Hmm.. remember the sticky fingers!

Seriously, you have to think how your mind mainly remembers all the good stuff and disregards all but the very worst of the bad.  When we were kids the sun always seemed to be shining and the summers really were hot.. but they couldn't have been!  Even with global warming people still complain about the weather here!

Things were never as good as what you remember from your childhood.  The only sad thing is, that today kids seem to have lost the art of entertaining themselves.  They dont seem to play games together anymore unless it involves a computer and a bradband connection.  Instead they huddle together in car parks and the like and just sit.  That is the sadness of it all.

Perhaps this art hasn't been passed onto our kids.. and what are they going to tell their own kids?  "I remember many an hour sitting outside of Booze Busters, not doing much.. those were the days!"? x 

Deadly dull Sundays, everything shut , nothing to do, nowhere to go.

Terrible rainy holidays in grim boarding houses in Great Yarmouth or Skegness.

Monotonous plain food with parents' wartime rationing habits hanging around.

Never mind the internet - wait six weeks for the post office to put in a phone (in grey or black -take your choice).

Town centres dead at 11pm.

Scraping frost off the inside of a window while a shivering father builds a coal fire.

The best of the old world being swept away, demolished, destroyed in a desire to be "modern".

Endless strikes.

Power cuts.

Provincial  towns and cities backwaters of style and fashion.

Just three channels of TV which started at 4 and shut down at 11pm

I thought the same thing for a minute then realized it was in this section as it was a time of laughter and fun,with little need for concern for safety.

I forgot about all the comic books I read and campouts under the stars..

and fishing at your local pond with your friends talking about that big one.lol

Explicit image available, join sdc.com to view 

PS: It is funny to as I am 15 years older then several of you and yet we still had alot of the same experiences.

Life was fun in those days. Feel quite sorry for the kids these days.

UK Childhood memories include;

Playing footie (soccer-ball for our cousins living in the colonies) in the street with all the other local kids, with one of those soft plastic balls that when you kicked it never went straight. Then being asked to play it in one of the local fields, and replying "No way, they are full of dog s**t". Pooper scoopers, who had heard of them?? Comparing those footballs with the leather ones used in school that hurt like f**k if you got hit with one in P.E. class during winter. Ever try heading 1 of those things?

Making "slides" when icy/snowy, then 1 of the neighbours dads coming out and spraying salt all over it:(

Knocking on front doors then running away (we called it knicky knocky nine doors), and always had 1 psycho neighbour who would chase you for miles.

Penny for the guy??? Building the biggest bonfires around, then having someone set fire to them before Guy Fawkes Night.

Short of cash around Xmas time, no probs, carol singing:)

Hating the smell/taste of beer/lager/whatever, and proudly declaring you would never touch alcohol in your life.

Being carried home on your 15th, 16th, 17th birthday paralytic from 2 -3 cans of Special Brew.

"Getting the oldest looking one" to go to the off-license to buy the drinks, and then watching him trying to rehearse what birthdate to tell the assistant.

Boys doing needlework/cookery, and girls doing metalwork/woodwork at school?? (still worked out for Jennifer Beals in Flashdance).

Making something at school that was patently awful, but your parents telling you it was lovely.

Watching toy adverts on ITV before Xmas and telling your parents "I want that 1", over and over again.

Boys toys;Subbuteo, Striker, Scalextric, Toy soldiers, Action Man, Ideal Toys, Atari 2600, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pacman, etc, etc.

Making Airfix models, and getting more glue on your hands and clothes than on the kits.

Chopper bikes, Grifters, Chippers, and 20 speed racers.

TV in those days; Blue Peter, Grange Hill, Magpie, actually watching Top of the Pops and caring about what was number 1, Diffrent Strokes, Its a Knockout, Happy Days, The Muppet Show, The Kenny Everrit Show, TISWAS, Multi Coloured Swap Shop, Jim'll Fix It, Blockbusters, staying up till 10.00 on a Saturday night to watch Match of the Day (with Jimmy Hill). 3 (!!!!!!) channels to choose from. Summer TV on a Saturday, White Horses, Robinson Crusoe (classic theme tunes). Watching Disney Time on Bank Holidays.

Listening to Radio 1 (DLT, Tommy Vance, Simon Bates, Noel Edmonds, Annie Nightingale, John Peel, etc, etc).

Taping the Top 40 on a Sunday night on Radio 1, and trying to blank out the DJ.

LP records, 45's, 8 Track tapes, cassettes.

20 inch TV screens (hopefully colour!!), and a VHS (or god forbid a Betamax) VCR as big as a suitcase.

On a hot summer day (well 1976!!) nothing beat going to your local shop and buying a room-temperature can of coke (with the tear off ring-pull). Refrigeration, nah, not a chance.

Cresta "its frothy maan". Dandelion and Burdock, Sodastreams. 

Eating a cider ice lolly, then pretending you were drunk. Drinking a Babycham and pretending you were drunk.

Ronco adverts on TV. The buttoneer for less than �5.00 (�4.99).

Victor comics, Look-In, Shoot!, Match, Roy of the Rovers, Warlord. Commando comics. Then getting the annuals at Xmas. Oh, and Selection Boxes!! (all finished by Boxing Day).

Collecting Panini stickers.

The Good Old Days!! (Hang on, wasnt that a TV Show too)

Memories from Mr Tigger growing up in the North East,the land of Look-North (Mike Neville), and Metro Radio.

That was great the good ole days lol !!!

It is funny as you are across the ocean ,but we still had much in common as kids.

We had a show in the early 90s called The Wonder Years that portrayed those years very well. I don't know if you got it there?

And before Gym Shoes they had Sneakers. And pick up games of Basketball. The 5 and 10 store for candy and Halloween at the neighbors. Our ice cream machine was Mr. Softie. And late night Creature Features Mummy,Frankenstien,Werewolf, and Creature. And we called what you caught from girls or boys was Kuddies. Yo Yos with Around the World and Rock the Cradle. Baseball cards and your first game with your Dad at the ballpark and you felt like a big guy with your mit.

I could go on and on those were the days my friend I thought they would never end,bring them back. And piling up alot of leaves and jumping in them.

Let the Good Times Roll !!! 

Hey guys, great list, we both remember those great times we had when the whole world seemed to be our very own adventure playground! Where we could:

Leave home at 9am at the weekend and not return home till the evening... And no one worried.
Build carts from old prams and scraps of wood, no brakes! We got scraped knees but it was great fun!
Talk to strangers and not run away because of the fear put into us by our parents.
Go swimming in the local river or canal and dredge up all kinds of cool stuff just cos we could.
Fish when we wanted without a permit as long as your best mate shouted when the inspector walked along the bank.
Play in the street and feel safe because we were all part of the local gang...

And most of all, do you remember when there were local youth clubs, where we could meet all our mates, date girls and play Billiards or Snooker without being hit on to buy drugs?

I wanna go back again! Anyone got a time machine?? (sigh)