I saw a young student skipping out of a High School today as I drove past. It was obviously the end of the school day and he was positively rapturous!
Nothing changes because I remember that feeling so well myself ! - the 2.45pm bell meant home-time, freedom and glorious adventures to come! Even though I love to finish work and head home nowadays I'm not sure it comes close to the feeling I has as a kid at home-time. One of those magical daily doorways, which allowed you to be the child you actually were for the rest of the day!
I remember when I was about 10 in 1970, the first thing I did after getting home was to make a jam butty and grab a tall glass of cold milk. The butty was made of a thick slice of Mothers Pride white bread, smeared with lurpak butter and daubed with Robertsons or Chivers extra- strawberry jam, the sort where whole strawberries sat in a pool of thick red jelly. The milk was always full-cream, none of the wishy washy semi-skimmed cordial I drink nowadays. Good for bones and teeth my old Mum would have said. Puts hairs on your chest exclaimed my Dad!
My jam butty and milk routine is such a vivid and happy memory that I still enjoy it nowadays, although decent thick white bread is sadly a rarity in our house nowadays too. Snack in hand I would attend to whatever serious business required my utmost attention - reading Look-In, lounging with a Creepy comic, watching Scooby Doo or riding my chopper bike to my mate Robin Adderleys's house up the road. Basically anything that I wanted to do for two fantastic hours before tea at around 5 and the nightly struggle with my homework around 6 after kid's TV had finished and adults took over. Aah, those were the days!
What are your home-time memories?
Robin and me aged 10 or 11 Ca. 1970 - fortune and glory!
[note my Donny Osmond cap and cocky thumbs in pockets stance!]
2.45! 3.50 for us. Then kids TV and homework, sometimes trying to do both at the same time! Tea at 6 when dad got home, then watch the news and Nationwide and maybe more homework afterwards.
ReplyDeleteExcellent subject,happy to put in my two cents.My first two years of grade school were strange for two reasons.First,my town was in the process of building a new elementary school,so I attended school in a Museum basement,then a Presbyterian church rectory before finally being rewarded with a shiny new state-of the art school.second,because of the lack of space for students,our school day was divided into two sessions;7 A.M. til 12,and 1P.M. til 5.I had the first session,and I think it was nice to have a long arternoon at home.Plenty of time for outdoors play and Bugs Bunny on TV.My brother, on the other hand had the late session, and often returned home after dark in the Winter.He did, however,get to sleep in and catch some cartoons that I couldn't view in the afternoon.Of course ,nothing could compare to Saturday morning,with notebooks stashed away and a 48 hour pass ahead,cartoons,toys and snacks galore!
ReplyDeleteGreat subject.
ReplyDeleteYou finished early Woodsy...was always 4 o'clock for us apart from when in "the infants" which was 3.30pm.
I remember walking home with my friends, buying sweets from the newsagents on the way.
Then getting in and tearing that uniform off. Big glass of Nesquik (usually chocolate) and then watching kid's TV until dinner around 5.5.30pm.
Loved anything ghostly or Ufo-ish and can quite clearly remember being glued to "In Search Of....".
In slightly younger days it was Thunderbirds or Lost In Space on a Friday night...ah, Friday nights were the best!
I can also remember how wonderful it was getting home from school at those special times of year like Halloween and Fireworks night, but then how sad it was walking to school the morning after the 5th November and seeing all the dead fireworks lying damp among the autumn leaves!
Magical memories!
High school ended 3PM and because I went to an out-of-district school it took me longer to get home, having to travel cross town. Ahhh, but when I did get home, hopefully just before 4PM, the TV went on and so did 'Star Trek' - the original mind you. This was in 1970-71 and it was awesome. 'Star Trek' was only one of two TV seires that I had ever memorized the episode titles (the other one being 'The Dick Van Dyke Show') Just as soon as 'Star Trek' ended it was time for supper and after that, ugh, homework :-(
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