Some kids jumping out of windows onto mattresses for fun (England, 1980s)
Some kids jumping out of windows onto mattresses for fun (England, 1980s)
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No parents. No Internet. Very limited home entertainment. Full boredom.
Growing up Gen-X was like a perpetual episode of Jackass starring The Goonies.
libraries, arcades, malls, bowling alleys, pool halls, swimming pools, console game systems, video rental stores, bikes, parks, dungeons and dragons. There was a bit of things to occupy time.
libraries,
arcades, malls,bowling alleys, pool halls,public swimming pools,console game systems, video rental stores,bikes, parks,dungeons and dragons.Not every kid had money growing up and most home entertainment was expensive.
Holy shit, you had public swimming pools? Everything in my area... Accounting for inflation... Would be like 70 bucks a month
dungeons and dragons manuals were at my library and arcades had 10 tokens for a dollar. I was able to make enough collecting aluminum cans. libraries also had movies but yeah you neede a friend with a console or vcr which I had. bowling and pool were more high school things when I was able to make that sweet sweet minimum wage. Also when out of funds it was still fun to watch people play at arcades and sometimes you might find an errant token on the ground.
I moved from a 10c per can state to a 0c per can state. It drastically affected my income as a kid.
we did not have a per can thing but you could get money per pound. it was a lot of cans. likely made as much finding coins on the ground while looking for cans. newspaperstands and payphones were good for a quarter fairly often.
The city guy just showed up!
Hell, even if you lived in the burbs a lot of those things are still premium priced.
You guys ever just throw pinecones at each other?
Brother we used to have brick fights at the derelict hospital and my mum had zero clue where I was all day
Well, not exactly "pine"cones, but let's call it the Mayan version of pinecones.
I've stepped barefoot on a lychee before and I don't think I'd like having one thrown in my face
That's the fun thing! (For a kid that just wouldn't think about it.)
EDIT: also, these are guasima fruits, not lychees, just in case you are mixing them up.
Yeah I don't know much about fruits. They look like they'd hurt more than lychees because they're pointier
Pointier, yes, also denser. It was kind of wild, actually. Those fights always ended with someone crying, but we all did understand that anyone could be the one crying, so we didn't mock or brag too much. The fun always surpassed the sorrow by miles.
Y'all better watch out, I just picked up one of those pinecones that hasn't opened up yet
Suddenly, I'm transported and hear the sounds of Billy Ray Cyrus singing Achy Breaky Heart live on TNN emanating from the open trailer door. Also, I'm a fraud. I've never even been to England.
definitely. its in my blood. My wife and I grew up on sorta the two extremes of the metro area. me close and her far. we each prefer to go further. me to the city and her to the country so we live the middle. Just close enough for me to take public trans to work downtown.
Nah, I get it. I live in the city now. But growing up, as a kid, you just have to have fun in some way or the other. The suburbs and the rural areas dreamed about those things you listed, but the more open spaces can also offer fun activities with as little as a ball or a day of rain. But you had to live in the season, I guess.
where I lived would be called the suburbs but it was close to the metro area. Guess its far burbs vs close burbs things. Honestly feels like nowadays the burbs never end and it drives me crazy how far you have to be to see cornfields now.
Elder millennial, youngest sibling here:
A gen x older brother was a master class in being a crash test dummy
