h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Still stands and looks much the same but the street looks very different.

When I was wee we'd play kirbie on the street but nowadays there are cars parked up either side of the road and not an inch that you could bounce a ball off. When I was a girl there were maybe 8 cars in the street - now every house has one or two - so no space for kerbie.

We used to play swing around the lamp post sitting on mum's best cushion over a rope tied as high as we could reach up the lamp post. We were always warned to watch and listen for cars in case one came around the corner and hit us mid-swing. Today you couldn't swing without hitting a parked car.

We'd race guiders up the street and down the back entry you know what I mean. No knee pads, helmets or anything - no engine either - just push power. Self-build too, all the parts were salvaged from the local dump or garden sheds.


I miss it and am sorry my daughter hasn't had such a fun childhood where the neighbours looked out for each other and one or two more for tea wasn't a problem - so long as egg, chips and beans were good enough.


Is nostalgia a waste of time - of course it is. Gone and gone for good and not altogether a bad thing but it's nice to look back - when I pass down that street and pass the old house I wonder what's happening behind all those closed doors - and not a stripey sun curtain in sight.

Once again, a lovely post Fizzy. This Talking Point has made us feel very sentimental. I think perhaps we need to toughen up a bit

I'm feeling sentimental now myself ..... for sentimental read OLD!!

I can remember playing in the street and a neighbour sending me to the shop to get her 5 Capstan ... they're cigarettes if you didn't know - the really strong ones with no filters and a sea captain on the packet. I must have been about 6yo. She died, mind you she must have been about 80 then.

I wish you hadn't started this.