What is something you used to really love to do as a child that you don’t do anymore, but maybe should?
The question was asked in Spencer Greenberg’s One Helpful Idea Newsletter from 01/10/2021.
I first answered it in December 2021. Many happy memories were evoked of things I’d not thought about for decades. Re-posting a slightly edited version now. One of my favourites.
I loved playing in the garden. Imaginary play. With toy cars in the dirt and action figures. Digging holes. Deep as I could go which was often only as deep as mum would let me. Rummaging about in the garden shed. Mixing up what paints, powders and liquids I found hoping for an exciting reaction, which never did occur.
Going to the cinema. I loved Saturday morning pictures. Went with my brother and sisters. We went to the local ABC. Queuing up, getting the ticket, running to the best seats we could find to watch the matinee. Cartoons, a main film and an episode from a serial or two. Coming out of the dark auditorium a couple and a half hours later and it taking a minute or two for my eyes to adjust to the daylight.
I loved playing with matches. Especially Swan Vesta which could be lit by friction on anything dry. The smell of sulphur dioxide. Building small fires. Going to the green shop on the corner to buy mum and dad cigarettes. Pouring them ’two fingers’ of scotch and topping up the glass with ginger ale.
I loved going to the big outdoor pool near our house. I imagined I was powered by a steam engine. I pictured shovelling coal into the furnace so I could swim faster. Competing for the town in swimming galas. Learning to dive and bomb off the boards. Hot Bovril from the cabin. Helping out sometimes before morning opening. Filling the foot baths with fresh water. Being the first in the water. Swimming when it poured with rained. Swimming in the local river when the weather was hot. Jumping from weirs and sliding down sluices.
I loved riding bicycles. Nipping around town with my brother with his and my friends. Riding out into the country side and to neighbouring towns. Putting together custom bikes from salvaged parts.
I loved doing a paper round. Being out and about while others were still in bed or getting up and ready for the day. Riding my bike in all weathers. Getting the job of marker up. One of the backroom boys. Counting out and preparing the newspapers for all the rounds. Getting the rounds done for those paper boys and girls that did not show up. Knowing every round there was in the shop. I loved that.
I loved drawing. Copying by eye characters from the 2000AD comic and Mad magazine. On my school exercise books. Doodling on the pages and on the school desks.
I loved comics. My nan bought them. Whizzer and Chips for my oldest sister, Dandy for me, The Hotspur for my brother, and Bunty for my little sister. Speed, Tiger and then 2000AD came later. I read each one from cover to cover. Collected the Tiger comic up into a big stack. I remember laying them out on my bedroom carpet like tiles. I felt happy doing that.
I loved sending off for stuff in comics and magazines. Joining clubs and getting the freebies and members pack in the post. I loved getting stuff in the post.
I loved living at my grandads. The AGA stove in the kitchen. Watching as logs were put into the fire. The big kitchen table. The bone handled carving knife. Eiderdowns and blankets on our beds. The log fire in the sitting room. Christmas time. Boxes and boxes of tangerines and chocolates. Playing stations with uncles, aunts, cousins and siblings.
Some of those things I cannot do anymore. Nan and grandad passed on years ago.
For other’s perhaps the biblical verse applies -
“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things”
However, I prefer C.S. Lewis’s interpretation -
“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up”.
I’m happy I still ride bikes, doodle in meetings, and go to the cinema. I still love digging in the garden. If I had a shed I would definitely love rummaging in it, which reminds me I have an unfinished project.
I cleared the back alley to our garden in the early spring. It was a big job. I did it so I could remove a massive amount of dirt piled up at the end of the garden. The idea was to clear the ground and build a shed for my bikes and what not. Summer came round and what with other plans and hot weather I’ve not done any more.
That’s what maybe I should do. Pick up where I left off and get that shed built. I’ll most likley leave the paints, powders and liquids alone.