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subaqua · 06-17-2003, 05:32 AM

Ha! 3 years till Carousel for me. When I was a kid we'd..

Spend school holidays building forts in a patch of undeveloped land at the top of our street, (admittedly I grew up in Africa so open land to play in wasn't an issue). We'd organise ourselves into little gangs and "test" each others forts by assaulting them with stones and mud-clumps. Ahh, the hours spent huddling under a shelter made from an old car bonnet whilst large rocks thudded past.

Alternate amusements included the popular past-time of attempting to make home made bombs from chemicals for the pool - if you asked me to shake that jar and throw it today I'd tell you to f**k right off.

When not engaging in such pursuits we'd fill the time playing games and generally entertaining ourselves. There were no computers, consoles, video arcades, daytime television, (TV started at 5pm and was black and white, 1 channel), amusement parks etc, etc, etc...

What really makes me sad is that there is (in the UK) a real problem with youth crime, mostly graffiti, low level vandalism, under age drinking etc, and the reason they all give is "we're bored, there's nothing to do, the council (local authority) don't provide facilities for us", and it seems to be generally accepted that the inability of youth to entertain themselves is a valid cause for crime!

Oh dear, my soap box is starting to wobble, best hop off now.

06-17-2003, 05:32 AM	#72 (permalink)
subaqua Upright Location: Surrey, England	Ha! 3 years till Carousel for me. When I was a kid we'd.. Spend school holidays building forts in a patch of undeveloped land at the top of our street, (admittedly I grew up in Africa so open land to play in wasn't an issue). We'd organise ourselves into little gangs and "test" each others forts by assaulting them with stones and mud-clumps. Ahh, the hours spent huddling under a shelter made from an old car bonnet whilst large rocks thudded past. Alternate amusements included the popular past-time of attempting to make home made bombs from chemicals for the pool - if you asked me to shake that jar and throw it today I'd tell you to f**k right off. When not engaging in such pursuits we'd fill the time playing games and generally entertaining ourselves. There were no computers, consoles, video arcades, daytime television, (TV started at 5pm and was black and white, 1 channel), amusement parks etc, etc, etc... What really makes me sad is that there is (in the UK) a real problem with youth crime, mostly graffiti, low level vandalism, under age drinking etc, and the reason they all give is "we're bored, there's nothing to do, the council (local authority) don't provide facilities for us", and it seems to be generally accepted that the inability of youth to entertain themselves is a valid cause for crime! Oh dear, my soap box is starting to wobble, best hop off now. __________________ I used to have OCD, but I've got it totally under control now.