Sunday 27 August 2017

Sundays

Sundays always are the most difficult day of the week and regular readers will know that three or four of us always go out for lunch -four today.

After lunch we sit in the Bar and chat for an hour and a half.   Today we reminisced about 'the old days',   Our ages range from early seventies to ninety six and we all enjoy a good laugh.

Today it was out parents' life styles, what they did in their spare time - things like bowls, billiards, whist, dominoes, walking.   Some of these things have largely died out nowadays - but even when I first married the farmer twenty four years ago we still went to quite a lot of Domino Drives on Friday evenings.   Every village had one during the Winter months and they vied for the best refreshments.   I had never played Dominoes before and made quite a lot of 'boobs' which were always pointed out by someone in a loud voice.   But I learned.

Then we got on to our childhood games.   We soon found regional differences in the HopScotch layout and also in the rhymes by which we decided who could go first.   Do you remember:
One potato, two potato, three potato, four, five potato, six potato, seven potato more?

I don't suppose these things exist any more - but they were fun while they lasted and gave our old friend in her nineties much to laugh about.   There might not have been much money about in those days but there was certainly plenty of laughter and fun.

23 comments:

justjill said...

Totally agree. We got exercise, learned social skills, watched out for the bully and the bullied, fresh air and fun!

Anonymous said...

I'm so pleased you're writing all these things down and recording them. I remember playIng hopscotch. School play grounds are still full of simple games, never fear.

Rachel Phillips said...

Eeny meeny miney mo. I think it is banned now. We also did one potato two etc.

Derek Faulkner said...

In our alley we had "feet off ground" where whoever was "he" had to touch somebody before they got their feet off the ground by hanging on a fence, etc, so that they could transfer "he" on. We also had "knock down ginger" where we run down the street knocking people's door knockers so that they would come out to find no one there. I saw photos recently in the paper of children still playing hopscotch.
There were also the sweets such as aniseed balls, blackjacks, gob-stoppers that changed colour as you sucked them, tiger nuts, locust beans,jamboree bags and so on.

Anonymous said...

They still have a Domino night at the pub where our cottage is in South West Scotland - they take it very seriously. I remember one potato etc also loved skipping with those huge ropes at playtime where you jump in and start skipping and then have to jump out again just at the right moment.

Sue in Suffolk said...

Hooray for Derek writing about the game they called "Feet off the ground" I thought our primary school was the only one that played it but we called it "Off Ground Touch" Nobody I know has ever heard of it. We were never standing still in the playground always playing variations on IT or "What's the time Mr Wolf"

Mac n' Janet said...

My parents regularly played dominoes with friends. I played one potato, two potato, etc . Lots of hopscotch, jump ripe and jacks.

Wilma said...

The most fun game I remember is "kick the cans". We would take over an entire neighborhood for it and the best time for it was 45 minutes before and after dusk. We must have run for miles in each game. Good thing there many cars on the streets.

Joanne Noragon said...

And jumping a double rope.

Charles said...

I remember the rhyme but not what you are supposed to do. I do remember British bulldogs as a boy, in hat was fun.

Heather said...

I remember doing One Potato, Two Potato, with my cousins many years ago and am fascinated by the regional differences in skipping and other games. I also remember having to get permission from my mother to chalk the hopscotch squares on the path - I think we probably got a bit carried away with a stick of chalk in our hands! I don't think I ever played dominoes. What's the time Mr.Wolf was a favourite.

Churn Dash said...

It's been quite a few years since I was "home" in England. I went to the Christmas play that the my sister had written and produced for the school that she teaches at. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the kids playing games that I remembered playing when i was a kid. Maybe they haven't died out completely.

Helen

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I love the old style sweeties, you can get them at a couple of shops we have here

Cathy said...

Dip dip dip My little ship was the 'choosing' ryme I remember most. In circle finger pointed by 'the bossiest one' ( the one who always seemed to be the most popular) who at times made sure she ended up on the person she least liked.😊

The Weaver of Grass said...

Gardener Fisher - the one potato rhyme was to choose who was 'on' - for example to choose who started off in the prime position in aa game.
Rachel. I am sure eeny meeny is banned now but I must say we never thought anything about it in those days. But it is offensive I agree.
Lovely of you all to add to my memories. Keep them coming.

Joyce F said...

For awhile anyway we heard the rhyme "Eeny meeny, minney mo, catch a tiger by the tail...."
Not around children enough nowadays to know if they still say this.

Frances said...

On this Sunday evening, I have had great pleasure in catching up with your recent posts. You write so well about so many topics, always encouraging me to think about what you've written.

I am sorry to learn about your arthritis giving you grief, and hope that you and Tess will not be parted. Must be some clever way to have her have her three walks and still be able to stay with you.

Your patience in waiting for your move is very impressive. There is so much more I could write, but I am going to click the publish button now, so that I might also catch up on some other blogs I have neglected for far too long. xo

coffeeontheporchwithme said...

There is still a version of "feet off ground" but now they call it "grounders" and they use playground equipment. -Jenn

Thickethouse.wordpress said...

We used that "one potato" for counting out, but also eeny meenie and catch a tiger by the toe....Our neighborhood was PC ahead of its time. We also loved playing jacks and also marbles, and playing with paper dolls which we made... Some of these things still happen, but at such a reduced level.....SPUD just came into my mind. That was a favorite.

Librarian said...

We did a lot of rope skipping and similar games when I was a little girl, and we had our rhymes, too, but of course they were in German so it won't be of any use if I post them here :-)

Good to know you had another good time yesterday with your Sunday lunch club!

Sue said...

Tis post brought back lots of memories of growing up in the sixties. Yes we did One Potato, two potato, and dip, dip, dip my blue ship. We played with short and long skipping ropes, we play two-a-ball .... which we got so good at we upgraded to three-a-ball so we stood a chance of getting a turn each. We played marbles in the manhole covers of the pavement, Jacks on the flat paving stones, and hopscotch if we could find a stone that would chalk white on the road.

Then we got very modern and played American Skipping, with a large length of elastic bands joined together (pilfered from my Dad's collection) looped round two friends legs, or one friend and a gate, jumping in, out, in, on, out, together, in. Only the girl who brought it to our street had misheard it's name and we spent the first six months of playing it calling it Mary Comes Skipping :-)

We didn't need much in those days to keep us occupied between breakfast and lunch and then the long afternoons, and then again after tea the early evenings of the school holidays. No paying out to go to 'soft play areas' or family farms for our parents, or computer games. And we didn't have phones to call us in, we just listened out as one by one our Mums came onto the street to call us in, hoping and praying that we wouldn't be the first one to have to go.

Granny Sue said...

Lovely post. Have a good evening, Pat. and rest well.

UplayOnline said...

so that I might also catch up on some other blogs I have neglected for far too long. xo


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