by JC Campbell

Created on: February 25, 2009

Childhood memories come flooding back as I recall my early life in the streets I called home, a neighborhood consisting of relatively new housing and poor people. My favorite place during this time was the very street where I lived. This was our playground long before the days of computer games and organized sport for kids. The street was where we played from morning until dark in the summer months when school was out. No need to worry about the danger of traffic as there was only one car in the whole street, owned, we thought, by a millionaire.

This little Ford Popular was the only obstacle we had to negotiate when playing football, lampposts for goalposts and being extra careful not to fall on the concrete surface that served as our pitch. Those were simple yet golden days when possessions did not matter other than a ball to play with. I can remember that we did not even have a television set in our home at one point and would head over to a friend's house to watch The Lone Ranger. Yes, we had nothing, yet we had everything.

The street where we lived was also the place where we played good old "street games" like peever, kick the can and of course hide and seek or two-man hunt. Our parents had no worries about safety because we still lived in the era of the community where people trusted one another and all the neighbors knew each other. Now, we know more about the President of the United States than we do about our next door neighbor. What we lacked in material things, we made up for with imagination. As kids without money, we had to make up our own entertainment and this proved to be no problem.

Unlike our modern city environment, youngsters then played games and amused themselves with activities that were healthy and active. Now we have a society where many young people sit in their own rooms with personal computers, televisions, cell phones and ipods, cocooned in the own little world. If not that, then they can be found hanging around in street corners, binge drinking and causing trouble for the community. Yes, changed days.
If only we could return to the halcyon days when children could play in the street safely, enjoying games and pastimes that bonded them together, kept them active and maintained a community spirit. The imagination we had to create things to do resulted in a happy childhood filled with fond memories. Even when we got up to mischief it was all very tame when compared to the things young people have become notorious for in our 21st century. Knocking on doors and running away was about the height of our mischievous behavior.

Because we were poor, our favorite places as children were never going to be vacation spots. We couldn't afford vacations. Our lives revolved around our little street which was awash with large families and therefore teeming with children of all ages. Whatever the weather, we always found something to do that would keep us highly amused even if it did involve going home in the evening covered in grime. It was all part of the fun.

More than forty years later, I can still see my street in my mind's eye. The street that boasted only one car owner, where the baker's van would visit every Thursday, where the Chapel stood at the top of the street and where we as children played football until dark. looking back with a sense of longing, our street was far and away my favorite childhood place.

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