Random childhood stuff you have no explanation for.

[Wheelchairbarbie]

This can be either something that a lot of us will remember like "where did white dog poo go", or something specific that happened that you can't explain.

Maybe we can also all explain each others wired stuff!

I'll start. How come most people I know remember that now and then a random dog would get into the school playground and just run around and everyone would get excited and run to the windows? Where did these random dogs come from, were there just more strays back then?

My kids haven't experienced this at all.

I’m sure that as kids we used to split rosehips open & then rub the exposed fleshy seedy part on other kids’ backs. Really itchy!

We were given doses of Virol too. I’ll have to google it as I’ve no idea what was in it (lots of sugar probably as we liked it) or what the point was

The helium balloon sellers at the beach or touristy places. One person walking around with what seemed like 100 balloons over their head and you could choose which one you wanted and they'd magically find the right string.

Ive not seen one since the 90s??!!

We had a dog that hung around with our gang, he went everywhere with us and would get the bus into town and we would send him home on the bus by himself and he would get out at the right stop. The bus driver must have opened the doors for him.

I’m also going to say this one, but I brought it up in a group a few years ago and nobody remembers, they were looking at me like I made it up.

There were men in the cities in Ireland that used to have little tiny monkeys, dressed in clothes and you had to pay to get your photograph taken with them.
My dad would not let us near them and I always wanted to see the little monkeys. Nobody else seems to remember these. Does anyone have such a photo and did it even exist in the UK?

I think it was malt

Getting the bumps on your birthday. One person at each hand and foot and you were swung up in the air and down to the ground times the number of your age while the other kids chanted the numbers. I'm amazed we weren't all injured!

We used to do that on long journeys.

Also making words/names/Phrases out of numberplates. So ETL might be Ethel or BSM would be Bring Some Money. My kids liked that, still occasionally do when we're out together if they see a numberplate that asks for it!

We also used to play "red box" where you counted post boxes or phone boxes on journeys.

There was an Old English Sheepdog in the village that would wander round all day. You'd come across it flopped on a pavement dosing sometimes, and it would raise a head and go back to sleep. I sometimes think of that dog when people say don't take the dogs out to walk when it's hot because that one sure wasn't bothered.

Playing Pooh Sticks over streams. I explained that one to a group of kids this summer. They weren't totally convinced, but once they'd tried it, they were hooked.

When the grass was cut on the school field, we'd all band together to collect up as much as possible then take it in turns jumping on it, or build a "nest" to play in. Must have been bad for anyone with hayfever, but I don't remember it being a problem.

They had them in Great Yarmouth too. We were walking along, I'd have been 2 or 3 at the time, and one of them put one on my sister's shoulder who was a little older and asked if she wanted a photo. I was so jealous, but Mum was not pleased.

Yes I have a photo of me aged around 3 years old with a monkey. I’m now 50.
This was in central London.

We had water fountains at school in the 70s and 80s.

They used to have them at some seaside towns in England, too. I have a photo of me aged around 4, holding one such monkey. It was taken on Brighton seafront.

I also have a picture of my late DP with a monkey, taken when he was about 6, on the seafront at Hastings.

Yes we used to do this and lift them higher and higher in the air. "Light as a feather, stiff as a board"
We felt like actual witches

no you’re both wrong, you say ‘Punch Car No Return’ when you see a VW Beetle and punch the other person. They’re not allowed to punch you back.

Does anyone remember going to school or seeing children in school with cotton wool in one ear with something medical on it. I presume for an ear infection.
You dont see that now.
Or dettol baths when you had scraped your knees badly after falling off your bike

We’d go out in the morning and come back when it started getting dark. I barely remember eating or drinking and have no idea where we went to the toilet. I can’t believe my parents didn’t worry about where we were. In fact, my mother used to forcibly chuck us out to play. We weren’t allowed to be in if it was dry.

My parents also thought it ok to go out and leave us at home, alone. I’d have been about 10, no older and they’d be out drinking all hours. I’d be home with my brother who would have been about 6. I’d be so scared and would be sat in the bedroom window willing them to come home safely. It would be often gone midnight, sometimes towards 1-2am. Terrible when I think back. I was born in 73 so it seems this kind of low level neglect was quite ok.

We did still have these at local carnivals. But now those don't exist since COVID in my area...wonder if these sellers go to the bigger carnivals like Bridgewater (along with those snakes on a stick).

We used to place 2 fingers of each hand underneath the girl.lying out flat and 1.girl would recite each line ans the rest would repeat all together before lifting up the prone girl. Circa 1975/6
"she looks ill
She is ill
She looks dead
She is dead
The ghosts are coming
To take her away"

I'D forgotten all about that!

Legoland used to do those when we first went. One day someone let go of it and we had the wonderful view of about 100 balloons going up at once.

Dipped in olive oil for ear ache. Olive oil that was bought in Boots Chemist pharmacy counter for medicinal purposes. DGM was horrified when it started becoming a thing to cook with! 😂

I found a picture of me with my brother holding a tiny monkey taken in London early 1960's. So it is true.

We always collected number plates on long car drives.

Forgot about the noting the number plates we also tried to see the Speedo for the top speed.
70s child.

This really made me laugh. My husband’s childhood dog would do this and it’s the first time I’d ever heard of it but sounds like it was normal. I know there would’ve been fewer cars back then but my first thought was wouldn’t lots of dogs have got run over.

Another wonderful childhood thing (I’ve mentioned it on other threads) was being sat in a chair, lifted up, and told I was flying, and to imagine the tiny fields, rivers and seas far below. I didn’t know that I was only a few inches off the ground as I was blindfolded, and it really felt like flying. Once, my parents magicked me from one end of the garden to the other; they certainly didn’t carry me all that way! It was a mystery for some time how they did it, but I found out eventually.