Jumping off stuff was an important business when I was a kid. Hillocks, mounds, swings, sand dunes, they were all top jumping stations.
I had two jumping cries: Oh-O Chongo and my favourite, Geronimo! But why were they jumping cries? Did anyone else use them and what did you jump off?
AAaahhh! The long jump down into the grain from the old hay loft...every year my Brother and I with our three cousins would run up to the old hay loft and dear each other to jump out of the window into the cereal below!
ReplyDeleteIt was quite high and scary-looking but after you'd done it it was like a conveyor belt of screeching kids running round, back up the old wooden stairs out the window, a few seconds knowing what it is to be a bird - albeit a heavy one...Dodo? Then a scramble down the pile of grain and round again, shoes, socks, waistband and pockets full of corn...we preferred Wheat, Barley was a bit sharp and chaffy!
We also shouted Geronimo and the Tarzan call...I think there may be a link between Geronimo and the American Airborne troops of WWII?
Fascinating Mav! Sounds like yuou had great fun on a farm! Plenty of jumping spots for sure! I love the idea of chaffy barley! And tarzan, yeah, I'd forgotten that one! A vine or two would have been great for that one! Impossible to spell -arruarura aruarua!
ReplyDelete"Geronimo" was what USAAF fighter pilots reportedly shouted when going into the attack. Their Luftwaffe opponents used "Horrido". And the RAF would call out the hunting cry of "Tally Ho", or so the cliché has it. :)
ReplyDelete"Oh Chongo" is apparently from the Banana Splits, is what google tells me.
Can't recall jumping off too many things, but we did roll down the sand dunes at every opportunity. Of which there were plenty since the beach was just a half hour Chopper ride away.
Cheers -- Paul
Farms were fun! We used to ride in the grain trailers, and hold on to the cross bar they all had - to stop the sides bulging-out - when Richard (our older cousin) tipped them into the auger for the dryer!
ReplyDeleteAll banned by the elf and safety people in the 80's, but by then I was riding FV432's and Chinooks so....
When the empty trailer was dragged back to the harvester - a lot faster - it could throw you out on a pot-hole if you didn't have a good grip of something! quite a few chins were bruised I seem to recall!
Riding Chinooks? Blimey Mav! That's grown up stuff!
ReplyDeleteand Paul, I love your line a 'half hour chopper ride away'! I loved my chopper, which I think was yellow. I seem to remember that the ultra long L-shaped saddle was super comfortable! Jumping off stuff and riding choppers! aah, bliss!
I used to like jumping off the top of our garden shed. I used to yell Shuuwatch (the best possible pronunciation for what Ultraman says when he materilaizes)
ReplyDeleteOoh, you had the tall sissy-bar, Paul?
ReplyDeleteI had an orange Mk1 with the short one. Used to hang my briefcase-shaped schoolbag from it, which really upset the balance and provoked the odd impromptu wheelie while putting some force on the pedals.
Advantage of that saddle was me Bruv sitting behind me facing backwards and playing tailgunner. :)
One of the stupidest things I ever did was put it out with the trash when I moved out of my parents place. Managed to replace it when I spotted a clown riding a badly overpainted Mk2 at my kids school, which I eventually badgered his management into letting me buy. :)
Ah, halcyon memories!
--
Paul
Ex-Clown's Chopper, One Owner, Ideal for Large Shoes and Baggy Trousers. Will Part-Ex for a Trike and Red Nose! Ha ha!
ReplyDeleteGreat story Paul. Did the clown use the chopper in his act?
Going off my memory here, the chongo cry was from the segment "Danger Island" off the Banana Splits. Rather silly and goofy and featured a very young Jan Michael Vincent and in at least a couple of episodes, the modified carcass :( of the beloved B9 robot from Lost in Space.
ReplyDelete