Good old England! Things to reflect on from times gone by.

Someone e mailed me this the other day, it brought back so many memories from childhood.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1940's, 50's, 60's and70's

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while
they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and
didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright
coloured lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and
when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks
we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always exciting and great
fun.

We drank water from the garden hose or tap and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and
NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank cordial with sugar
in it, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we
were back when the streetlights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride
down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running
into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem ..

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, No video games at
all, No 99 channels,No Pay TV, No cable, No DVD movies or surround
sound.

We had NO mobile phones, No text messaging, No personal computers, No
Internet or Internet chat rooms.........

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke Bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.

We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did
not live in us forever.

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told
it would happen, we didn't poke out anyone's eye.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard
of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
how to deal with it all!

And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow
up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives
for our own good.

and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with your eyes shut
holding a pair of scissors, doesn't it?!

Here you go Lyn. Taken in that very same winter.

Picture by Sue H

1958, what a great year to be born. Lucky me! I was 5 when we had all that snow and I remember it vividly...walking to school with my mum, barely being able to take a step, it was so deep.

Flicking playing cards, playing football and tennis til it was dusk, walking for miles as a teenager over Portsdown hill to Southwick and never worrying about a thing (apart from pocket money of course) and generally having a smile permanently on my face for all my youth. In those days my prize possesion was my fishing net and sticklebacks and minnows in a jamjar were my prize.

No knives, no guns, no swearing, no disrespect for ANYONE, no cares. And yet the 'good old days' probably weren't so good for our parents, who, had they the means then, would probably have written something fairly similar about their 'good old days'.

That's life!!