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Childhood meme
Apr. 16th, 2012 10:22 amEmbolden the ones you did before you were 11 ¾ (as far as you can remember!)
Italicise the ones you have done since then.
In passing, I detect a definite southern-centricity to these questions.
1. Climb a tree - Um. Sort of. I never got very far....
2. Roll down a really big hill Well. Assuming that we mean by this "hills I thought were really big when I was seven...
3. Camp out in the wild I'd been camping with the Guides - just - by that stage, but only to the county campsite, though as they'd been running cattle on it the week before county camp, I still managed to come home with huge infected horsefly bites, which I remember as one of the most disgusting moments of my childhood. Nevertheless, I was not put off camping, though I was a student before any wild camping actually happened (I never did the Duke of Edinburgh award, because it was sold to us on the basis of "This will look good on your CV!")
4. Build a den. No, unless we're counting blanket forts, or the shelter I made for the Brownie "Survival in the Wild" badge...
5. Skim a stone. Not that I can do so reliably
6. Run around in the rain Look, I went to school in Scotland, what do you think? I can't say I remember it with joyous fondness, though.
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish with a net. No. Any amount of water beetles/ pondskaters etc, and tadpoles in a jar. (I always put them back, though).
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree. No. The furthest south I regularly played outside as a child was Westmoreland, and while there were apples, they were crabs, and I wasn't completely daft.
10. Play conkers
11. Throw some snow
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Go sledging Best thing ever
16. Bury someone in the sand - my parents refused to co-operate in that sort of thing....
17. Set up a snail race - No. I had lots of books and therefore was not terminally bored.
18. Balance on a fallen tree - Yes. Badly.
19. Swing on a rope swing Oh yes. It was my favourite place to sit and read.
20. Make a mud slide. No, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have seen the appeal.
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild. Yes, lots, although usually this was in the context of brambling expeditions for jam, and the amount I could eat before someone said "in the tub, not your mouth!" was strictly limited.
22. Take a look inside a tree
23. Visit an island
24. Feel like you're flying in the wind
25. Make a grass trumpet - well, tried it, and failed every time, however often Granddad demonstrated it. God did not intend me for an oboeist.
26. Hunt for fossils and bones. I wasn't keen on collecting bones, but I had a collection of fossils displayed in cardboard boxes with lovingly written labels, some of which were even accurate.
27. Watch the sun wake up - As I said above, I grew up in Scotland. In January, the sun rises at about quarter to nine. Of course I saw the sun rise. I sometimes went to school before the sun had risen and, once I was at secondary school, came back as it was setting. Again, not a joyous aspect of childhood. There are few things more gloomy than spending all the hours of daylight in school.
28. Climb a huge hill
29. Get behind a waterfall
30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a butterfly in a net - I was always afraid I'd damage them. I'd keep very still and hope they'd land on me, instead (sometimes this even worked).
34. Track wild animals Well, if we mean, look for tracks of deer and rabbits, yes. I also recall several attempts to sneak up close enough to a squirrel to get a really good photograph. This never worked.
35. Discover what's in a pond
36. Call an owl If you mean 'call like an owl', then I must admit that, like Peggy Blackett, they always came out like ducks.
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool Crazy?
38. Bring up a butterfly
39. Catch a crab - neither in the literal or rowing related sense, though I have done the latter since.
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it Although it was only cress. I helped plant and harvest peas and beans and potatoes in the garden, but that was really my parents' initiative, so probably shouldn't count.
42. Go wild swimming
43. Go rafting
44. Light a fire without matches
45. Find your way with a map and compass Although only under parental supervision, and to be honest, always in circumstances where, if you could read the map, you didn't actually need the compass.
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache - did they even exist when I was 11? I'd never heard of it if they did.
50. Canoe down a river
Italicise the ones you have done since then.
In passing, I detect a definite southern-centricity to these questions.
1. Climb a tree - Um. Sort of. I never got very far....
2. Roll down a really big hill Well. Assuming that we mean by this "hills I thought were really big when I was seven...
3. Camp out in the wild I'd been camping with the Guides - just - by that stage, but only to the county campsite, though as they'd been running cattle on it the week before county camp, I still managed to come home with huge infected horsefly bites, which I remember as one of the most disgusting moments of my childhood. Nevertheless, I was not put off camping, though I was a student before any wild camping actually happened (I never did the Duke of Edinburgh award, because it was sold to us on the basis of "This will look good on your CV!")
4. Build a den. No, unless we're counting blanket forts, or the shelter I made for the Brownie "Survival in the Wild" badge...
5. Skim a stone. Not that I can do so reliably
6. Run around in the rain Look, I went to school in Scotland, what do you think? I can't say I remember it with joyous fondness, though.
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish with a net. No. Any amount of water beetles/ pondskaters etc, and tadpoles in a jar. (I always put them back, though).
9. Eat an apple straight from a tree. No. The furthest south I regularly played outside as a child was Westmoreland, and while there were apples, they were crabs, and I wasn't completely daft.
10. Play conkers
11. Throw some snow
12. Hunt for treasure on the beach
13. Make a mud pie
14. Dam a stream
15. Go sledging Best thing ever
16. Bury someone in the sand - my parents refused to co-operate in that sort of thing....
17. Set up a snail race - No. I had lots of books and therefore was not terminally bored.
18. Balance on a fallen tree - Yes. Badly.
19. Swing on a rope swing Oh yes. It was my favourite place to sit and read.
20. Make a mud slide. No, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have seen the appeal.
21. Eat blackberries growing in the wild. Yes, lots, although usually this was in the context of brambling expeditions for jam, and the amount I could eat before someone said "in the tub, not your mouth!" was strictly limited.
22. Take a look inside a tree
23. Visit an island
24. Feel like you're flying in the wind
25. Make a grass trumpet - well, tried it, and failed every time, however often Granddad demonstrated it. God did not intend me for an oboeist.
26. Hunt for fossils and bones. I wasn't keen on collecting bones, but I had a collection of fossils displayed in cardboard boxes with lovingly written labels, some of which were even accurate.
27. Watch the sun wake up - As I said above, I grew up in Scotland. In January, the sun rises at about quarter to nine. Of course I saw the sun rise. I sometimes went to school before the sun had risen and, once I was at secondary school, came back as it was setting. Again, not a joyous aspect of childhood. There are few things more gloomy than spending all the hours of daylight in school.
28. Climb a huge hill
29. Get behind a waterfall
30. Feed a bird from your hand
31. Hunt for bugs
32. Find some frogspawn
33. Catch a butterfly in a net - I was always afraid I'd damage them. I'd keep very still and hope they'd land on me, instead (sometimes this even worked).
34. Track wild animals Well, if we mean, look for tracks of deer and rabbits, yes. I also recall several attempts to sneak up close enough to a squirrel to get a really good photograph. This never worked.
35. Discover what's in a pond
36. Call an owl If you mean 'call like an owl', then I must admit that, like Peggy Blackett, they always came out like ducks.
37. Check out the crazy creatures in a rock pool Crazy?
38. Bring up a butterfly
39. Catch a crab - neither in the literal or rowing related sense, though I have done the latter since.
40. Go on a nature walk at night
41. Plant it, grow it, eat it Although it was only cress. I helped plant and harvest peas and beans and potatoes in the garden, but that was really my parents' initiative, so probably shouldn't count.
42. Go wild swimming
43. Go rafting
44. Light a fire without matches
45. Find your way with a map and compass Although only under parental supervision, and to be honest, always in circumstances where, if you could read the map, you didn't actually need the compass.
46. Try bouldering
47. Cook on a campfire
48. Try abseiling
49. Find a geocache - did they even exist when I was 11? I'd never heard of it if they did.
50. Canoe down a river