Sound familiar ?

[NWN: This is greatstuff !]

Close your eyes and go back in time...................................

If you're not smiling by the end of this, then what were you doing when you were young?

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

Close your eyes and go back in time... before the Internet...

Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack....

Before SEGA, Super Nintendo or PS2...

Way back........

I'm talking about hide and seek in the park.

The corner shop.

Hopscotch. Butterscotch.

Skipping.

Handstands.

When jam & bread was a meal fit for a King.

Football with an old can.

Fingerbobs & The Magic Roundabout.

Beano, Dandy, Eagle, Buster, Bunty, Judy, Dennis the Menace & The Bash Street Kids.

Before Harry Potter, when Biggles was King & Dan Dare saved the world from the Mekon's every week.

Jam roly-poly & custard, spotted dick.

Tudor crisps, jumping the stream, building dams, catching tadpoles & newts.

The warmth of the sun and the smell of fresh cut grass.

' Bazooka Joe' bubble gum.

Black Jacks, Refresher chews & Sports Mixture.

An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the Van that played a tune.

Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a 'Mivvi', and, on special occasions...a 99 !

The six weeks school summer holidays stretched out before you like an eternity, and the first day back at school always involved an essay entitled, 'What I did on my Holidays'

Wait...there's more,

Going to Saturday morning matineesGoing to the Saturday morning matinee to see 'Davy Crockett - King of the Wild Frontier' or 'Old Yellah'.

The 'Children's Film Foundation', The Double Decker's, Champion the Wonder Horse, Lassie, The Lone Ranger & Fireball XL5.

Magpie, Blue Peter, How?, TisWas or Multi-coloured Swapshop, and 'Why Don't You'?, or staying up for Doctor Who. Listening to 'Jimmy Clitheroe' on the radio.

When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere?

Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles, dock leaves and bee stings.

White dog sh*t.

Sticky buns & Fig Rolls. Garibaldi biscuits.

Playing Marbles with ball bearings.

Conkers.

Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.

Climbing trees and rope swings.

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.

Reading comics under the blankets with a torch.

Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was a cause for giggles.

Being tired from playing.... remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.

Water balloons & Spud Guns were the ultimate weapons.

Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.

Choppers and Grifters.

Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.

Sugar butties, biscuit butties, apple butties

Remember when...

There were two types of trainers - girls and boys - oh 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 pedigree dog.

When 'half a crown' was a lot of money.

Curly Whirlys. Liquorice and nougat. Toffo's. Spangles, Love Hearts & sherbet dips.

When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.

When nearly everyone's mum was at home, when the kids got there.

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 for the cane and the punishment book 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 "Ickle Ockle, Black Bottle?"

"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. Apart from maybe your best mates older sister!

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.

Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin or castor oil!

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.

Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from his or her "grown up" lives...................

"GO ON, I DOUBLE-DARE YOU"

Ron Jackson