Its very hot here in the UK. Maybe it is where you are? We've had two weeks pf non-stop high temperatures with no let-up or rain in sight.
Most lawns and verges are turning brown and some crops like wheat are wilting. Huge fires have broken out on parched moorlands and we are one rung away from a National Emergency or so it said on the News.
It all really does put me in mind of 50's disaster movies about an overheating world. Seeing all the lawns turn brown also recalls the Death of The Grass, perhaps one of most startling and unrelentingly grim sci-fi novels I've ever read.
Yet the hot days also recall long lost summers in the patchouli-scented decades of the Sixties and Seventies. I remember some real scorchers when I was a kid and I regularly got sun-burn on our annual holiday to Abersoch, Ilfracombe or Minehead.
They must have been scorchers because I can clearly recollect running and screaming through fountains of cold water in the garden. The fountains were provided by a neat contraption, which attached to the hose-pipe. It was a plastic ring full of small pin-holes, which sent water shooting upwards and then down like a sort of wet crown. It may have been a lawn waterer but for us kids it was Butlins at home! Talk about fun!
We also rolled out a large sheet of plastic like a tarp and lay the hose on it to create a sort of log flume for humans. The idea was to belly-slide all the way down the watered tarp like a seal! Braver souls attempted to 'skate' standing up but this usually resulted in a sore wet bottom!
Outside of this advanced aqua-planing we also played with grass. When either my Dad or Brother-in-Law Terry cut the lawn the grass clippings were piled up in a heap. Enter the children. My mates and I would grab this pile and begin a session of what can only be described as a grass factory.
This factory entailed various long wooden ramps and chutes which we had installed around the top of the garden along a small incline. They were either resting on a bush, resting on the ground or jammed between branches of a tree. The ramps and chutes overhung each other.
The grass clippings were then shoved and pulled along from one chute to another, either by hand or using the hose pipe as hydraulic power, eventually creating a sort of continuous conveyor belt. the grass piled up at the bottom in a wheel barrow. It felt like farming and was great great fun!
For some reason the grass always made me itch after a bit, especially if I lead shirtless on the lawn. Still, a tray full of glasses filled with ice and Robinson's Barleywater and Tree Tops cordial served by my old Mum would usually help us get over any summer hardships.
And before you knew it was 5 '0' clock and it was time for tea!
What did you play in summer readers?
Hi Woodsy,
ReplyDeleteBeen 105-110 for a couple of weeks now in Henderson NV. Typical summer. We also played with the sliding plastic water toy, called "Slip N Slide." Also the garden hose with a sprinkler hooked to it, and cardboard boxes split open to slide down the grass hill behind my house. Not in Nevada then! Another strange thing was to cut a lemon in half, take a pack of Kool-Aid (the small unsweetened kind back then) and sprinkle a little on the lemon and suck on that for awhile! Go figure.
Jim
Henderson NV
Sounds idyllic Jim! We didnt and dont have Kool Aid here in the UK. What is it?
DeleteHI woodsy
DeleteKoolaid was a powder you mixed with water and a cup of sugar to make a fruit flavored drink. It was very sour. You can probably youtube it.
Jim
Henderson NV
Thanks Jim. Sounds like Rise n Shine here in the DSeventies. Oddly enough I've a novel called the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe in the book case. Alas, it remains unread!
DeleteOutdoor play with Gi Joe,Matchbox cars, and Army Men was our neighborhood standard.Of course, I would bring some sort of monster into the mix to add to the fun!Also, my family was one of the few that had a swimming pool,so we didn't have to look further than our backyard for that.Baseball and Frisbee were the de facto sports of summer,with occasional trips to play miniature golf (also called carnival golf or chip-n-putt,if your not familiar and wish to google it).In later years, bicycles and motorcycles were a good way to visit friends in the neighborhood and there were plenty of wooded trails and gravel pits to ride in.
ReplyDeleteYou had your own pool! Respect! You must have been the most popular family around in summer Brian!
DeleteIt was 1969, and I was lucky enough to have a couple of Action Men and a Grandmother who was a time served and qualified Taylor. - She made a proper Zero-X uniform for them using Mike Nobles TV21 illustrations as a template!
ReplyDeleteMy boys and I had some great adventures during that summer; exploring the unknown and 'giant' plantlife that was our in our massive garden... We also had some Evergreen Giant Liriope growing there too, which was used for a further adventure battling the evil 'Eye Leaves.' I recal using some small elastic bands to hold one to an unfortunate Action Man's face who then had to be rescued. I wish I'd been able to take some photos of those adventures.
With all the toys I'd collected over the years I had a great time.
I also loved gardening, so I used to mow the lawns and weeding etc with my Mother. Late in the afternoon we'd do some burning in the garden incinerator. Then the evening would come and it would be in for tea, telly and some reading or drawing.
And we did all that with any social media didn't we Bill! Kids these days don't go out! I love the Zero-X suit your Gran made for Accy Man. What a great idea! It would have been a great Palitoy outfit. I'm surprised Palitoy and Century 21 never did anything together.
DeleteI see that the Official Gerry Anderson site is now offering Zero-X T-shirts and other OX merchandise Bill.
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