Growing Up In Ireland

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Got this email during the week.. stirred up a few old memories

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park.
The shop down the road,
Hopscotch, Donkey, skipping, handstands, stuck in the mud, football with an old can, Dandy, Beano,
Twinkle and Roly Poly, Hula Hoops, Jumping the stream, building a swing from a tyre and a piece of rope tied to a
tree,(If you live in Dublin the lampost), building tree-houses, climbing up onto roofs.
Tennis on the street, the smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.

Hubba Bubba bubble gum and 2p Flogs, macaroon bars and woppas, 3p Refreshers and wham bars,
superhero chewing gum, golf ball chewing gums and liquorice whips, desperate dan and roy of the rovers,
sherbit dips and Mr.freezes, marathon bars and everlasting gobstoppers.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune chocolate or vanilla
or strawberry or maybe neopolitan

Wait ... Watching Saturday Morning cartoons ... short commercials,
Battle of the Planets, Road Runner, He-Man, Swapshop, and Why Don't You?,
Transformers, How do you do?, Bosco(SANDY), Forty-coats,
The Littlest Hobo and Lassie, Chucklevision, The Muppet Show, MacGyver,
Scarecrow and Mrs King, Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, or staying up
for Knight Rider and Magnum PI.

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

A million midget bites, sticky fingers and mud all over you, knee-pads on your jeans,
Cops and Robbers, Rounders, tip the Can, Queenie-I-O,
climbing trees, spin the bottle, 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

And don't forget the Marietta sandwiches we'd make by buttering a cupla Marietta biscuits and stickin' them together.
And that quare oul mixture made in a tall glass with HB ice cream and Taylor Keith Red Lemonade.

I'm not finished just yet...

Eating raw jelly, orange squash ice pops

Remember when ... There were two types of sneakers - girls and boys and Dunlop Green Flash and the only time you wore them at school, was for 'P.E.', Gola football boots.

It wasn't odd to have two or three 'best' friends, when nobody owned a pure bred dog,
when 25p was decent pocket money, 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 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 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 muggings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! and some of us are still afraid of them!!!

Remember when....

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-mo.' Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, 'do over!'

'Race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in 'Monopoly', the game of life and
connect four, atari 2600's and commadore 64's.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
It was unbelievable that Red rover wasn't an Olympic event...

Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a biro barrel pea shooter or an elastic band.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better,

Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable vitamins,
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.

Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true.. Abilities were discovered because of a 'double dare'
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 their 'grown up' life...

I DOUBLE DARE YA!!! Bagsy it, no returns and no magical changes

thoses were the good days!!!!!

Moonbeam

You have me reminiscing now!!

A lot of that lovely candy seems to be making a comeback now too:)

I miss 10p bags!

SEPT 23 1989

mammy was always at home waiting for us feel so sorry for todays kids dumped with childminders and creches how much do we owe the mammies of ireland of previous generations for putting themselves second for us, never forgotten

kelle

So true! Re:The bit about scrapes and bruises, nowadays children get a note home detailing any accidents they had in the playground. It's so sad because it's such a natural part of childhood, ruined by the insurance man.
About icecream being a basic food group, now there is such hype about foods a child MUST eat, it gets very suffocating! My mother never worried about what food groups we were consuming (though there was never sweets or crisps in our house), provided we ate enough and were never hungry. Our snack was sugar sandwiches, if you gave that to child now a social worker would be called. My son is a very faddy eater, and I've just had to go along with that - but he's healthy as a trout and never sick!

Lizzykins

One of the best posts ever Elvis! I was there!

Rockee

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

mammy was always at home waiting for us feel so sorry for todays kids dumped with childminders and creches how much do we owe the mammies of ireland of previous generations for putting themselves second for us, never forgotten

+1:) Im 26 and Im so grateful I was a nipper in the 80s.

Ruu_Old

Great thread. *reads as Mammy makes tea and toast*

stovelid

elviscostello wrote: »

Decisions were made by going 'eeny-meeny-miney-mo.'

I fear that the unabridged version of this was a bit less forum-friendly....or maybe that was just in Tallaght.

xzanti

Rockee wrote: »

+1:) Im 26 and Im so grateful I was a nipper in the 80s.

+1, my mam used to have hot apple tarts and butterfly buns cooling on the counter when we came home from school.. I sh1t you not ah memories..

tricky D

Thanks for that.

also mudball fights, knowing the busdrivers by name, my cousins bus driver would honk the horn and wait if she was a min late, old shops where stock was mostly behind the counter, sandpits, ma's scones, going off to explore for a few hours, climbing cliffs, football on sat on the bbc and playing for 15 mins during half time, banger buses

I could go on......

TheDriver

eating raw jelly, oh the memories. Lime jelly yummyyyyyyyyyy

marie_85

Lunch was a ham sandwich and a glass of red lemonade.

Nobody had ever heard of bagels, Starbucks, sushi or the word 'organic'.