Roller skates literally changed my life.
My Fisher-Price adjustable wheels that fit over my converse were EVERYTHING. I belted up and down my neighbourhood imagining I was one of the twins in Sweet Valley High and nothing felt better.
Until I fell and twisted my ankle. But even that didn't matter because there were video's to watch - and Super Nintendo to play.
Here are some of my fondest memories of my childhood summers during the holidays and I'm sure you can relate:
Was it just me or did anyone else also take every opportunity to hold your own sale of work outside your house selling all the cr*p your mum should have given to the charity shop? We used to set up crates with old bald Barbies, books that had seen better days, and perfume (a bucket of water and dead flower petals) And the crazy thing is that our neighbours used to BUY THE STUFF.
When things got boring we made roadblocks with our bikes and charged people 5p to get past. In hindsight, it was ridiculously dangerous and annoying. This young entrepreneur also went from garden to garden cutting flowers, arranging them into bouquets and then selling them back to the neighbours. Good times.
"England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales" - Did you play elastics? Tip the Can was another firm favourite in our housing estate where you would race off to hide (and immediately need to pee). And while I don't like to brag, I was the reigning champion of 'curbs' on the mean streets of rural Kildare.
The highlight of my summer evenings was bombing up to our local shop on our bikes to carefully choose our stash from our flower-selling exploits. That hard earned cash went on some serious treats - Freeze Pops (We didn't even care about our poor slashed lips) 10p bags that actually had 10 sweets and Cadbury Dairy Milk Buttons with the little nursery rhyme on the pack... and all before dinner.
I still laugh and get horribly nostalgic when I think of my precious fancy paper. I tried explaining it recently to my daughter and she looked at me like I was completely bonkers. Tell me you remember spraying yours with perfume before you swapped it? Those pretty edges were everything.
We made 'houses' out of freshly cut grass. EVERYTHING was a potential den. Even breakfast was more fun as we used to frantically search through the cereal boxes for those colourful spokes for our bicycle wheels. And... pop tarts.
Every Friday after school we were allowed to pick a comic and we LIVED for this moment. What's lovely is that now I continue this ritual with my children. The problem is that they now cost the price of a small car and, let's be honest, they are no match for Twinkle, Mandy and Smash Hits. Muppet Babies was our favourite on a Saturday morning right before we headed out to call into our friends.
My cabbage patch doll went everywhere with me and the only other person I idolised more was Rainbow Bright. I would skip around our neighbourhood in my fancy shoes with the key underneath (you know what I mean) imagining I was Punky Brewster and play Fashion Wheel with my friends who hadn't gone to Irish college. An earlier memory was the GENIUS that was Fuzzy Felt. What fun times.
Our holidays consisted of trips to Connemara with our bikes in the trailer at the back of the car. We would have banana and sand sandwiches on the beach and spend our days running up and down the dunes. Burying our dad's feet in the sand was a big family tradition. However, I don't miss the car journey which seemed to take a million hours with the five kids in the back arguing over who was touching who's elbow and fights to get the 'window seat'. My poor parents!
The rest of the summer we would spend in the paddling pool in the garden and emerge completely shrivelled but totally delighted with ourselves.
I consider myself so lucky to have been raised in one of the greatest decades there ever was. I love to reminisce on my beautiful and simple childhood and as much as possible try to recreate many of these moments for my own little family.
And while we roll out our paddling pool each year and my children plan a 'sale of work' this summer, I think my efforts to revive my fancy paper collection might just be a step too far.
What do you think mums? What would you like to bring back from your childhood? We would love to hear your memories.
