Jean, My Mum grew up in Birmingham and moved to the IOW after her home was bombed in WWII, killing her Dad and two brothers. They were moved to safety to Blackpool, where my grandma was offered work on IOW managing a Guest House in 29 Albert Street, Ventnor. There me Mum met me Dad and the rest is history, so she wrote.... Regards, Ron -----Original Message----- From: Jean Lees [mailto:jean.lees@blueyonder.co.uk] Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 4:29 AM To: Ron Cooper Subject: RE: [IoW] GROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA Ron what some great memories makes me think back to my childhood. i grew up on the Isle of wight but now live in birmingham ..very different for my kids ,gran kids . Jean -----Original Message----- From: Ron Cooper [mailto:racmcoop@bigpond.net.au] Sent: 12 September 2004 09:19 To: ISLE-OF-WIGHT-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [IoW] GROWING UP IN AUSTRALIA Hi List, This is not quite IOW stuff, but just wanted to share some local memories that were recently shared with me, of which many are probably similar to your own: I'm talking about hide and seek in the park. The corner milk bar, hopscotch, Billy carts, cricket in front of the garbage bin, skipping, handstands, footy on the best lawn in the street, "British bulldog", "1-2-3", "go home stay home", "slip 'n slide", the trampoline with water on it, hula hoops, pogo sticks, stepping in enormous puddles, mud pies and building dams in the gutter. The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass. 'Big bubbles no troubles' with Hubba Bubba(tm) bubble gum. A choc-top Mr Whippy ice cream cone on a warm summers night after, you've chased the truck round the block. When 20 cents worth of mixed lollies was a meal and smoking fags was really cool. Wait: Watching Saturday morning cartoons...short commercials, the Thunderbirds (if you got up reeeally early), the Smurfs, Astro Boy, He-Man, Captain Caveman, Archie, Jem (truly outrageous!!) and heey heey heey it's Fat Albert, or staying up late to sneak a look at the "AO" Movie on the second telly. When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere. A million mozzie bites, wasp and bee stings. Sticky fingers. Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians; riding bikes and catching tadpoles. Marco Polo in the neighbours' pool, drawing all over the road with chalk. Climbing trees and building cubbies out of every sheet your mum had in the cupboard. 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 the giggles. Being tired from playing... Remember that?????? The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapons. Cricket cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle...eating raw jelly, making homemade lemonade and sucking on a Funny Face or red Freeza(tm) icy poles. Remember when... There were only two types of sneakers - girls and boys. Dunlop Volleys with the green 'n' gold or blue and the only time you wore them at school was for "Sports Day." 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 purebred dog. When 50c was decent pocket money. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a 10c coin. When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids got there from school. When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant with your parents. When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed her or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it. When being sent to the Principal's Office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student, when he got home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! 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 saying, "Eeny-meeny-miney-mo" or scissors-paper-rock. "Race issues" 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 boy-girl, germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one. Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot. Nobody was prettier than your Mum. Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable Vitamin C's. Ice cream was considered a basic food group. Going to the beach and catching a wave 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 of these, then you have LIVED!!! _______________________________