Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
I just had to share this ....
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
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 or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds , KFC, Subway or Nandos.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks 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 old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY, no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, 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.
Only girls had pierced ears!
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...
We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT
Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and bully's always ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'
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.
PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore
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Comment by Liz on April 1, 2009 at 23:17
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It's a wonder the glow in the dark fish fingers didn't finish us all off at an early age. Great post Chris.
Mum did have to work as a cleaner to make ends meet though apart from that pretty much all true for me and my brother. Don't forget the fact that if we annoyed an adult, they clipped us round the ear and then our parents gave us what for for annoying the neighbours.
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Comment by StephenBln on April 1, 2009 at 23:29
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My Harringay childhood was all jubblies, eldorado ice-cream and orange 'squash'... and does anyone else here remember Mikkies? There used to be a diary St Ann's Road corner Woodlands ParK Road.. and I used to get Mikkies there.. It was a chocolate flavoured milk drink in a funny shaped bottle.. that we used to chuck away afterwards - strange days..
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sh... it was of course a ...dairy.. ha ha he he
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Comment by Chris Smith on April 1, 2009 at 23:51
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I remember jubblies and eldorado ice cream .... and fruit salads and black jacks for four a penny. Then there was the free bottles of orange juice from the clinic.
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Not to forget Jamboree Bags for 3d or Flying Saucers 4 @penny...
I used to get 3d a day spending money plus 2/6 on Saturdays..
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Comment by Arthur Astrop on April 2, 2009 at 20:12
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Wonderful stuff. Add '1920s' in front of '1930s' in the heading, and I agree with it all! Except for '3d a day spending money plus 2/6d on Saturdays'. Great Scott! There were no millionaire mums and dads in Harringay in my day!!
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@ Chris.. you mean the clinic in Chestnuts Park? Sort of 'squarish bottles'
@Arthur A. I was talking about 30 - 40 years later around 1962/63 - but I do take your point..
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I got 2/6 pocket money at weekends too. And I think I do mean the clinic in Chestnuts Park but don't remember the shape of the bottles. Jamboree bags, flying saucers, sherbet pips and sherbet fountains. And I'm sure Wagon Wheels were bigger in those days!
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Comment by Anette on April 3, 2009 at 13:01
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Great post, I'm lucky to be alive.. :D
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Comment by Flower on April 5, 2009 at 10:34
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And I'm still here to tell the tale!
Arthur .... do you remember Spanish Wood and Lemonade Powder?
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