almost 100% of the time.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Couldn't agree more Debbie.

It really aggrieves me when you see all the dumbing down we are allowing to happen in society. Chasing the lowest common denominator and then applying it across the board is restricting development not helping it. At some point that ape had to stand up on two feet and walk like a biped and not just follow the rest of the troup.

OTT insulation of children is almost as bad as neglect! They have to cry to appreciate laughter, they have to make the team selection for the team to be worth getting into, they have to graze their knees so they build up some semblance of viral resistance. Nature isn't stupid it has made kids regenerative and they learn easily. With so many opportunities these days we should be making sure everyone gets their chance to develop to their fullest potential whatever that might be.

[Keith Scantlebury]

Got nowt to do with the above, but, I still have a book presented to me and signed by Fred Hostler from the Whitley school in 1967. This was my prize for 'Scripture'. The book is in excellent nick (albeit without the dust cover). It seemed I was an aspiring vicar, which would explain the righteous life I have lead....... so far

[Malcolm Robinson]

I think I saw one of your sermons Keith.........

[Canny lass]

Got nowt to do with the above, but, I still have a book presented to me and signed by Fred Hostler from the Whitley school in 1967. This was my prize for 'Scripture'. The book is in excellent nick (albeit without the dust cover). It seemed I was an aspiring vicar, which would explain the righteous life I have lead....... so far

A book in "excellent nick" is often a book that's never been read!

[Keith Scantlebury]

A book in "excellent nick" is often a book that's never been read!

You're not far wrong, I remember that I wanted one on farming and they came up with ' The Seasons & the Gardener' A Book for Children. By H. E. Bates. I got the lip on and never read it. When my mother died in 2008 ,we found it among her stuff, the dust cover was wrecked but the book itself is in mint condition, ie. no marks or tears etc. its from class 4 1966 (not 67 as I previously said)

[Keith Scantlebury]

I think I saw one of your sermons Keith.........

it would have been memorable