Thoughts on my childhood

Hubby and I have been watching "Wagon Train" on the telly, and I started thinking how this was my favourite tv show as a kid ... and, by kid, I'm talking 4 years old. How do I remember that? Well, my sister, Stephanie, was born when I was four and a half, and I remember my dad coming to my nan and granpop's to tell us ... and "Wagon Train" was on and they turned the tv off. LOL.

That made me think. With the kid's tv programmes on, how odd was it that a 4 year old's favourite tv show was a Western series?

And that then set me thinking onto other oddities about me as a child.

How I could disappear into a good book and not want to put it down until it was finished. How "Jane Eyre" was my favourite book when I was only 7. How many 7 year olds nowadays could read an unabridged version of Charlotte Bronte's classic? Or Dickens' "Great Expectations"? They were just a part of my reading material, along with Anna Sewell's "Black Beauty", R.D. Blackmore's "Lorna Doone", Marguerite Henry's "Brighty Of The Grand Canyon" and hundreds of Ladybird books about history, geography, nature, and science, that I devoured hungrily.

My best friend was Stephanie Baum, and her mum and mine were close friends. I went to her house "for tea" some days and she'd come to mine. We were in the same class at school. One time at hers, we climbed the tree in her yard, but got stuck up the top and had to be rescued by fireman. I never climbed trees again after that!

I loved spending time with my nan and granpop, I'd go on holiday with them every year and we'd "tour" Devon and Cornwall, visiting historical sites as well as beaches. Our first stopover, on coming out of London, would be in the heart of the New Forest. We'd drive off the dual carriageway and over a cattle grid, and into the forest, down a narrow lane to a clearing in the woods. There. we'd camp for the night in our vehicle - at first a 2 tone blue Austin A30/A35

and later a red and grey Thames van.

Of a morning, the wild ponies would trek up the road and come to the clearing to eat, and of an evening, they'd come back from wherever they'd spent the day, stop once more, and then head back up the road, to wherever "home" was in the middle of the forest.

Those holidays were awesome. One of my favourites was driving through the Doone Valley and falling into where "Lorna Doone" was set. Although I knew the story wasn't real, I could picture it, in my mind's eye.

Sometimes, I'd spend weekends with them, or half-term, and my nan and I would visit museums and the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. We fed the pigeons and she told me of eating "pigeon pie" growing up and during the war. She also made an awesome rabbit stew, which was my favourite dinner there. She'd make a big pot. The leftovers would sit out on the stove all night and get boiled up (for me) the next day. Not many people owned a fridge when I was young, although that changed within a few years.

I wrote stories too. At school, at the beginning of term, they'd give us exercise books to do our work in. One was a little red note book , our "journal", and I'd fill mine with stories. My teacher, Mrs Stark, said I must have lived in a previous life, when I wrote one set in Victorian times. At that time, during the 2 years I was in her classes, I was aged 7-9.

I LOVED school. George Tomlinson in Leytonstone was THE BEST! In the Infants, the Headmistress, Mrs Edwards, was a dear and would come out during playtimes and would be swarmed by us kids, who would then hold hands in a huge trailing line, and walk around with her. When I moved on up to the Juniors, the Headmaster was Mr Bradbury. During those 4 years, I had Mrs Stark for the first 2, and Miss Lynes for the second.

Before moving up, the 2 top classes in the Infants would go on a day trip to Regent's Park Zoo ... but the day of my school trip, was the day of my adoption hearing, so I missed it and my dad ended up taking me to the zoo that weekend for my very own trip!

Even then, I had empathy with animals. We know so much more now, but back in those days, poor Guy the Gorilla was stuck in a very small (for his size) cage, and I remember his sad, mournful eyes as he sat, looking out through the bars

Another memory I have is of Victoria Park. Apparently they still have model boat regattas there, even in this "modern age" LOL.  I used to love watching the boys push their boats out onto the lake. I seem to remember paddling in a pool there (did I? ) and a mynah bird whose name, I think, was Charlie, who could talk. Or maybe I'm imagining it? I'll have to do some research and find out.

Have  a great day everyone. Cherish your memories