DI Alex Drake
AWOL
Quite frankly, your guess is as good as mine.
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Post by DI Alex Drake on Apr 19, 2018 14:10:17 GMT
Thanks for sharing, Cartman. I’d never considered abandoned cars before reading this thread - I don’t think they become toys now!
It’s mad, really. My dad grew up in Plymouth on an estate backing onto woods and he was mad on speedway and trials riding. Obviously he only had a bicycle but he used to set up tracks in the woods challenges etc and go over and over it until he mastered every corner etc. I’m sure he’s told me about a barn that they used to go in and play football - I’m presuming nobody minded! He also has a scar on his shoulder from when they made their own go carts and a massive nail was sticking out! There’s also something about a cannon made out of a drainpipe but I’m going to have to ask him about that one so I can remember the whole story!
My mum grew up in Middlesbrough and their playground was an under-construction housing estate! Much like ... I think it was Arthur who said it? Can you imagine that these days?? They would barely get onto the site, let alone play there everyday for years. But she has a scar on her shin from another large nail! She has 3 brothers and no sisters so she was inevitably exposed to a bit more in the way of mud, bikes and injuries than I was! But it all sounds so much more fun.
I’m genuinely unsure when the turning point was. I doubt that the world is any less safe than it was back then, other than practical things like the number of cars available to run you down, I guess. And yet we are all suddenly convinced that it’s unsafe for anyone, or at least women and children, to go anywhere alone! It’s sad really. I live on an estate now where there’s must be quite a large number of children - But you rarely see them at all. In a selfish way that’s not a complaint because they would probably be annoying! But when you think even during the summer holidays I think I saw a group of them with a football once last year, it’s bizarre.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Apr 19, 2018 14:44:10 GMT
Who used to play 'knock-a-door-run'? Daring your friend to knock on someone's front door then scarpering before anyone answered
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Post by Sam Tyler on Apr 19, 2018 15:09:31 GMT
Who used to play 'knock-a-door-run'? Daring your friend to knock on someone's front door then scarpering before anyone answered Yes, that was a regular although we always called it "Knock down Ginger". Why it was called that I don't know but my father used to do it when he was a kid too. Interesting also hearing from Cartman about playing in the knocked down houses. There was a manor house up the road from us that was knocked down and a whole road of houses built on the land. When it was first knocked down this became a playground for some of us. The misfortune I had there was standing on a plank of wood that had a nail poking through it. The nail went through my brand new wellie boots and into my foot. When I got home and told my mum about it, she did bathe and plaster my foot (no mention of tetanus!) but that was after she gave me an almighty b***ocking for putting a hole in my brand new wellies! Sam.
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Post by Steve Austin on Apr 19, 2018 17:57:25 GMT
Who used to play 'knock-a-door-run'? Daring your friend to knock on someone's front door then scarpering before anyone answered Guilty Arthur. Not a wise idea as I lived in a small village and it didn't take Columbo to work out who it was but we did it anyway.
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Cartman
Producer
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Post by Cartman on Apr 19, 2018 19:37:51 GMT
Me too! One night this bloke chased after me but I outran him!
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Post by Brown Cortina on Apr 22, 2018 20:53:20 GMT
Who used to play 'knock-a-door-run'? Daring your friend to knock on someone's front door then scarpering before anyone answered Guilty too Arthur. We used to knock then run and hide and watch from a distance to see The reaction. We also did a bit of “garden hopping” too.
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Batgirl
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Post by Batgirl on Apr 23, 2018 1:04:48 GMT
One major difference between 'then' and 'now' is school holidays. I was/am always conscious of what activities or things are organised for my son's school holidays whereas for me, school holidays were totally up to me what I did. It was like parents no longer had to take responsibility. Another fun thing was hanging out with the older kids who had dirt mini bikes (little motor bikes) and clinging on to one of them as they rode past the houses and headed straight into bushland or long empty country roads. God knows what speed we were doing. No helmets, no licences, and a real sense of speed, wind in the hair and freedom. I may not like getting older every year now but I am really glad I grew up when I did.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Apr 23, 2018 8:17:27 GMT
Im glad I grew up when I did too. Any bits of waste ground could be your play area, near where I lived was some spare land bounded by a canal (the long closed Manchester Bolton and Bury canal) a factory, Withins Mill, and the railway (the electric line to Manchester Victoria) which had a branch off which led to the goods depot, again long closed. Sometines open wagons would be outstationed near where we used to play and some of them had bales of some yellow stuff inside, which would occasionally burst and we used to grab handfuls of it. I later found out it was Esparto Grass which was destined for the paper mill and was stuff used in the paper making process,
Good job it was harmless!
The canal was another interesting location, making and sailing model boats out of bits of wood.
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