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Original poster

Did you "go for a drive" when you were a kid?

197 replies

Allthereindeersaregirls · 17/05/2021 14:09

I was reminded of this the other day, when a friend said she was taking the kids "for a drive" to get out of the house. I'd not heard of anyone doing it since I was a kid (80s) and I don't remember anyone else doing it then.

Mum and dad would bundle us in to the car and we'd go for a drive - just that. No purpose (that I can discern), not a drive to get somewhere, not even an ice cream. We'd just drive around for a bit then go home.

Were my parents nuts?

OP posts:
NeonStones · 18/05/2021 23:16

My mum used to suggest this, usually to go and see some pretty views from the car. Unfortunately we all used to fall asleep the minute we got in the car and then she’d be left with my dad only and nobody to admire whatever boring village we were meant to oooh at.

Maladicta · 18/05/2021 23:20

Yes and my ds does it now because he likes it , knows I like it, and wants to get some driving practice in

Pudmyboy · 18/05/2021 23:27

We didn't have a car, but used to go on 'mystery tour' coach trips, on a Sunday afternoon. Often remained a mystery because the drivers wouldn't say where we were when we got there. Wankers. This was the '70s when car ownership was less. Slightly off topic but wanted to join in!

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KatherineJaneway · 18/05/2021 23:27

We never did this. We'd go for a 'spin' but it was always to a destination.

TheTeenageYears · 19/05/2021 01:02

Yes and I absolutely loathed it. Didn't get actually sick in the car but always felt sick. Parents never understood that the A/C they had in the front didn't reach the back. I remember once locking myself in the bathroom and refusing to go. Conversely I'm not sure we ever just went for a walk, we walked places but for a reason so not quite sure why we just went for a drive.

FuckYouCorona · 19/05/2021 01:10

No, we didn't have a car.

imbeingtakenoverbythefear · 19/05/2021 01:41

I used to go for spins with my parents in the car on a Sunday afternoon and I absolutely loved it!! We would usually end up at the beaches near where I grew up and have an ice cream.

I take my kids for spins now too although usually just to McDonald's and back as all they do is want to play their iPads anyway Sad

goshthatsawful · 19/05/2021 02:32

I still take mine for a drive Blush. I think it’s a hangover from trying to get them to sleep as babies

Stroller15 · 19/05/2021 02:37

My DF used to take me for a drive usually on Sunday afternoons. We'd just drive round looking at houses - I loved it. Now, we stil take our DCs for a drive, we go looking at houses that's for sale all over the place.

Daisychainsandglitter · 19/05/2021 02:45

Yes as a kid in the early 90s. God they were boring. Usually on a Sunday afternoon when nothing was open.
They were always through little windy country lanes. As a child I used to get badly car sick and although I'd stopped physically being sick by the 90s. I used to sit there bored and feeling queasy.
Has left me with a real dislike of driving through the country.

TigerTulip · 19/05/2021 05:04

Yes. In the 70s my dad would drive us along the south circular, through the Dartford Tunnel, back into the city snd through the Rotherhithe Tunnel then home for a 'trip out'.
It was great, we'd sit in the boot of his estate car, no seatbelt rules then.

xsjrx · 19/05/2021 05:10

Yep 80'kid here. @wingsofsteel we had the sandwiches and juice bottle too infact my dad still does this with the juice when he and my mum go ' out for a drive' themselves.🤣

NewYearNewTwatName · 19/05/2021 05:52

Sort of, my dad was an engineer and had to travel to sites(spread out across different counties) so sometimes would take one of us with him.

or not very often we'd all just get in the car and go somewhere, which actually always turned out to be a country pub, where my parents would go in, and we'd stay in the car with a packet of Seabrook crisps and a bottle of coke from the pub.

When DH and me first got together we played follow that car occasionally, and see where we got to. one of us would say follow a certain colour car, and if they turned off somewhere local or we didn't fancy we'd follow the next X coloured car.
we once ended up just outside Newcastle,
it was pretty late so found a pub with rooms available and stayed over, then went to Hadrian's Wall the next day.

whosappleman · 19/05/2021 05:58

Ahh this has reminded me of my granddads mystery car rides... we'd be following wherever the car was taking us and it would always be somewhere immensely fun (like B&Q or a hill to roll down - simple pleasures).
I was a lot older when it clicked that he'd always known where he was going and where we'd end up.

sashh · 19/05/2021 05:59

We called it, "going for a run"

My dad has been doing it since lockdown, he'll usually head tot he coast or the lake district, he sometimes does his grocery shopping in Booths or if they are open get fish and chips.

A kids we would be bored with this so we started waving at random people and seeing who would wave back.

Blacktothepink · 19/05/2021 05:59

Yes, the ‘ Sunday drive’ loved it. Still enjoy going for a drive now.

FunnyWonder · 19/05/2021 06:01

We didn't have a car, so no! But my aunt and uncle used to come and borrow me and my siblings and take us for a drive. Always on a Sunday, but only once in a while. It was very exciting for us.

garlictwist · 19/05/2021 06:27

Never did this as a child and I would never do this now. I find driving incredibly tedious and only do it if I have to go somewhere. There's no way I'd do it for fun.

AbsolutelyPatsy · 19/05/2021 06:30

no, we had a dog, and had to go for a walk

WorriedMillie · 19/05/2021 06:34

We used to have a “leisure drive” route nearby when I was growing up.
I don’t remember is going out for a drive for the sake of driving, but we’d pop out to the ice cream farm, for eg
Nowadays, as a PP said, we drive out at night, pre-Christmas, to look at the lights

NewYearNewTwatName · 19/05/2021 06:35

AbsolutelyPatsy we also had dogs what's your point?

Dogs usually came with us.

NewYearNewTwatName · 19/05/2021 06:41

sorry AbsolutelyPatsy think I read your post wrong.

my heads not in the right place as contemplating handing my notice in today.

GiveMeCoffeeandTV · 19/05/2021 06:42

@MrsRussell

Was a massive treat for us when we were little - knock on the door from one of the neighbour's, "dad's bringing the van home from work tonight!" and all the local kids would pile into the back of a Ford transit, no seats, no seatbelts, probably no valid insurance Grin and off we would go, sliding about wildly in the dark having the time of our lives.
This really made me smile, would have loved that back in the 70s/80s. Can you imagine if that happened now!!
AbsolutelyPatsy · 19/05/2021 06:55

hope you can think clear soon @NewYearNewTwatName

AbsolutelyPatsy · 19/05/2021 06:57

i met an old college friend and she wanted to drive me to place of beauty and look from inside the car, with her dog in the boot!
i was so frustrated and wanted to get out of the car so much!

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