Dizzy Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Can children not play anything anymore in schools I played them all and never came to any harm and yes I even played cowboys and indians and used my fingers as guns too, I have not grown up and gone on to shot anyone though http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8546328/School-reprimands-seven-year-old-boys-for-playing-army-game.html Bonkers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Very difficult if not impossible using your fingers as guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 At seven I was going through about six spuds a day for ammunition with my trusty spud gun. Nowt like a chunk of king Edwards in the left ear to get a good spud gun fight going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 Spud guns... I'd forgotten all about those. Was yours a red one like ours. Hours of harmless fun (well almost harmless unless you got one in the eye.. nothing serious but stung a bit ) I wonder if you can still buy them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingnut Posted May 31, 2011 Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 A bicycle pump with a screwed up piece of paper jammed in the end was good, as they also made a loud bang. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted May 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2011 ha ha never tried that We used to use biro's with the ends unscrewed and innards removed. Bic ones were best We'd bite bit's of paper off whatever was available such as school books or even a tissue in our pocket (unused of course)....chew it to moisten a bit then deposit the little chewed ball in the biggest opening of our Bics and blow as hard as we could through the 'nib' end. (I know they are not called nibs as they are biro's but you know what I mean.) The combination spit ridden soggy paper and a good blow was great especially when aimed at a ceiling. They stuck almost stealth like, dried and remained there for years Not very lady like I know but I blame it on the influence of the lads .... honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingnut Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 At one time, you used to get little catapults in a Lucky Bag at frippence a time. Standing on the wash house roof, we used to fire them at neighbours windows with little stones off the road. The best catapult I had was a large metal Y shaped frame, it was about 3 foot tall. I would bury the straight piece in the ground, sit down on the floor with me feet against the Y shape to get the leaverage, and fire half house bricks from a bicycle inertube at the oncoming enemy. This was used in The Battle For Clinker Bonk at Dallam, which I wrote about some time ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Had one of those red ones but also had one off those that used caps to fire the bit off spud. Was like a small pistol which had a cartridge you slid out and put you bit of spud in one end and a cap in the other. If you wanted a bit more power you could put two caps in. trouble was they were prone to misfire as the caps got damp from the soggy bit of spud. The posh kids had a similar thing that you could put three shots in. Never had a metal catapult. Had to make do with a wooden one made from whatever bit off forked stick we could break off a tree and any spare knicker elastic me gran had lying around. Were good until the elastic either snapped or perished. One variant was to link two or three elastic bands together and use the left thumb and forefinger to form the basis of a catapult. A small piece of paper rolled tight and folded to form a vee shape made a handy projectile. Glossy paper being much sought after for this as you could roll it tighter and they tended to fly straighter. (One use for those red bands the posties keep dropping all over the place) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Bricks Wingy... good grief and saying no more as you sound dangerous Evils... I'd forgotten about cap guns too and seem to remember my brother having one of the cap/spud ones. He used to buy little red things about the size of a 10p which had about 8 little caps on which turned as he fired. Wonder if you can still buy those too. I never had a catapult but he had a whopper and wouldn't let me use it but I was a far better shot when it came to elastic band firing and aiming. I still do that on occasion Loop it round the tip of my forefinger for aiming, across the joint of my thumb and down so the tip of the thumb is the 'trigger'. Flick the thumb up and shoot people at close fairly range, great fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Well Geoff can supply the elastic bands! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 What sort of games did you play when you were little Obs (if you can remember that far back of course). I can sort of imagine you flinging bricks like Wingy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evil Sid Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 We did not have those plastic caps. ours came in a little round box, inside off which was a roll off paper with little dots of "gunpowder" in. You had to tear one off and put it in the end of the cartridge thingy. Could be tricky as they tended to be a bit unstable and if you caught one with a finger nail as you were tearing it off you ended up setting it of, and blackening your finger nail for a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I remember those.. they were a bit fiddly so we used to scrape metal things down the paper strip to spark them all No need for xboxes, playstations and the likes in those days eh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter T Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 No Risk Assessment in those days.lol H and E would be suicidal watching the antics of children growing up "properly". I just wonder what sort of adults these cotton wool kids are going to turn out to be. I bet contact sport will be a no-no in 20 years time. And no doubt in 50 years time private transport won't exist as it will be too dangerous and traumatising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 I recon the kids will go the complete opposite when they are adults (or teens) as they will realise what they missed out on because of some namby pamby rules. They may start playing harder like their grandparents(or in your case as you are old.. great grandparent) did and letting their own kids do the same. H&S may well have a lot to answer to in years to come. Or like you say maybe I'm wrong and they will all grow up into a lot of wet lettuces because of it. Ah ha ... food miles.. lettuces It's good looking back on childhood days and so many things are coming back to me... lots of fun stuff and no real worries about anything but I do wonder how I managed to survive some of the things we did without major injury Anyone remember the 'figure of 8 knockout' sessions at the roller rink in Warrington. If you were one of the ones I sent flying over the barriers at high speed I'm sorry, but that was the aim and it was allowed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingnut Posted June 1, 2011 Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Dizzy says: I recon the kids will go the complete opposite when they are adults (or teens) as they will realise what they missed out on because of some namby pamby rules. You are so right Dizzy. I am looking at a direct result of namby pamby rules, and kids not being allowed to grow up properly this very moment as we speak. There is a crowd of out of control pensioners on the bowling green. They are shouting and laughing at the tops of their voices, with no concern for the neighbouring houses, some are simply stood there watching the game, with a can of stella in one hand, and the other hand down the front of their trolleys. And everyone single one of them is wearing a baseball cap the wrong way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 You should report them Wingy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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