Growing up in the 1945-1980 period! What did you do?

I’m with you there.

I was fortunate enough that the street I grew up on, was a dead end. Thus road game interruptions “car” were limited to those who lived beyond the “road hockey rink”!

And I was able to try my hand at carpentry building tree houses in the field at the end of this street.

Yes good times.

Hey Tony, I was gonna mention forts and tree forts we made. We had some beauties. Where I grew up we watched the 401 being built. We played all over and under the construction site. Imagine if the guys who built it knew that today it was not big enough for the volume. At some places it is 16 lanes wide !!! Before the 401 was started there was a pond and creek through the back of our primary school. It was heaven. Our school was the largest in area in Canada. Two outdoor rinks every year.

Purple Lolas in the summer.

When I bought my house 30 years ago I made sure that it had a big backyard for my sons. Now we are trying to sell and the big backyard doesn’t matter to the new generation. Their kids don’t use them. Interweb and vid games and TV… All the new homes built around here have small 30’ x 30’ backyards.

at one time, I had English bay for my front yard and Stanley park a block away. What a playground. One thing I used to do was use a toy hammer to knock chestnuts out of trees.

at one time, I had English bay for my front yard and Stanley park a block away. What a playground. One thing I used to do was use a toy hammer to knock chestnuts out of trees.
Pretty impressive since you still made time to get laid! Was that in Stanley Park as well?

???

I think it is better that I don’t say

Wait, isn’t “knocking chestnuts” some sort of West Coast euphemism for getting laid?

with a toy hammer :slight_smile:

I assumed you were just being modest. 8)

ah yes, well, no comment :slight_smile:

I assumed he wasn’t demonstrating much consideration for his partner.

:-\

I still haven’t finished growing up :slight_smile:

In the 60s, from 5 - 15:

I ended up in a group home for 2.5 yrs, from 8 to 11. Most of the other kids were girls. It was there that I first played a bunch of girl games. Jacks, Ken and Barbie, Skipping rope (with songs), Hopscotch, Doctor and House. We mixed house with baseball. Forget about the first three bases, we went to home plate every time, almost. (and you thought you were kidding Baltic :))

For some reason they decided to send me back to my mother at 11. It was there that I first learned to watch the CFL and play touch football. Almost made it worthwhile being back with my mother.

At 13, met my one and only foster family. Walked through the front door on Wednesday, on my wife’s birthday, at around 11 p.

It was in the 70’s, that I did the most different things:

I went to live on a 1 section dairy and grain farm in Manitoba for 6 months and then to another 2.5 section pigs, chickens and grain farm also in Manitoba. Did a heaping helping of farm chores. Learned to drive a farm tractor and grain truck before I ever got a licence to drive on the road. Most of the time, most of the chores were kind of fun. Specially working in the fields.

Rode a bus from Vancouver to Brandon. Never again. Awful trip.

During that decade, I hitchhiked from Manitoba to Vancouver twice. From Toronto to Manitoba twice. From Toronto to New Brunswick and back once. First time from M to V was with a friend. WE had no money between us. We had a blast. I never had any money when I started out on a trip.

Also during that decade, I flew for the first times. Terrace to Vancouver,Edmonton to Toronto to Vancouver and back and forth between the last two. Always flew Standby on CP AIR. Never a problem.

Then there was my first train trips. Vancouver to Terrace. Vancouver to Toronto and back, Vancouver to Winnipeg and back. Toronto to Winnipeg and back. Always rode CN Passenger, back before there was VIA. My favorite way to travel long distance.

Then there was a short stint of 6 months in the army. Drilling, cleaning, drilling, marching, drilling, etc
not for me, I quit. During the 70’s one of my pastimes was quitting. Quit high school 3 times, quit college twice, quit many jobs.

I went wild in Toronto, spent much of the time there unemployed and hanging around with street people, hookers, bikers, girls at the nearby hostel or YWCA. Had a lot of fun, but not proud of everything I done. Didn’t do any real crime tho. The occasional petty thing. We hung out at a park a couple of summers and lots of complaints about our late night noise.

Bought a moped. Really enjoyed riding it all over Toronto as fast as I could.

Went to Winnipeg in 77. Tamed up, went to church, spent lots of time hanging with church young people, playing sports in the summer and various activities in winter. Got Baptized.

That’s just some of the highlights :slight_smile:

Wow! Not just a creek but a pond! Was one of the outdoor rinks over the pond? Where was this anyway? In present day North York?

Lolas are very cool but they must have been something in the Toronto-Hamilton area. I don’t remember them in London at all from the late fifties through the seventies. I wonder where and by whom Lolas were produced back in the day?

:question: