I was watching the girls run around in a swimming pool this afternoon, and as I sat there I was taken back almost violently to some of my most cherished childhood memories, the ones that are burnt in my brain and are so important to me I can almost smell the ‘potions’ and taste the sea.I remember hanging upside down on bars, we used to say we have pig ears because our hair made funny shapes.
I remember picking small pink flowers, mint leaves, water from a pond or puddle and other berries and flowers from the garden and crushing them and stirring them into ‘potions’ – we’d never drink them, we’d ask for things like cake for breakfast, an extra hour at the beach or getting to camp in the back garden.
I remember getting to camp in the back garden, and laying on our backs staring at the sky, which seemed so perfect and so magical – then a bat flew over and we screamed and ran inside.
I remember being in huge trouble and eating peanut butter sandwiches while we were ground.
I remember finally eating cake for breakfast – Caramel Pavlova.
I remember a day so hot the air was heavy and there was no wind. I remember the thunder and rain that followed and we played in the coolness of the night.
I remember getting kicked out of the paddling pool so the grown-ups could fill it with ice and beer at a barbecue, I remember how cool the water was on my skin when we all got back in.
I remember walking to the beach at 9am and not going home till 6pm, my uncle would drive past in the car after work and shout ‘HOOF IT – DINNER’ and drive off. We’d gather our things in a frenzy and run like mad things up a big hill to get home.
I remember being there was like being home.
I remember going to the pier, pulling my coins out my pocket and watching them fall one by one through the wooden beams and drop into the sea underneath, crying so hard that I had lost everything and would be in big trouble. I got 50p of one of my cousins and they also bought my ride tickets – it was cheaper back then.
I remember going shopping in the Lanes for the first time with just me and my cousin, getting lost, getting found and for the first time trying to work out how to make my pocket money stretch.
I remember having my first bottle of hooch at a beach party, I’d finally been allowed to go with my oldest cousin, there was a campfire and the sea – it was exciting and dangerous (it wasn’t).
I remember a boy called Dave (also known as the horse).
I remember being in sea with Dave and hanging my arms round his neck and my leg wrapped around his waist and floating peacefully in the sea for ages, talking about nothing and everything.
I remember finding out Dave was called Horse because he had a giant penis – Or so I was told…
I remember my first real taste of Chinese chicken curry and catching a glimpse of Psycho (yes THAT shower bit) and only taking a bath for months.
I remember the smell of the bathing costumes from chlorine to sea water and grass to sand. I remember that they never got washed, we never gave the adults a chance to get them in the machine – we washed them in the sink and hung them on the shower curtain rail to dry.
I remember going to The Lido and burning so bad I was coated in yogurt upon my return home, slathered in cream the next morning and still went out the next day.
I remember sitting in the front garden with all my friends, which just happened to be my family and laughing about nothing at all.
What do you remember?
