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When I was kid, we walked to school starting in grade 1. It was about 3/4 mile and we walked home for lunch. So that's 3 miles per day.
After school, we get home and were told to go out and play. Be home before dark. The whole town was our playground.
One of father's expressions: "go out and play in the traffic."
We had a cottage about a 100 miles north of Montreal. We had outboard motors and boats and .22 rifles, and axes and bayonets and any number of "dangerous" things.
We helped built the cottage and the boathouse. We used hammers and saws and never lost a finger.
The store was a mile away down a dirt road. We'd walk there to get a pop and comic book and firecrackers. 12 cents each for the pop and the Superman comic. 50 cents for the firecrackers. We did chores to earn the money.
A favourite game was "commando". Run around in the woods in the dark with a smoldering string and a pocket full of firecrackers. Throw them at each other.
You have to learn to be stealthy and watch for sparks from the fuses as they fly at you.
We had so many blackflies, we were given cigars to carry as "smudgepots". We smoked them.
One September, I wrote a composition about my summer vacation. The teacher sent home a note asking if any of it was true.
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"Do not resent growing old. Many are denied the privilege" Irish proverb
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