Playground antics
When not in the mood for running around at school, we would dig for clay smoking pipes in the corner of the playground. Why this little patch of dirt contained clay pipes is something that I never found out, but we spent hours digging for them. They were these tiny little delicate things, which I’m sure must have had some value to a museum somewhere, or even a collector. Our clumsy hands would always break them as they came free from the dirt they were encased in - rendering them completely useless and probably worthless. As with all playgrounds of that era; the fun came with a large element of risk. Still in the days of seesaws that would chop off the tiny fingers of the unwary, and hard concrete floors under climbing frames, it saw its fair share of broken arms and wrists. There was also a giant slide in the middle of the playground that we kids used, that had sides made from a rough cut of wood. We constantly had splinters of wood stuck in our legs and on many occasions our behinds.
Ah, the good old days when playground surfaces were as hard as the ruffians who used them - and any injuries were down to you not the council. I miss the pre-litigation 70s :)
ReplyDeleteYour own little archaeological dig. Probably an old factory site and the little unfinished ware were made at lunch or break times.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot about the merry-go-round that hurls small children off two by two, once you got it going fast enough. Scraped knees and bruises were signs of an energetic childhood.
ReplyDeleteI had MANY a playground injury as a youngster :)
ReplyDeleteI can remember Small Sprog digging that sort of thing up from somewhere or other!
ReplyDeleteI like your description, I could visualise it all :)