GAMES

Cops and Robbers and Cowboys and Indians were two of the favourites games for boys and most days there would be gunfights with the participants shooting (always accurately, of course) from behind makeshift barricades or peering around corners. Occasionally, girls would be tolerated in these games but usually only as hostages or as victims to be rescued from Red Indians intent on burning them at the stake. Sometimes there would be a tomboy in the group who insisted on being Calamity Jane and usually played the role very effectively.  Water pistols (for Cops and Robbers) and cap pistols (for Cowboys and Indians) made things more realistic – at least in our minds.

“Pirates” was also a popular game and many a younger brother was forced to walk the plank into shark infested waters.  This particular game gave plenty of scope for sword-fighting with swords made from odd pieces of wood, finding buried treasure and performing other examples of derring-do on imaginary tropical seas and islands.

As Tarzan films were still very popular, jungle hideaways abounded. There weren’t any trees or bushes in our back yard so my friends and I couldn't make a treehouse and we were forced to make do with an old upturned table with old sheets and towels draped over the legs and down the sides.  The lack of any kind of tree meant that I could not practise swinging from branch to branch on ropes – a major drawback when you were supposed to be Tarzan. Our cat was enlisted to act as a lion or tiger but it never seemed to be too enthusiastic about its role and usually soon wandered off in disgust.  Nor did we have anyone to take the part of Maureen O’Sullivan as Jane but we still managed to beat our scrawny chests and utter blood curdling jungle cries.

Summer Holidays
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