Memories...

One of my inky drawings featured on scamp.ie the Illustration Blog of the Illustrators Guild of Ireland

It was sparked off by one of the members Adrienne posting up a piece about the way it was growing up when you were a child of the 50's 60's and 70's! Here are some quotes...

'We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts, booster seats or air bags.When our parents went to the pub for a drink we were left outside with a bag of crisps and no-one abducted us.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy fruit Spangles, Love Hearts, Fruit Polos, Palm Toffee, Gob Stoppers and Black Jacks and Flying Saucers.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. Only girls had pierced ears!

We explored streams and ponds, woods and abandoned places, and never drowned or got lost. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt and the worms did not live in us forever. There were no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms.....BUT.....WE HAD REAL FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

My illustration is a memory of the boy who used to live next door to me. We imagined that our bedrooms were connected by a magical wardrobe, we used to have secret knocks and passwords. We played out in the street all the time, we had snotty noses and cut knees and were free to stay out playing kick the can until the street lights came on.

That was in the 70's when everything was brown, carpets, curtains, walls!

The best days were the weekend when I got the Beano at my local newsagents who would hold it for you with your name on the top. And watching The Muppet Show on a Sunday evening, with my brother Daniel, drying your hair after a bath in front of the fire. Bliss!