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Knocky Door Ginger
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 04 Mar 01 - 08:05 PM I feel sorry for today's youngsters, because it's not safe to let them roam the way we did.
I wonder whether that is really true, or just that there's more awareness of the fact that it can be a dangerous world.
The traffic is heavier, and there are more parked cars on the roads. But the most dangerous roads can be the ones that seem safe till some fool rushes around the corner in a car in a hurry. Busy roads carry their own warning. Fewer children get killed on the roads than a few years ago - though of course that could just mean that they aren't allowed to play out.
But the play out round where I live, and the play doesn't seem that different. Yesterday I was walking along and a biscuit suddenly appeared on the road in front of me, and it turned out there was a bunch of boys in an upstairs room throwing things at passers-by. They were still at it when I came back that way half an hour later, having a rare old time.
And there were kids on scooters (the fashionable non-motorised type of scooter, the modernised version of the classic ones dating back to Edwardian times or before); other on bicycles, or with a skateboard or roller skates. A bunch of girls doing a counting game on the pavement. Come the summer, they'll be playing tennis across the streets.
Things sometimes change a lot less than people assume. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Same guest Date: 02 Mar 01 - 02:48 PM Tiggerdooley. Remain like a child; that's the answer to most problems of course - keeping a sense of wonder, looking forward, learning every day. My niece and I have great fun in our local parks/ play areas together(I don't see why adults shouldn't enjoy the swings; I'm smaller than many ten year-olds). Sadly, we see few other people there, even though the climbing frames and other playthings are often fantastic. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,JohnB Date: 02 Mar 01 - 12:46 PM Further on the subject of Tiggy, we used to paly tiggy not just with hands. We would use available things and the name of the game would take on titles like Tiggy Ball, Tiggy Stone, Tiggy Dog Shit and such. Hence Tiggy Hammer in the rough areas. JohnB |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: tiggerdooley Date: 01 Mar 01 - 06:04 PM Yup, they were the next wolf. Being Wolf was never fun... |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Penny S. Date: 01 Mar 01 - 06:01 PM I spent ages wandering about Folkestone, going to ask if girls from school could play, which they never could. I had learned where they lived from going to parties, and worked out on the ground the best solution to a version of the commercial traveller's problem of the shortest route, factoring in the most favoured targets and the best places to spend time if, as turned out, playing outside was not an option for others. I just didn't know that nice girls didn't play out - my mother grew up in the country and did nothing else as a child. I grew up reading Arthur Ransome and Malcolm Saville. I thought that was what people did. It was a good place to learn to wander a landscape, because of the line of hills behind the town, and the sea, which gave a framework to work on. I can read maps! I have recently wondered if the next generation, where the boys are far more constrained, as girls used to be, will need books called "Why people can't read maps". When we played "What's the Time Mr Wolf?" a bunch of children trailed the wolf round the playground, and the wolf would answer with the times, leading up to breakfast time, lunchtime and dinnertime. There was no link with the times and the number of steps. I can't remember what happened to anyone caught - were they the next wolf? Penny |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: tiggerdooley Date: 01 Mar 01 - 05:42 PM That's so true, Guest. I talk about some of the things we did, and how easily I went around to my friends houses without having to call them first so that they knew to panic if I didn't arrive(!), things I can't even do now. And I realise how young I was when I did these things, and looking at it through my tainted paranoid spectacles, I begin to think that my parents were barbarians, throwing me to the wolves. Then I remember that all of us kids could roam about, and it's only nowadays that you can't let them out of your sight. I would love my kids (when I get some!) to have the fun we did, and not have to be transported round in the safe cocoon of a family saloon...hey, I've just written a song!!!! The solution is to remain like a child, and then you can teach your kid all those games and go exploring with them - but they WILL hate having you around! |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST Date: 01 Mar 01 - 04:48 PM Yes, Tiggerdooley, I've spent many an hour playing that. Most of our games were out of doors and energetic; I feel sorry for today's youngsters, because it's not safe to let them roam the way we did. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: tiggerdooley Date: 01 Mar 01 - 01:50 PM Who remembers 'What's the time Mr Wolf?' Somebody would stand with their face to the wall, their back to the other kids. The kids would ask 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?' and the 'wolf' would give a time (eg five o' clock) and the kids would have to take that number of steps towards Mr Wolf (ie five steps). When they got really near, and when Mr Wolf felt like killing, he would suddenly answer the question 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?' with 'DINNERTIIIIIIME!!!!!' and everybody would run. God, we were easily amused... |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Bert Date: 01 Mar 01 - 01:17 AM Thanks for taking the time to post those rules Inukshuk. Unfortunately it is not the same game. We still needed you to post it though because as McGrath says, if we don't record these games they will get lost. Now, thanks to you, there is another game that is preserved for posterity. I'll try to do my bit and get them all collated for the "kids" page. Thanks again. Bert. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Inukshuk Date: 28 Feb 01 - 08:11 PM Official Five Stone Rules (as played against the wall of Tweedsmuir School, Hamilton, Ontario during the late forties)
Equipment:
Set up:
The play:
The object: |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Inukshuk Date: 28 Feb 01 - 08:09 PM Official Five Stone Rules (as played against the wall of Tweedsmuir School, Hamilton, Ontario during the late forties)
Equipment:
Set up:
The play:
The object: |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 27 Feb 01 - 08:26 PM If anyone is interested, I have the rules for "five stone" as we played it against the school wall in the late forties.
I'm interested! (And I seem to remeber bert putting out a request for the same info some time back.) If we don't gather this stuff now it'll get lost.
But walking through the town centre and seeing all the kids from 5 to 16 with these doty little scooters that are fashionable now, I feel hopeful we'll be seeing gobs/fivestones back again - all it needs is to have Harry Potter start playing it, and a few teachers trying to ban it. (Well, actually there is a version of a game called Gobs in one of the Harry Potter books, but it's not the same game at all...) But we'll need to have the rules handy to pass on if they are wanted. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Inukshuk Date: 27 Feb 01 - 08:06 PM |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Hawker Date: 27 Feb 01 - 03:57 PM Snuffy, Yes, I started there in '72! Incidentally, I was researching the workshop I was running after school today, this afternoon (OOPS! left that a bit late!) and I came across a piece in a book about Shrovetide customs.... In Cornwall the Monday night preceeding Shrove Tuesday is known as Nick-a-Nan night. This is an old custom now not so common - basically knock and run / knocky nine doors or whatever, also the kids apprently got up to all sorts of mischief, hiding behind hedges and hosing people down with water or firing soot at passers by! If the knocking was answered with the owner presenting them with a plate of pancakes, the knockers would leave them alone! (Sounds very much like trick or treat to me - and my husband is adamant that Nick-a-Nan night is either Halloween or 5th November) Lucy |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Snuffy Date: 26 Feb 01 - 08:50 PM I think she'd be a bit before your time - she did her A-levels in 67 or 68. Wassail! V |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Hawker Date: 26 Feb 01 - 07:18 PM Snuffy, (You can tell I went to Macc High, I can't even speeel Sunfy! LOL!) Yes, Miss Footman - The Lady with the wig!! I am 40 how old is your sister? I might know her......OOOh this could be worrying, now....what did I get up to back then..........LOL! Lucy |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Snuffy Date: 26 Feb 01 - 07:04 PM Lucy, Sorry for the delay in replying. I've been away for the weekend at the Middle Bar Singers reunion in Sidmouth - awesome. I did try to reply to you at work this lunchtime, but it blew our server!! Anyway, I wasn't a real Maxonian - went to primary school in Hazel Grove and then joined the hillbillies in Wildboarclough when I was 9 and then went on to Kings. My sister was at Fence Avenue, and she still gets the Old Boys/Girls association newsletter, which I see when I visit her. Don't know why I don't get it - they must have disowned me! The schools have combined but I think they still operate from both sites. Happy daze. Were you there when the Head Woman was Miss Foot Man? Wassail! Vaughan |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: SINSULL Date: 25 Feb 01 - 07:42 PM Chinese jump rope and Double Dutch. I had forgotten about them. And ball bouncing games: Oliver Twist, A My Name Is... Catholic School girls would never sink so low as to handle a bag of dog droppings. HOWEVER, some mornings on the A Train as it pulled into a very crowded station where people pushed to get on, we played a nasty gum trick. Four or five girls would chew wads of gum to just the right consistency. As the train pulled into the station, we would combine the wads and stick them on either side of the doors. As the doors opened, the gum stretched across and the first on were treated to a sticky mess. Most fun if it got into hair sprayed hair. To this day I look before I get on a train. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Hawker Date: 25 Feb 01 - 04:52 PM Ooooh what delicious memories of childhood! For us it was: Queen Queen Queenie O British Bulldog (until it was banned) Big Ship Sails up the Alley Alley O Jacks Marbles Conkers Tick (also known this be called tiggy) Kiss Kat Line Tag (when tagged tuo join the line) Knock 'n' run Blocky off 123 Chinese skipping various rope skipping songs and various 2 ball songs and various hand clapping songs.... Now how did they all go...... There is a CD to bring back these memories called: Children's singing Games on Saydisc. with beauties like those dipping rhymes - one potato, 2 potato 3 potato and Ip dip dip etc, 2- ball songs olicha bollicha, Mrs Mop bought a shop etc. Saydisc can be contacted at Chipping Manor, The Chipping, Wotton-under Edge, Glos GL27 7AD England, Tel: 01453 845036 or Fax: 01453 521056 - Enjoy! SUFFY, where are you from then? I was brought up in Macclesfield, I went to Christ Church Primary School, Great King Street, then Macc High. Both schools no longer exist! though Macc High is now part of Kings school I believe. Lucy |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: bill\sables Date: 25 Feb 01 - 04:51 PM Tiggy in my school was a game with a group of kids and one of them was chosen to be "on". He would then have to catch up with the other kids and touch them or "tig them" and then they would be on his side to "Tig" the others. The last one "tigged" was "on" in the next game. To play tiggy with hammers I would presume was instead of touching the caught kid you would hit him with a hammer which would only happen in a rough area. Bill |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Guest, pip Date: 25 Feb 01 - 02:30 PM I have been trying for MONTHS to find out what "tiggy" is. The British author Reginald Hill has twice used the phrase "play tiggy with hammers" to indicate a rough school or neighborhood. So how is it played? |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 29 Jan 01 - 08:35 AM well, just recently obtained a nasty shoulder injury, whilst sledging in the snow, before New Years eve on a Fisons grow bag... Was going backwards, not a planned move - but fun anyways, tried to turn back around got foot stuck on tump - Flew in the air, hit my head, and shoulder.. landing in a frozen bog, and then, went back up for another go... Not really realising, what I had done, and the extent of the damage to my shoulder - bruising, blood blister.... And I am 27... will I ever grow up? I don't think so... All this was sober...ok, as much as you can be during the weeks christmas festivities, where I don't drive anywhere as I am usually slightly inibriated from the many JUST THE ONE'S I have had from all the visiting done.. Ella |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 29 Jan 01 - 07:28 AM accident prone? Ha! Clumsy should be my middle name. Perhaps it's something to do with being tall and gangly (when younger) and having bad eyesight. The "falling into the fire" incident when 8 months old fortunately left no permanent scars except on my poor mother's memory. Likewise, the "getting a tin whistle stuck down the throat" when a baby has had no lasting impact, and I actually own a couple of the harmful instruments. Splitting my head open at the age of 3 I can remember, but have forgotten any pain involved, although I have a slight scar on my forehead. I've still got a chip missing from my front tooth from running to the (outdoors) toilets at school, falling, and being run over by a stampede of nine year olds. Various scars on my knees from various games and the old fall in swimming pools etc. Managed to trip over a hose while VERY drunk (sangria - need I say more) while on holiday a couple of years ago. Woke up crying the next morning with a black and blue elbow and an arm twice its normal size, severely dehydrated and only aware that I had actually tripped over something and it wasn't just because I was drunk. When I saw what I had tripped over... and the fact that it was only a yard away from the unfenced, deep and dirty marina I went into a bit of shock. If I'd pitched to the right I would have been blind (literally) drunk in deep water. That episode has seriously changed my partying habits. I have sworn that I will never again drink to memory loss stage. Worst of all, it was only the second night of the holiday. Possibly one of the worst holiday's of my life, with apologies for discribing it as such to my holiday companion at the time who often reads these threads... |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Ella who is Sooze Date: 29 Jan 01 - 07:00 AM Trevor that is sooo funny... The only thing I did to a teacher was balance a box on the door - so when he walked into the room it fell onto his head... I was usually caught before I had chance to get away with my plans - Was once caught with my head, one arm and one leg sticking out of the small hall kitchen window... It was a small village school - with a village hall which was our assembly/dining room... The boys had locked me in the kitchen - by jamming a spoon in the door.... as I was halfway out I was caught..... and told off. Then there was the paint fight with the sqeezy bottles of paint, in the room we had been put into for being naughty, next to the head masters office... And we went mad with the paint. Then...the peas on the dining room ceiling - The Biology skeleton and the lumps of lamb kidney - letting the class locusts out what a delightfull child I was! Got a really long scar on me leg, from leap frogging a concrete bollard, that had a bit of steel wire sticking out from it, which went into my leg - that's about 5 inches long scar now Have another one on another leg from the barbed wire, I was jumping over, running away from the bull... Another one on my forehead, which is a bit of dent, from playing stick in the mud... I landed on my head... Knees that look terrible, from all the scars... always was accident prone - and still am |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Trevor Date: 29 Jan 01 - 06:25 AM Did anybody ever make those kite-shaped, pre-frisby skimmers out of five woven together lolly sticks. I also became hero of the third form for hollowing out a stick of chalk and filling it with match heads. When the physics teacher drew a long straight line on the blackboard the chalk caught fire. (I'm giggling now as I'm writing this!) I remember death-defying races down the long hill over the road from where I lived, with a book (usually an annual) balanced on a roller skate. You sat on it and steered by shifting your weight. Much more dangerous than its successor, the skateboard, and therefore more fun, especially when there were about six of us in head-to-head races. I had a cart as well, made out of a plank and four wheels. I used to turn it upside down so that it wwas lower to the ground and looked more racy. I got my first ever scar when it was in upside down mode. I was holding on to the side of the plank as me and my mate went downhill at what seemed about mach 1, and a wheel fell off, scraping my fingers down the pavement. My mom wouldn't let me go to cubs that night for being stupid. Anybody else got any 'first scar' stories? |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Les from Hull Date: 24 Jan 01 - 04:04 PM Bobby's Girl - yes I remember Newland High School. I was at Hymers College (scholarship kid, nowt posh about me). Another thing I remember from junior school was lots of kids with their arms linked together marching across the school playground chanting "Anybody in the road gets a big KICK". And they did as well! Les |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: bobby's girl Date: 23 Jan 01 - 05:06 PM I think I must have grown up in Hull about the same time as Les - I remember playing Block (hide & seek)-and I've only just realised that my kids growing up in the South of England don't call it that. We called the game with the elastic bands French skipping, and we alsomplayed British Bulldog, though it was frowned on at a Girl's Grammar School - Newland High if Les remembers it. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Michael in Swansea Date: 23 Jan 01 - 10:24 AM Okay call me a big kid but I've still got my Davy Crockett hat that Mam and Dad bought for me when I was about 4, remember it well, didn't want it wrapped I wanted it on my head. Walking through town and the big people winking at me saying "Hiya Davy". I was so proud. Where is it now? On my Teddy's head of course. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Dave the Gnome Date: 23 Jan 01 - 07:05 AM I could do with borrowing your headgear, Bill. When I tell people I am going to the Jug in Selby they all say "Wear the fox hat.......?" (I've waited years to get that into a conversation!) Cheers Dave the Gnome |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: bill\sables Date: 23 Jan 01 - 06:47 AM Regarding Coon Skin Hats, When I was a young'n the film "Davey Crocket" with Fess Parker was released and all the kids wanted Davey Crocket hats. This created a market for fur in the area and I remember the Newcastle Evening Chronicle running an article about the strange dissapearance of pet cats from the area. I don't know if there was any connection but some of the kids were wearing tabby or ginger Crocket hats. Mine was made from fox. Bill |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Metchosin Date: 22 Jan 01 - 03:08 PM Did any one else besides me decorate the spokes of their bicycle with the foil lids from milk bottles, gold for unhomogenized, silver for homogenized, green for skimmed (I think) or attach stiff cardboard to the spokes with clothes pegs so everyone could hear you coming? My brother and I had the best coonskin hats in the neighbourhood because of the large stock of coonskins nailed for curing on the back of our garage. Seems to me we got a fair amount in booty for trading them to the rest, who wanted the real deal not just the measly strip of skin that you got in stores. How did I ever become an advocate of animal rights?....hmmmm. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Bert Date: 22 Jan 01 - 02:50 PM And how about those wicked tin can lids. We'd punch two holes in a can lid and thread it with string. And by pulling the string you could keep the lid spinning (after winding it up first). Of course the string would wear out, and the can lid would go flying. This was not the intent of the game but was highly dangerous, especially considering that most of our can lids had been cut from a can with a Bulldog can opener. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: MARINER Date: 22 Jan 01 - 02:39 PM In my part of Ireland, Wexford town, around Hallowe'en a tradition now died out was Cabbage Stump Night.You simply raided the local gardens( people grew their own veggies in those days)for the biggest Cabbage Stumps you could find and then ran from door to door bashing them as hard as possible.This always happened on Hallowe'en, why I don't know.Around the same time, we bobbed for apples, this was fairly widespread and was known as "dip night".Another favourite was tying two doors together and knocking both at the same time.Ah! those innocent days of youth. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Bert Date: 22 Jan 01 - 02:23 PM Yes, Milk Tops was the same game as Fag Cards. You stood about eight feet from a wall and flicked your fag card or milk top towards the wall. Everyone did this in turn. If your card landed on top of another card you got to keep both. Otherwise you left your card on the ground until either someone won it or you quit playing. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 22 Jan 01 - 01:27 PM Hey anyone remember 'milk tops' or 'fag cards'. And anyone old enough to remember playing on 'the debris'. Just noticved that bert. I can't remember any ganmes with the carbdoard milktops on bottles. I can remember that the milkman had a horse and cart - think that had been brought back for the duration. (Whichju wasa phrase in vry wide use - "Are you going to be there for the duration" to anyone who was taking too long in the bathroom, for example.
Fag cards - that ciggy cards for Americans - they'd stopped issuing them with cigarettes, but kids had collections, and the game involved flicking them so thye'd land in the right place. Do they ever do that with Pokemon cards?
Playing on debris of the bomb sites. That's where the Adventure Playgrounds I mentioned earlier really started, I believe. WE had a big undergrouind shelter in the communal garden at the back of our house, and I can remember when they demolished that, after the war - climbing through the tunnels and clambering up and down the heaps of rubble.
I was too young to get into collecting shrapnel, but I can remember admiring the collections amassed by bigger boys. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler Date: 22 Jan 01 - 10:11 AM I don't think anyone has mentioned "highest up the wall" contests. (The boys will know what I mean!). A skill that declines with age and prostate! RtS (of an age when "twice a night" means something different!) |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: bill\sables Date: 22 Jan 01 - 09:50 AM We had a cast iron range in our house, you know the sort with a big fire and a water boiler on one side and an oven on the other, there was a sheet of enameled metal on the floor in front and surrounded by a fender to stop coals falling on the mat. When everybody took out their ranges for "modernisation" and fitted a tiled fireplaces the metal sheets made a great sledges if the front end was curled upwards. Tho only problem was that they were too fast and there were quite a few accidents where kids had come off and cut themselves on the metal edges. One kid I knew sledged right down the track onto the main road and was killed by a lorry. Bill |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Fibula Mattock Date: 22 Jan 01 - 08:22 AM Walrus - was the end of the rhyme: When the shop (shop shop) began to sell (sell sell), Archibald (bald bald), he bought a bell (bell bell) When the bell (bell bell) began to ring (ring ring) Archibald (bald bald) Began to sing (sing sing): "On the hillside, stands a lady, Who she is I do not know All she wants is gold and silver All she wants is a nice young man Lady, lady birl around Lady, lady touch the ground Lady, lady show your shoe Lady, lady, pass on through" |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Bun Date: 22 Jan 01 - 03:54 AM Bill, I used to have a bogie - nearly killed me and my sister on it - steering jammmed..... Used to slide down hills on old bits of cardboard box.
One of my fondest memories is the den that me and my mates had. It was in the roots of an oak tree and some hawthorne hedges. You climbed the tree and acted as look out(for what - I'm not sure) But even in the rain you could stay relatively dry.(You know I would love to have a den now)
All your memories have brought back such great thoughts of a much younger bun! - thanks |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Ebbie Date: 21 Jan 01 - 09:19 PM We were a farm family and since my dad was a horse trainer a lot of our games involved horses: stick horses, leg horses, wire horses, pony horses, army... Each version required a different 'story'. We also had acorn fights, with acorn-filled coffee cans tied to our waists. Our shields were garbage can lids and boiler lids. Many a welt was raised on exposed skin. We played the 'anti' or 'annie' over game too but I think we called it alley oxen free. Or maybe that is what we shouted when one made it successfully around the shed? We played cowboys and indians a lot. A few years ago I was talking with a tall, handsome Sioux and told him that when we played it, the Indians were the favored side. He sighed and said, We just played Indians and Indians. Indoors (this was in the 40s) two games that I remember were Rook and Flint. We weren't allowed 'playing cards'. We also boxed (no hitting in the face) - as the only girl born in the middle of three boys, my oldest brother boxed me whilst on his knees. We did the knock on the door and run thing too. One night I saw my youngest brother slip out the kitchen door. I went silently out the living room door and crouched behind the balustrade of the porch. Here comes my brother running on his tip toes, carrying a long pole and giggling breathlessly to himself. Just as he reaches the top of the steps, I leap up with a roar. Brother screams, pole goes flying and rattling over porch, I scream- we both nearly have a heart attack. Ebbie |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Lin in Kansas Date: 21 Jan 01 - 06:40 PM Growing up in Texas, Cowboys and Indians was a given--but two older brothers ensured that I was always the Indian--who always lost, of course. But then, that did let me do some memorable death scenes! King of the Mountain, skip rope, jacks, Horse (with a basketball, shooting from the Free Throw line), Kick the Can (on the courthouse green). Whenever it snowed (which was every winter) one of the older kids would "borrow" his dad's pickup and an old barn door he kept just for the purpose, tie the barn door on behind the truck, and take everybody sleighriding at around 25 MPH. We always made it a point to turn loose and fall off at the corners of the town square, because the snowdrifts were deeper there. Riding inner tubes down Wolf Creek--we didn't bother the cottonmouths if they didn't bother us. That was especially fun when Wolf Creek flooded--the currents under the bridge could be very interesting! Stealing watermelons from the farmer who had his land posted "No Trespassing"--always an exciting adventure. Ray-Ray and I left rather large pieces of our bluejeans hanging on the barbed-wire fence one year when the farmer's shotgun went off...fortunately, he was aiming up. (He knew his thieves were kids, and we heard him laughing for a long ways as we ran away.) Too much fun...I can't recall ever spending much time indoors if the weather was even half-way decent. We never seemed to have much to do (it was a VERY small town), but we were always busy, usually having fun. Thanks, Bun! I needed that! Lin
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: R! Date: 21 Jan 01 - 04:05 PM As a child I lived on a one-block street with over thirty other kids (it was a mostly Catholic street) and an empty lot at one end. There were endless games of hide and seek, kick-the-can, mother may I, red rover, tag, three feet over Germany, baby in the air, and wolfie wolf what time is it. Girls playing as a group played hop scotch, jacks, clapping games, jump rope, Chinese jump rope - with the rubber bands - and double Dutch jump rope. My old china, who turned 72 on Friday, regales me with stories of his childhood games which included capture the flag and the aforementioned milk bottle and dog sh*t pranks. They also tied neighbors' front and back doors closed, using the neighbor's clothesline, of course. There were also a lot of high jinks involving dressing in black and darkening faces with burnt cork to evade capture by the bicycle-riding constable. His stories make growing up in the thirties sound so much more exciting than growing up in the fifties. Still, wouldn't it be fun to run around barefoot some summer evening, carefree and laughing, catching fireflies in a jar? Thanks for the memories, Reen |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Metchosin Date: 21 Jan 01 - 02:55 PM Bardsford, you are not making it up, only we called it Annie-Annie-I-Over and if the ball didn't make it over the top of the roof you yelled "Pigtails" and if you caught an incoming ball you ran around the building and tagged the person on the other side, but I can't remeber what happened next. A variant was played in Junior High over the school roof (by someone whose name I won't mention) with a large rock. There was a loud crash of broken glass and it wasn't untill 30 years later, when talking to an old school mate, that he recounted the time he was sitting in the drafting room at lunch, working on a project, when a large rock came through the skylight and landed on the desk in front of the teacher. Seems it shook up Mr. Bagshaw quite profoundly. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 21 Jan 01 - 02:28 PM Anyone go in for "Grotters"? My wife tells me about that -she'd make a little arrangement with flowers and coloured things, and sit by the side of street - "Penny for the Grotter!", like for a Guy, but a different time of the year.
She says that it was only years later she realised that "grotter" was "grotto". |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Penny S. (testing a new connection) Date: 21 Jan 01 - 12:28 PM My, aren't young males inventive? Penny |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,JohnB Date: 21 Jan 01 - 12:24 PM One modern version happened at work a few years ago. Every time our Little boss, as opposed to the big boss who we could not have done this to went out of his cubicle. One of the guys would go in there and remove the microphone part of the telephone from the handset. He would come back, the phone would ring and he would answer, the person at the other end could hear nothing. This head would pop up and down from his cubicle shouting there's something wrong with this $#%#^* phone again. This went on many times during the course of a week or two we stopped when he called the phone repair people. To this day he is unaware of what was really going on. If you try this and get fired, don't blame me. JohnB. It is even easier these days with the plug in handsets and a piece of Scotch tape. |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: GUEST,Penny S. (testing a new connection) Date: 21 Jan 01 - 12:04 PM A friend has reminded me that the mad evening when the rings increased in number was one when we were discussing the problem in the room where it rang, and when we mentioned changing the sign to three rings, that was when it went up to three! I also got caught yesterday at the shopping mall, I think. A bunch of lads were hanging out by the lifts (elevators), using mobile phones for something. I walked up the first level, as the only lift was filling with smokers, floolowed by one of these boys, then got in, pressed the button to go up further, only to arrive down on the ground floor again, to be met by the boy who had followed me up, grinning all over his face. It was the hilarity which made me suspect game playing. Was I mad! Penny |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Penny S. Date: 20 Jan 01 - 07:03 AM The old school desks with a hole in the base for cleaning purposes, allowing a ruler to be inserted, resting on the knee, so the lid could be pushed up and down with apparently no human interference. Am I glad they've gone. I was interested in the electronic knock-down-ginger version. There was a time I thought I might be a victim, and I'm still not sure. I had a wireless door chime, an early version, which turned out to eat batteries at a rapid rate, a set every two days or so. Fortunately, it had a mains option, so I kept the receiver plugged in via a transformer. There was one other person in our road with the same model, several hundred yards away. (I know 'cos of collecting for charity - the owner was an elderly lady, not a fast mover.) After I had it a while, I had a single ring, and when I went downstairs, there was no-one there. I looked around, and there was no sign of anyone about. This began to happen again on occasion, but never with any trace of anyone in sight, and I did check the rough ground opposite, and the playground next door. The game doesn't work unless the result is observed, does it? One evening, I had some visitors - an astrophysicist from NASA, and some others from Cambridge (England), and we began to get rings roughly every hour. No-one there. We tried with the mains disconnected. No ring in the predicted sequence. We thought it might be a regular blip in the mains current, perhaps due to a thermostat, with the trip temperature being sub-hourly, and I put up a notice requesting visitors to ring twice. The phantom began to ring twice. The regular pattern stopped. Still no trace of visitors or observers. I changed the notice to ring three times. And so it did, and then one evening successively increasing the numbers of rings to five. I approached a nearby AA repairman to ask if he had been working on the electrical system of the broken down car, thinking it could have been sparking and producing a signal. No good. I called the electricity suppliers to find if there had been any current changes which could account for the problem. No good. I took the product back to the shop. The problem remains unanswered. Except that I now have a wireless light switch system, and that is showing odd interference, too. Penny |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: Michael in Swansea Date: 20 Jan 01 - 06:59 AM Oh yes, tobogganing down the hill on cardboard, one of lifes simple pleasures. Thanks Walrus I'd forgotten about that. Of course Cowboys and Indians and Doctors and Nurses in the bushes in the local park. My three sisters,(one older, two younger), and myself used to do an occasional variety show for Mam and Dad and the neighbours. A couple of songs, a tapdance, a recitation and a play(?) Fond memories. Mike |
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Subject: RE: Knocky Door Ginger From: alison Date: 20 Jan 01 - 06:24 AM we called them giders (pronounced guiders)... my dad made us one out of the wheels from my old pram...... the aussies make them too.. but they call them billy-carts... slainte alison |
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