Saturday, March 10, 2007

Toys

When I was very small and we had just moved, our new (but old) house had a couple of huge rainwater tanks on a tankstand out the back. The tanks were not needed, and eventually my father took them down. I don't know why he took them down. Maybe they leaked, or maybe he wanted to use them for something. It's possible he thought they were an eyesore, but that sort of thing didn't usually bother him, so I doubt it.

But I was reminded of the rainwater tanks when I saw this comic. Those tanks were huge, and for a while we kids used them to play in. We'd run inside them, rolling across the lawn and banging loudly into trees and fences, or stand on top of them and roll them along feeling like acrobats. Those of us who were big enough could stand inside like a starfish and be rolled along by another kid, and then when the tank stopped rolling we'd stagger out, fall over, and with a bit of luck, not throw up.

I don't remember our parents ever buying us toys from a toyshop, but we still managed to have the best toys of anyone I knew. We had climbable trees, a trampoline, the longest swing I've ever seen (the older kids made it, and it hung from an eight metre rope. You needed someone to pull you by another rope tied to the main one, and you FLEW), and the rainwater tanks. I'm fairly sure that if I'd been asked at the time what toys I wished for I would have answered just like the guy in the comic.

It's possible this cat feels the same way.

6 comments:

Pookie65 said...

I need to make more time to read the blogs. Yours always inspires me and lightens my day.

I hope you're doing well!

Bill C said...

Playtime fueled by imagination instead of responses to a barrage of advertisement? What a concept.

I'm pretty sure I *always* threw up. Still worth every moment.

kenju said...

My cats are too fat, so I think I need a wheel for them!

Anonymous said...

Badaunt likes to play: here is one for Badaunt and readers:
http://www.stupidtester.com/index.php?im
I, of course, NEVER do these things....but "toys" post got to me...

Badaunt said...

RaJ: We didn't just cause little accidents to ourselves. We once caused an old lady (she must have been all of 35) to wet her pants when gave her a ride on our swing.

We respected her for trying, though. Most of the oldies were horrified at the very idea of giving it a try. That was a KILLER SWING.

In fact it could have been a real killer swing, and it's probably just luck that it wasn't. My older cousin was always trying to make us little kids sick or frightened (or possibly dead) and that meant we could always count on him to pull us on the swing. We took advantage of this relentlessly, although we were sneaky enough to know we had to pretend to be reluctant. He swung us higher than ANYBODY, so that we'd do a little jerk at the top end of the swing as the rope went slack, and had to hold on for dear life because our bottoms left the little wooden board. It was fabulous. "ARE YOU SCARED YET?" he'd shout, and we'd scream back, "YEEEEES! DON'T DO IT AGAIN! NOT SO HIGH!" and of course he WOULD do it again, and higher. Whee!

But no, we didn't respond to a barrage of advertisements because we never saw any. We didn't have a TV. I can't say we missed it. (I wasn't even sure what it was.)

Religion is good for SOME things.

Lippy said...

How cool! My childhood was similar - disappearing for HOURS into the bush to play in burnt out tree stumps, play daredevil games over the sewer pipes and fish underneath them... fortunately no one ever fell else we'd probably be dead. We'd leap from fences playing "TV Suicide" - an all-time favourite game which I can't remember how to play anymore. We had bikes and that was it. Anything else we made up ourselves. Watching TV was for losers with no life. Obviously that sentiment has changed... *cough*

Good times, good times...