Do you remember?
Remember...
Before the Internet or the AppleMac...
Before semi-automatics and crack cocaine...
Before SEGA, Cartoon Network and Teletubbies...
Before Playstation and MTV...
Way back.
I'm talking about the time of playing Hide and Seek in the park until after dark whithout your parents worrying. The cafe down the road that sold everything, Hopscotch, skipping and handstands, backyard cricket with a tomato box, "Bollie" and "Liewe Heksie" cartoons in the Huisgenoot, trading writing paper and stickers, fishing with willow branches in the stream, catching tadpoles, living on the beach, building a swing from a piece of rope tied to a tree, tennis in the street and swing ball in the backyard.
A Wilson's toffee for 2 cents. A white and pink ice cream cone from the kombi that played a tune. When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere, and your ma made you "dress up" for the trip. Going to school barefoot. Watching "Mina Moo", "Pumpkin Patch", "Wielie Walie", "Mannemarak" and "Oscar en Knersus".
A million mozzie bites and peeling skin in summer. The smell of suntan lotion, hot tar and Oros. Sticky fingers and sand in and on everything. Feeding seasnails to the anemones in the rock pools.
"Vroteier", Telegram, hand tennis, Foefie slides & climbing trees. 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. Paper water bombs and mud clots were the ultimate weapon. Going everywhere on your BMX , without ever needing helmets or pads.
Eating jelly powder from the box. Ice lollies made from cold drink in Tupperware holders in the freezer. Making sherbet from sugar and ENOS and boiling tins of condensed milk to make caramel - took hours! Marshmallow fish and mice.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Nobody owned a pedigree dog. R2 was decent pocket money. When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there. Everybody kept silkworms and used them to spin silk bookmarks for their grandmother.
When it was considered a great privilege and very unusual to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant or in a proper hotel. Or when on the rare occasion Dad stopped at a roadhouse and you got to drink a real milkshake.
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Nix!"
"A race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money was handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a BIC pen pea shooter or a "kettie".
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C or Milk of Magnesia.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Skills and courage were discovered because of a "dare".
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
Before the Internet or the AppleMac...
Before semi-automatics and crack cocaine...
Before SEGA, Cartoon Network and Teletubbies...
Before Playstation and MTV...
Way back.
I'm talking about the time of playing Hide and Seek in the park until after dark whithout your parents worrying. The cafe down the road that sold everything, Hopscotch, skipping and handstands, backyard cricket with a tomato box, "Bollie" and "Liewe Heksie" cartoons in the Huisgenoot, trading writing paper and stickers, fishing with willow branches in the stream, catching tadpoles, living on the beach, building a swing from a piece of rope tied to a tree, tennis in the street and swing ball in the backyard.
A Wilson's toffee for 2 cents. A white and pink ice cream cone from the kombi that played a tune. When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere, and your ma made you "dress up" for the trip. Going to school barefoot. Watching "Mina Moo", "Pumpkin Patch", "Wielie Walie", "Mannemarak" and "Oscar en Knersus".
A million mozzie bites and peeling skin in summer. The smell of suntan lotion, hot tar and Oros. Sticky fingers and sand in and on everything. Feeding seasnails to the anemones in the rock pools.
"Vroteier", Telegram, hand tennis, Foefie slides & climbing trees. 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. Paper water bombs and mud clots were the ultimate weapon. Going everywhere on your BMX , without ever needing helmets or pads.
Eating jelly powder from the box. Ice lollies made from cold drink in Tupperware holders in the freezer. Making sherbet from sugar and ENOS and boiling tins of condensed milk to make caramel - took hours! Marshmallow fish and mice.
It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Nobody owned a pedigree dog. R2 was decent pocket money. When nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there. Everybody kept silkworms and used them to spin silk bookmarks for their grandmother.
When it was considered a great privilege and very unusual to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant or in a proper hotel. Or when on the rare occasion Dad stopped at a roadhouse and you got to drink a real milkshake.
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Nix!"
"A race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money was handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly"
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a BIC pen pea shooter or a "kettie".
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C or Milk of Magnesia.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
Skills and courage were discovered because of a "dare".
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
posted by Onanymous at 7:22 am
19 Comments:
They were all Afrikaans, used puppets in one way or another and were semi-educational, even if it was just to teach kids how good it is to drink milk :)
And of course my favourite line comes from Sarel Seemonster: "Stories is my leeeeewe" (stories are my life)
i loved that.
I do indeed remember very similar things from my childhood.
Personal fond memories include: Fighting with rhubarb swords with my best friend in a churchyard, much to our vicars annoyance (but he was right); British Bulldog 1-2-3, played the entire (juniors) school yard at break; Garden creeping; Walking far far into the countryside by myself and never being lost or afraid of strangers; Aah, so many things that are gone now.
Muchness of love to ya for the remembering.
S.x
Why does it seem that we had so much more time to do all of these things when we were younger - even though you had to be in bed by 8?
Anyway, thanks for stopping by.
Wonderful, wonderful post.
I am from India, & it is strangely exciting to find similarities.
No mention of 'Darkroom' though; sort of an evolved version of hide & seek, you had just one room- all lights switched off - where the group hid & used whatever means available to fool the incoming person ( I forget what that role was called).
And I think a lot of the children decided using "Inky plinky plonky" instead of "Eenie meeny..."
S!
Actually, I think we also played a similar game.
It is amazing how universal some things can be.
Oh wow, Yarr! Darkroom! Although we didn't have the same name, we had several variations. One was a particular favourite, called "Murder In The Dark". Hillarious.
PS: Onan. AS one gets older, time does indeed seem to get faster and faster. It scares me breathless some days.
PPS: And i'll definitely be stoppinng by more often...
Thanks. It's always good to have visitors.
I am going on holiday though, so there might not be a lot of posts before I get back, since I will have to rely on my little dail-up modem at home.
Oh yes, beta tapes!
Wow. What an amzing post. How come I didn't know about this almost amonth ago!!! :)
Glad you liked it.
I don't know if it is just me, but I seem completely unable to find your blog anywhere.
No, it's not just you. Unfortunately I have stopped blogging for a while.
Your post reminded me of some of my vaguely similar nostalgic posts I made every so often.
Now I live vicariously through bloggers like you! Wish I'd visited here sooner. :)
Absolutely awesome - that was a trip down memory lane like no other - thanks for that.
How were we able to have so much time on our hands when we were kids, but nowdays we have little time for anything. One of life's little mysteries.
Oh to be a carefree kid again....
Absolutely awsome post!!!
I might be alone here but I'll never forget running through the sprinkler in your underwear(in the front yard) on a hot summer day.
I'll be coming here more often from now on.
Oh yes, we did that during break at primary school.(The sprinkler thing, NOT the underwear thing)Such fun.
"A 'race issue' meant arguing about who ran the fastest"? Are you serious? Clearly growing up in the lush, cotton wool, soft cocoon of a well of white family left you a little blind and somewhat sadly naive
Naïve adj.
Lacking worldly experience and understanding,
Simple and guileless;
Artless: a child with a naive charm.
It is sad that my post upset you so much, because I think you are missing the point a bit.
This post is about some of the things I remember fondly from my childhood. Yes, they are memories. And I know time usually soften the edges, make things seem different, better - it's just the way it works. There will always be that elusive concept of the 'Good Old Days'. It doesn't mean I want to go back there.
Secondly, I was a child, so my perception of my surroundings were understandably childish and limited. Naïve if you will. I never once implied that I still feel that way. If I did, your comment might be valid, but I don't, so it isn't.
That specific line is there to illustrate that when you are young, the world seems to be a much simpler place.
So yes, this post is a bit naïve. It was meant to be.
It was also meant to remind me that I am not that shy little girl anymore.
I grew up.
I just like to remember that sometimes.
robotech
Kennietjie (game with 2 sticks)
Yes, that got me traveling - amazing how timeless your memories are – being able to still make an impact after all this time. You deserve more than just "nice post". It is difficult for me to express my thoughts but you sort of drew me a picture while reading your memories.
All we can do to keep on holding on is to remind ourselves that, this moment - right now - there is pretty much the same thing happening to others and still ourselves.
Thank you for remembering!
I know im terribly late haha but...
Awesome post!
Really brought back some good memories.
Thinking back that far, one forgets all the bad shit. :)
"Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors."
I loved this, having four older brothers and all.
Post a Comment
<< Home