My Memory Lane

What are you main memories of school summer holidays as a child?

So a simple question - what are your memories of school summer holidays? Long caravan/beach holidays in the UK? Holidays abroad? Or just endlessly messing around with water bombs in a local park and when older trying to impress (failing) members of the opposite sex? Or did you do some work over the summer? Gardening for neighbours for six pence etc? AND do kids now have the same sort of experiences or are they slumped on a PS3 eating crisps, before going to the alps for a week?

Public Comments

1. im 15 but when i was younger i loved going to france messing on the beach all day with my brthers :)
2. I'm 42 and I remember the long hot summer of '76 like it was yesterday! We'd go to the stream at Fetcham and fish for minnows. I was as brown as a berry and spent the whole summer outside eating wild strawberries! I've now got children of my own and we go camping whenever possible. I loved my childhood and hope my kids will have fabulous memories the same as mine x
3. Lounging around in the garden with lots of Ribena and playing a lot of swingball (remember that?). We also used to go camping in France every year and I remember being woken up at 3 in the morning to start the long drive down to Dover. I remember throwing flying ants at my sister (I was mean, lol!) and peeling huge long strips of burnt skin off my arms. Kids these days have no clue. They are always going on about having nothing to do. I never really had anything to do but we had fun anyway. It's called using your imagination - something that is getting eaten away by games consoles IMO.
4. Playing tracking and rounders
5. ugh...I remember sitting at home almost everyday doing nothing while everyone else was out having fun with friends. I didn't have any and I was a complete loner until in my school years which sort of sucked. I was in dance though and I did that in the summer. I can't really recall any vacations at the moment.
6. I remember when summer holidays were all sunshine and no rain , bring on the tan ?
7. For some reason "The Match Game" comes to mind. Great Summers, spending most of it at Grandmas, catching the bus to go downtown and baseball games with brothers, cousins, aunts and Grandma, Bar-b-qs and fireworks on the 4th of July. Always hoping the Cardinals would make it to the World Series again.
8. I do recall them as always being hot..lol. I think it will always be 'playing out' and freedom that I recall. I lived opposite a park so I was just let roam..I would spend days on end just wandering through the bushes poking things with sticks and making dens. I look back in amazement at how agile and supple I must have been hanging by my knees from Monkey bars or standing on top of iron parallel bars ( on concrete no play surfaces then ! ) I had continually scabby knees. Washing up liquid bottle fights, rounders, hide and seek, kerb . I had a penchant for burying dead things and making very pretty graves ( I know ). I spent long hours on top of our shed - I was forever climbing to get a better view probably due to being a short arse. Making potions inside the shed and playing spaceships with a gnarly old Lilac tree in the garden. Another thing was 'obstacle' courses I would time myself to jump over plastic washing bowls, scrabble under blankets or even go up and down step ladders 20 times..lololol. Lolly ices that had now outlawed colourants in so your entire mouth would be purple/orange for 3 days. The best bit though is when, because you didn't have school, your Mum would let you off from having a bloody bath..those magic words " you can stay out a bit longer you'll go another night" bliss :)
9. mine was pretty much the same as Haz's, we lived near to the woods and spent our time making dens or using me mums best sheets to build a tent on the front lawn with the clothes horse. lots of sunshine and loads of freedom, makes me incredibly sad that my kids will not be able to experience it in the same way. when i was at school it was the big 6 week holiday, when did it turn into 7 weeks, 1 and a half days ? which is what my kids are getting this year, thats almost 2 months, far, far too long !!!! lolol
10. Playing outside with the kids next door - all sorts of make believe games based on Batman, spies, etc. Building tree houses, sleeping in a wigwam, cricket in the street, blackberrying in the back alleys. Going on our bikes to the woods or outdoor swimming pool. Running around under the water sprinkler, lollies from the ice- cream van. An upside down summer when handstands were the thing to do. Roller skating down hills. Paddling pools. Crazes like jacks, French skipping, Spacehoppers. We were always outside if it was dry, always brown as we never used sun cream in those days! We had a lot of freedom to roam compared to kids today as the world seemed a safer place though I doubt it really was. Above all it was all about exploring and imagining; there was little TV watched and indoor games were just for rainy days.