Was it the classic outdoor life of scuffed knees, fab lollies, no shirts, jam jar fishing and legs up high on the bike on the downslopes spoke-clickers going crazy [remember making them? spoke clickers?]?
With the current extreme heatwave baking most of Europe and the UK it reminds me of the hot summers when I was a kid. For some reason all summers seemed hot back then but I'm sure they weren't. Long afternoons watching the rain paint the chalet windows at Butlins feels familiar too!
I do, however, remember vividly the lollies cooling us down during those boiling Sixties summers: Fab, Zoom, Jet Ray, a thick orange juice lolly the name of which eludes me, Funny Faces [was that later?], a Dracula lolly with red jelly inside, Kinky [a personal fave with all those hundreds and thousands], Ice Pops, Mivvi and Split [what was the difference between those two? I dunno]
Pop was important too as we slurped it from day-glo plastic beakers through crazy straws: Rise and Shine powdered orange [pleasantly vile!], Tree Tops cordial [why was the word cordial used?], Dandelion and Burdock [burp juice], Sarsaparilla, Lemonade, Vimto, Iron Bru and my personal tipple, Tizer!
Many homes had a machine that fizzed up drinks with compressed CO2 [at least I think it was] called something like Sparklets. I remember the little metal tanks of gas that were inserted into the tall unit that looked like a Corgi Rockets Sky Park.
So, as we face the hottest day in UK recorded history, I think I'll make a large tupperware beaker of vimto on ice and turn on the garden lawn sprinkler like my old Dad did in the Sixties.
What fun!
What were your childhood summers like readers and how are you keeping cool today?
Don't forget the Daleks Death Ray and Codebreaker lollies with collectible sticks! I used to love the blue plastic sticks with the stencil in them! Summer for me often involved hanging a line out of the upstairs bedroom window and tying it on to a tree at the bottom f the garden, then putting matt mason on a sling and rappelling him down the line! My other faveourite was water pistols, especially the coloured clear plastic ones shaped like tropical fish with the rugby ball body and big fin on the back or getting my Corgi Rockets and matchbox Superfast track out and laying it down the length of the garden (some 70') and running my favourite Hot Wheels along it, sometimes adding a drop of 3 in 1 machine oil to the trck to make them slide. Another big thing were the Quercetti Rockets like the Mach X, blasted into the air with an elastic to float down on a parachute - hopefully missing the gutter or the trees!
ReplyDeleteWhat a childhood! You clever rascal putting oil on your Hot Wheels track! Why didn't I think of that? As for the Mach X, it keeps popping up in memories but not mine. I don't thin I had one or even the JR21 Fireball. I love your rappelling Major. I did that too! I think Accy Man was sent down the death slide as well with his gripping hands! Boy oh boy those were childhoods. Toys, toys and more toys!
DeleteThey were great summers back then, although as I've mentioned here in Wales it did rain a lot too.
DeleteI had two Quercetti Rockets, an XL5 and the Mach X. One day when I was about 8 or 9, the Mach X landed on the garage roof and I had a bad accident trying to jump across to the roof from a downstairs window sill! - Some really nasty deep cuts in my scalp and probably concussion too!
Did I end up in hospital? No this was the 1960's!I had a massive row off my Gran, proper first aid, and ordered to rest on the sofa for the remainder of the day...
I was back out the following morning with a ladder and a broom handle to retrieve it.
Its the toy that's meant to fall to earth, not you Bill! Those injuries sound horrendous but I'm intrigued by what 'proper first aid' entailed? Sounds painful! I imagine you weren't alone in retrieving Quercettis's from garages, sheds and trees with ladders and poles. I'm surprised they didn't come with the toy! I never knew the pleasures and discomforts of suck rockets as I remained Quercetti-less. Have you read the brilliant piece Paul V has written about Jack Rosenthal meeting the Quercetti family in Italy? Its here if you haven't - look for the final paragraph in the Cavendish section http://www.triangspacextoys.info/JackRBio.html
DeleteMy Grandmothers First Aid? - Well, she was the child a Coal Miner and the grandchild of a Butcher and Licenced Gamekeeper. So that meant washing the wounds in lukewarm water, gently removing the bits of stones and cement. An examination of the wounds, and generally checking to see if I had serious concussion. After that, it was the application of disinfectant and then painful Iodine!
DeletePlus a good dose of Junior Asprin, and being ordered to lay down on the sofa with my head on a clean towel . Over the next few hours, Gran kept an eye on me to make sure I didn't go into some sort of fit. Eventually I dropped off to sleep, and when I woke up, my headache was gone, as was the burning of the wounds.
She must have done it right, because by the next day, there was no bleeding and I was up and out as if nothing had happened.
Wow, now that was proper First Aid from your Grandmother Bill! She covered all the bases for sure. I remember Iodine too. Stained your skin brown didn't it. I also recall TCP with its distinct hospital ward aroma. I sometimes still smell it as I walk past people and think ... yes, TCP!
DeleteThe Co2 drinks maker was a 'Soda Stream' and its ad line was "Get busy with the Fizzy !"
ReplyDeleteMish.
That's it! Thanks Mish. We didn't have one but my Sister did. Very fizzy too!
DeleteMine were all about life in the Pine Barrens.Tall trees,wooded trails,pits ful of sugar sand, and cedar brown lakes and streams.Lots of fishing,and crabbing in the tide waters.My fave frozen treat was a good old red white and blue Firecracker,or "Bomb Pop".My soda pop of choice was,and still is,Fanta Strawberry.There is a local soft drink mix called "Tega Boost" here,a syrup you mix with carbonated water.Fun Facts;Tega Boost(now called simply "Boost")Is made in Haddonfield NJ,The hometown of Debra Hill and the inspiration for the town of Haddonfield in "Halloween".Also,the place he duck- billed 'Hadrosaur"Is named after
ReplyDeleteA Pine Barrens childhood! Youre a woodsman Bri! A child of the forest! Hope you never ran into the Blair Witch or other local devils! And cedar brown lakes - not sure I would swim in one of those but as a kid I may have done! Never had a Fanta Strawberry, sounds delicious! As for the Haddonfield facts, that's just showing off! ha ha. Fascinating. So the Hadrosaur was found by Michael Myers!
DeleteI am keeping cool the way I often did on summer holidays as a kid- having dips in the sea -even from the same beach I knew then (an advantage of living and being self employed near the sea!)
ReplyDeleteSounds idyllic Andy. The sea is the place to be in this heatwave for sure. So did you move to where you went on holidays as a kid?
DeleteI distinctly remember my 60's childhood in Richmond Surrey. I had a Quercetti Mach X and I remember flying it in Old Deer Park, close to the Thames River. I particularly remember one flight where the main chute "Roman Candled" -twisted up and the rocket fell from the sky with the capsule still attached. At the last moment, the brave astronaut achieved separation and his capsule drifted down to safety on it's opened chute, whilst the main body crashed to Earth (presumably in Craigsville USA )
ReplyDeleteNext to the Thames was a small stream we called the Mini Ha Ha and on summer days a big silver trailer (similar to my Matchbox #74 toy!) used to park and sell ice lollies. I particularly remember the 7Up signs on it!
-And of course there were Burton's Tomato flavour Potato Puffs and PEZ sweets from my Lunar Astronaut dispenser!
Ahhhh, those were the days!
Another Mach X! Where they giving them away! I never had one Lewis but your description, like Bill's, makes me wish I had. Roman Candled - never heard that before but its a brilliant phrase for an upturned chute! ha ha. You create such a vivid memory I wanna go to the Mini and have a 7UP! As for your dispenser, its just amazing. If I came round would you let me choose something!
DeleteRoman Candle was the term used by the WW2 British Airborn forces for when a parachute canopy failed to open.
ReplyDeleteIts a new one on me. Thanks Terran. And Lewis. Can't imagine jumping out of a plane never mind the chute failing to open. Surely that would have been fatal.
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