At the weekend we went to Ely in Cambridgeshire, and on Saturday lunchtime we joined a tour and climbed to the top of the tower of the cathedral. There would have been the most amazing view ( if it hadn’t been so foggy) , but it was still worth it, all 288 steps of it. On the way up, the tour guide asked that anyone who was carrying rucksacks left them at the bottom landing, which we duly did. I imagined this must because there was a chance that some lunatic might attempt to hold everyone hostage up there ( yes, I have always had a vivid imagination) but no, it was because a year or so ago a group of base jumpers joined the tour, went up to the top with everyone else, and when they got there they all jumped off , at which point I imagine the poor tour guide must have had a heart attack. I mean, can you imagine what it must have been like having to explain to your boss that half of the the 11am tour had actually jumped over the edge?
In the 70’s we all had a craze for “clackers”, 2 hard balls of plastic on a string that you clicked together to make an annoying but very satisfying noise.. it must have driven the teachers completely mad . Anyway, apparently one set exploded somewhere so there was a total ban on them and anyone who was caught with them immediately had them confiscated. I remember this ban was even reported on the news. I think it was probably just a campaign by someone who simply couldnt bear another second of the incessant clacking, but we were completely gutted almost to the point of arranging a march on Whitehall. Another item very popular in the 6th form was the mini boiler. This was basically a large single element that you switched on, put in your mug and it heated your coffee, tea, or in our case, cuppa soup. I dont know why we bothered with different flavours of cuppa soup as they all tasted exactly the same, of cardboard and over powering stock cubes. Again, mini boilers were eventually banned because they were prone to giving off electric shocks, but by then we had mostly realised that there were things called kettles.
At boarding school, a great deal of our time was spent in returning items ( ie chocolate and sweets) back to the manufacturers claiming that they were mouldy/inedible/stale. For a couple of years this went extremely well and we became experts at ageing bars of chocolate and Mars bars by putting them in the airing cupboard/on the radiator/ hanging them out of the window etc. We would then send off the defective items to the makers along with an indignant letter of complaint. Lo and behold, it was not unusual to receive a package containing numerous bars of chocolate, sweets, sherbert fountains and apologies. After a while the manufacturers got wise and actually wrote to our school and so sadly this rather lucrative and satisfying pastime came to an end.
And who remembers that witches hat ride in the playground? The most dangerous piece of equipment in the local park and by that very fact, the most fun. Obviously it too was banned. Years later, as adults, we found one in a tiny playground in Cornwall. Precisely ten minutes after we had been swinging on it and saying how it wasnt in the least bit dangerous, my friend fell off it and broke his arm.
On the drive back to London last night we were remembering the days when we were kids , before official speed limits and when cars didnt have seat belts. In Japan we were driven to school by a long suffering Embassy driver who must surely have lost at cards or something, because without doubt it must have been absolutely the worst job of the week. There would be at least four of us in the back, two in the front on the shiny slippery bench seat alongside the driver. I do remember once going round a corner rather fast and the door swinging open ( I think we were performing some tug of war sequence st the time) , narrowly missing spilling anyone out into the Tokyo rush hour traffic. It does seem extraordinary that none of our parents ever realised what a miracle it was that we all survived to the end of each school day.
It’s easy to look back on the 60’s / 70’s while wearing rose tinted glasses and coming over all nostalgic. Yes, there were times when we were bored with nothing to do other than invent things to do but we had a freedom that has been lost today. We improvised, we built dens, rode our bikes, played 40/40 and knock down ginger, made rope swings, fell in love, fell out of love,climbed trees, fell out of trees, fought, played French skipping, football and hopscotch, put on plays and endless musicals (that was mostly me I have to admit). And in the holidays we pretty much went out to play when it was light and came home when it was dark with very little parental intervention in between.
And it was absolutely the best fun and I wouldnt have changed it for anything.
Theresa's writing 
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