The Way New Zealand Was
Why Dirkadirkastan (New Zealand) was so great......
- I'm talking about hide and seek/spotlight in the park.
- The corner dairy, hopscotch, four square, go carts, cricket in front of the garbage bin and inviting everyone on your street to join in.
- Skipping (double dutch), gutterball, handstands, elastics, bullrush, catch and kiss, footy on the best lawn in the street, slip'n'slides, the trampoline with water on it (or a sprinkler under it)
- Hula hoops, jumping in puddles with gumboots on, mud pies and building dams in the gutter.
- The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
- 'Big bubbles no troubles' with Hubba Bubba bubble gum.
- A topsy.
- Mr Whippy cones on a warm summer night after you've chased her round the block.
- 20 cents worth of mixed lollies lasted a week and pretending to smoke "fags" (the lollies) was really cool!
- A dollars' worth of chips from the corner take-away fed two people (AND the sauce was free!!).
- Being upset when you botched putting on the temporary tattoo from the bubblegum packet, but still wearing it proudly.
- Watching Saturday morning cartoons 'The Smurfs', 'AstroBoy', 'He-man', 'Captain Caveman', 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', 'Jem' (trulyoutrageous!!), 'Super d' and 'Heeeey heeeeey heeeeeeey it's faaaaaaat Albert'.
- Or staying up late and sneaking a look at the "AO" on the second telly.
- Being amazed when you watched TV right up until the 'Goodnight Kiwi!
- When After School with Jason Gunn & Thingie had a cult following and What Now was on saturday mornings!
- When around the corner seemed a long way, and going into town seemed like going somewhere.
- Where running away meant you did laps of the block because you weren't allowed to cross the road??
- A million mozzie bites, wasp and bee stings (stee bings!).
- Sticky fingers, goodies & baddies, cops and robbers, cowboys and indians, riding bikes til the streetlights came on and catching tadpoles in horse troughs.
- Going down to the school swimming pool when you didn't have a key and your friends letting you in, drawing all over the road and driveway with chalk.
- Climbing trees and building huts out of every sheet your mum had in the cupboard (and never putting them back folded).
- Walking to school in bare feet, no matter what the weather.
- When writing 'I love....? on your pencil case, really did mean it was true love. "he loves me? he loves me not?" and daisy chains on the front lawn.
- Stealing other people's flowers from their gardens and then selling them back to them
- Running till you were out of breath.
- Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
- Pitching the tent in the back/front yard (and never being able to find all the pegs).
- Jumping on the bed.
- Singing into your hair brush in front of the mirror, making mix tapes.
- Sleep overs and ghosts stories with the next door neighbours.
- Pillowfights, spinning round, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for the giggles.
- The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
- Water balloons were the ultimate weapon.
- Weetbix cards pegged on the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
- Collecting WWF and garbage pail kids cards.
- Eating raw jelly and raro, making homemade lemonade and sucking on a Rad, a traffic light popsicle, or a Paddle Pop... blurple, yollange and prink!
- You knew veryone in your street - and so did your parents!
- It wasn't odd to have two or three "best friends" and you would ask them by sending a note asking them to be your best friend.
- You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve and tried (and failed) to wait up for the tooth fairy.
- When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
- When 50c was decent pocket money.
- When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for 10c.
- When nearly everyone's mum was there when the kids got home from school.
- It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb.
- When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at the local Chinese restaurant (or Cobb'n'Co.) with your family.
- When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed her or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
- When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home.
- Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! Some of us are still afraid of them!!!
- Remember when decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" or ib dib's-scissors, paper, rock.
- "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
- Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker Monopoly.
- Terrorism was when the older kids were at the end of your street with pea-shooters waiting to ambush you, or the neighbourhood rottie chased you up a tree!
- The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was boy/girl germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
- Where bluelight disco's were the equivalent to a Rave, and asking a boy out meant writing a 'polite' note getting them to tick 'yes' or 'no'.
- When there was always that one 'HOT' guy/girl.
- Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot.
- Your biggest danger at school was accidentally walking through the middle of a heated game of "brandies".
- Birthday beats meant you didn't want to go to school on your birthday!
- Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
- Taking drugs meant scoffing orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C's, or swallowing half a Panadol.
- Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
- Going to the beach and catching a wave was a dream come true.
- Boogie boarding in the white wash made you the next Kelly Slater.
- Abilities were discovered because of a "double- dare".
- Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
By the way, the photograph thats me next to Miss Westcott in the mddle row :p
Crowbarred
posted by crowbarred at 9:02 pm
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