Pastimes

I'm back!! After months of writing about my recovery after my stroke, I have decided that it is time to put some more thoughts down about my childhood.

With very few people owning televisions, entertainment and pastimes revolved around indoor hobbies, but when the weather allowed the best fun was outdoors. We had our own favourites and as life was returning back to normal after the Second World War many of these pastimes had to be "home grown" and inexpensive.

Girls probably imitated mothers by learning to sew, knit or bake - skills learnt an early age. I always loved washing the dishes and helping to wash, which was Monday's custom. I used to go to Mrs. Hogan, who lived on the "Landing" and spend ages messing about with a sink full of water and dishes.

One Christmas I  received a scale model of a "Hoover" washing machine, which was made to work by turning a key in the back. The agitator would go round and suds would appear. On dry days I used to take it out into the backyard and wash my doll's clothes. Mum would take two dining chairs outside and secure string around the chair backs so I could peg out the clothes.

Scrap books were always good fun as was tracing and drawing pictures, sadly I never really progressed in the "Art Department" so I always drew the same kind of house: the one that was square with 4/5 windows, a fence and apple tree. Remember?

I used to collect stamps and Dad would take me to the book shop in Bank Street to make my purchases. Stamps were purchased in glassine bags and there was always the hope that you would find a rare or unusual one. This was a shared interest or hobby and duplicates could be swapped with a friend. Packets of loose tea contained sets of cards: fashion and footballers. Another inexpensive hobby and it was sometimes a race between friends to see who could complete their album first.
Stamp collecting was a good way to learn about other countries and geography, as were pen pals. Some comics used to have a column about children who lived in other countries who were looking for pen pals to write to. For a number of years I used to write to a girl who lived in Manila in The Philippines. We would exchange small and inexpensive gifts that related to our countries and learn about each others culture.

Card games and board games were popular and we owned a "Compendium" of games. This was a collection of games that included Snakes & Ladders, Draughts, Tiddlywinks, Solitaire and Ludo. Cards were, and indeed still are, very versatile, but we had special packs like "Old Maid" and "Happy Families"

Popular authors of that era were Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter - how we loved The Famous Five. I remember that I had "Bobbsey Twins" books that were written by Laura Lee Hope.I was also allowed to have two comics: The Dandy & The Beano before eventually moving on to Jackie & Bunty. Many of the popular comics produced an Annual for Christmas and needless to say these were always on our letter to Santa.

Outdoor street games, many of them group games, were played as often as we could or were allowed: hide and seek, tig, blind man's buff, hopscotch, what time is it Mr. Wolf. Boys would play cricket or football in open spaces or on Fairview playing field and if necessary would improvise by using coats or jumpers for goal posts. The more energetic girls would impress by doing cartwheels, handstands, leap frog or roller skating.


You can follow my progress in my quest to recover from my untimely stroke on my other blog: :http://fivesmallminutes.blogspot.com