Christmas Greetings, dear reader - well it’s not far away now.
My thoughts recently have been turning nostalgically to the decades of the 1970s and 1980s - more specifically to what it felt to be a child/young person back then, what our day-to-day lives were like and the sense of community which appears to be much depleted in current times.
Sure, not everything was coming up roses. The UK in the 1970s was strike-ridden (as it seems to be today), with power cuts (as it possibly will be soon?), rubbish uncollected and bodies left unburied. The other side of the coin was a populace who didn’t spend an excessive amount of time with their faces stuck to their mobile phones. What did we all do before cell phones? We lived each and every experience in the real world not the virtual. I digress.
Anyhoo, whilst thinking of times gone by, I remembered some of the toys which children received and thought it might be nice to revisit those days and talk about what they were like.
The first thing that I remembered was not a toy, but a game. It was called Mastermind and featured a man and a woman on the packaging. It had absolutely no connection whatsoever to the TV show of the same name, was a game of logic and memory (if memory serves me correctly!) and was painfully hard to get excited about at eleven years of age.
Then the board game Frustration popped into my mind - with the Pop-o-Matic die roller, which you had to press. This game was aptly named and caused many a temper tantrum in my childhood home, as players landed on my pegs and I had to start the bloody thing all over again. I seem to recall stomping out of the room on occasion. Bad loser!
Kerplunk was quite cool. It made my childish brain concentrate. You had to pull out straws carefully to attempt to avoid the marbles falling. What can I say? We were easily pleased back then.
I got an Emu arm puppet circa 1976. If you are reading this and are not from the UK, this may sound weird, however, Rod Hull, puppeteer was quite huge in the 1970s and 80s and appeared on the Parkinson Show, at which point ‘Emu’ attacked the presenter, Michael Parkinson and caused him to fall off his chair. Sneaking suspicion Parky wanted to punch Rod Hull in the face, but that’s just a guess. That arm puppet provided me with minutes of fun and amusement…
I received a Sindy doll one Christmas - soooo exciting! She had posable limbs and a tutu (she was the ballerina model - I’m not being rude). However, I spoilt the surprise somewhat by finding her several weeks before Christmas whilst rootling around in Mum’s wardrobe. Bugger it!
One year, I got a cassette player for Christmas. This was a massive deal! I was able to record music and play it back, without having to shell out meagre pocket money on vinyl. Well, that was the idea, but trying to record the Top 20 from the Chart Show, then (I think) presented by Tony Blackburn, was an activity at which it was utterly impossible to successfully complete. Tony would introduce the song, I would attempt to be Quick Draw McGraw on the record button, would press it, start to relax and enjoy the track - then Tony would start talking over it! Nooooo!!!
These are my memories and perhaps a little hazy in places. Maybe I’m looking back with rose-tinted glasses but I think those times had much to recommend.
A happy and joyful Christmas to one and all.
x