All Our Yesterdays

[undisputed 1,664]

Something I read in here awhile back got me thinking about how we learned things as a kid. Also in relation to the amount of obese kids you see these days. Now this isnt one of those grumpy old men type rants lol(honestly) but those of us at that certain age can remember what it was like before the advent of mobile phones and PC's. The state of the art video games were two white lines and a wee white dot that went blip blip. There I go off topic already. Anyways it got me thinking about things like bush craft and how we learnt to hunt.

 

Most of our time as kids was spent out doors playing footy, building bogeys from old prams and sliding down bings on bread boards. Remember all the daft games you played as kids, chap doors run away, hunt, hide & seek etc etc. Our whole year was divided up so we knew when it was time to collect frogs newts & lizards from the old pond and brickwork. In the winter we made slides on the roads & pavements. I was always facinated by wildlife, projects in school were usually about birds (feathered variety) or animals. My mates uncle owned ferrets and if we were lucky we got to go out with him on a Sunday. Usually we were the bag men carting a big heavy ferret box over your shoulder or carrying what felt like giant rabbits for him (well we were only about 6 or 7yrs old).

 

It was bloody hard work at times and you learnt to be quiet and follow instructions to the letter with a boot up the arse if you did something that caused a rabbit to escape. We learnt to set nets the right way recognise signs that burrows were occupied or ones that hadn't been used in a while. Over time you become quite adept at setting snares under fences where rabbit runs went. All great learning experiences, I was about 9 or 10 before being trusted enough to go out on my own with dog and ferret. Most of these trips were pretty uneventful and never produced anything of great note. But I continued to learn from my mistakes and became pretty useful at the ferreting game with or without a dog.

 

Now of all the things I got up to out doors my favourite pastime was bird nesting. In between Coatbridge and Viewpark we had what we referred to as the Glen which was basically a 7 mile stretch of wood land that ran from our scheme all the way to Glasgow zoo. This was our playground as kids, there were ponds and old coal bings to explore all kinds of wildlife and birds and we knew exactly where and how to get to it. Egg collecting was one of the major pastimes for us as kids we could spend the whole morning and afternoon looking for eggs and often did. Manys the time I returned with the ass out my trousers skint knees and splinters on every part of my body covered from head to toe in muck. I remember finding a long tailed tits nest and sitting patiently till the bird returned and entered.. For those of you who have never seen one or its nest Its like a small round ball of moss on the outside with a small enterance to the front. Inside its a completely different, its litterally hundreds of small feathers from top to bottom and has a silky texture to it. Well I trapped this very small bird and gently removed it from its nest which it was still building. It has got to be one of the smallest most delicate creatures I've ever handled. The tail is almost bigger than its body a truly beautiful little thing. After I had held it for awhile I let it go it never did come back to the nest which was a shame. Theyre eggs have got to be among the smallest I've ever seen. Its funny although there are plenty of blue and great tits I have never seen a long tailed tit for years now.

 

Now leaving aside the morality of the thing for a moment remember these were the days you could walk up the road with 4 or 5 rabbits over your shoulder and no one would give you a second glance, more often than not you would be patted on the back and told well done...lol. Anyway what it did do was give me an education I couldn't get in school. I knew all the types of birds by sight what their eggs looked like and where they nested, I could even tell what the bird was by looking at the nest. Some of the scrapes we got into trying to retreive eggs from nests that were in trees that must have been 30 odd feet tall quite a feat for a 10yr old. We would shimmy up cliff faces for rock doves or rock pipits wade waste deep in the foulest water to get to ducks or Moorhen eggs and even fight of bloody great big swans for our prize. Between us we had one of the most sought after egg collections in our scheme. From Linnets, yellow hammers, swallows and house martins, to Herons and kestral hawks and owls we knew where to look and how to extract eggs from the trickiest of places. Anyone who has tried to extract a blue tits egg fro a tiny hole in a tree will know what I mean.

 

Everyday was an adventure for us and without thinking about it conciously we learnt all sorts of things from the wildlife and the environment around us. We even had a kind of moral code that you abided by and if you didn't stick to it you were out the gang. We had a rule that you never "herry" a nest which meant you never took all the eggs. You could only have two of a kind of any egg and you never took anyone you didn't know to nesting sites. This was how I learnt my field craft and still to this day when I'm out I still look for tell tale signs of birds nests and I dont suppose this will ever leave me. I remember us being the envy of all the scheme when a mate of ours nicked an ostrich egg from a glass case in our school, no-one else had seen one nevermind had one...lol. Anyway this kinda brings me back in a roundabout way to the point I was making about fat and obese kids. How many of these kids have ever climbed a tree or would recognise a blue tit from a sea gull? not many I'd wager. As kids we had a great degree of freedom to explore our surroundings and take risks which we did on a regular basis. Does it make us better people I dont know but I would like to think so. We had respect for our elders we didn't rob or abuse old folk, will kids ever get that kind of freedom again? I dont think so which is sad cause theres a whole world of experience out there and things to be explored it would be a shame if it was lost to whoever follows us next in this world.

 

ATB

Edited July 28, 2009 by undisputed

[dogrun 2]

That took me right back to growing up in my village The school bus driver used to drop me off about 5 mile from home on the way to school, a ferret and half a dozen nets in my pockets

 

Its a material world now !

 

Oh and hands up who have shot there mates with a bsa meteor lol

Edited July 27, 2009 by dogrun

[othickman 6]

Yep: today's society is very over-protective resulting in both less education of that manner but more importantly that freedom therefore it is more fun for much of the under 18 population to simply play on their PCs.

 

Tis screwed up to say the least.

[ASBO 8]

well undisputed youve got me lost for words,for a change that was a good read mate

[Leeview 791]

days when you did nt know what permission was

Y.I.S Leeview

[border lad 1,047]

well written, I was going through all those pathways, with you as well, that was basicaly, the same, as myself, and the stagnent pond, to get to the moorhens eggs, the swallows, and the starlings, as you know they all nest so handy you, you only pop your hand in, its the climbing thats the difficult part, I had a wee, terrier, and myself and a mate used to go off with my uncles ferret, and a dozen nets, and ferret on a railway bank, we were shure of a couple a rabbits, but some times we had a long wait when the ferret would get stuck up, and you could not go home without the ferret, you would have got Murdered, (((( No ferret detectors, in those days, and you learned how to pull the rabbit out if he was stuck up, with a good thorny briar, or a piece, of barbed wire, aye and we were only about 11 or 12 year olds, and see when you got home for your dinner you could have ate a SCABBY DUG,

and your mother would say were are you puttin it, they were all very happy days, thank you, for the memories,,

[SEAN3513 7]

nice read mate.....thank-you

 

but you know how to make a fella feel old.............lol

 

cheers

 

sean

[Guest hyperion]

i loved reading that but it makes me kind of sad too!

 

cheers

hyperion

[Guest Scuba1]

Funny to read this now, as I was walking through the village yesterday and thought there is something missing. No sign of kids on the road. I remember when one could hardly see the roads for chalk drawings done by kids and there was no tree that could not be climbed. I picked some blackberries on Saturday with Bubbleduck and we where the only ones doing that. Feck they sell the things in plastic containers at Tescos when all you have to do is go out and pick them. I don't think it will ever be like that again. Bloody shame.

 

ATB

 

Michael

[jamestwo 0]

undisputed come on how old are you really ,

[leegreen 2,153]

Those days aren't gone for all kids, my boy is nearly eight, he has a ferret, a small dog, knows his wild life (a bit), can set nets, eats almost anything, climbs trees (not for eggs), has his own knife, can use a catapult and knows how to light and tend a fire. So its not all lost there are still a few old school children.

Good read old chap .

[Grim Reaper 1]

There is many a true word in this thread so far . . . . . what a place it was in the old days!

 

 

Regards,

Grim.

[kristian 9]

I enjoyed that it was a good read! I used to do the old egg collecting my mother used to play balls with me as for the bsa meteor shooting your mate i had a crossbow and used to put pellets in it and fire it across the allotments and one day i hit a tin shed with a guy inside he went bonkers told my old man and then my old man came shouting at me took my crossbow and snapped it another thing growing up my youngest brother used to bring his mates round and we used to have aranged fights him and 1 or 2 of his mates against me (they used to win all the time lol) I told one of my little bro's mates i was a profesional darts thrower and had him to stand against a cupboard so i could throw darts round his head as close as i could but i wasn't really very good at darts and the 2nd dart i threw went straight in his head and he ran home up the street with a dart hanging out of him lol seems funny looking back but at the time i thought i was going to the naughty boys homes

[AL BUNDY 45]

noticed your from viewpark did you know the fella his wife used to drive him as he couldn,t drive last time i seen him was just before the ban in scotland. another one from your way his wife worked in the nursing home behind tunnocks .he had acouple lurchers and terriers.

[hopelander 0]

Something I read in here awhile back got me thinking about how we learned things as a kid. Also in relation to the amount of obese kids you see these days. Now this isnt one of those grumpy old men type rants lol(honestly) but those of us at that certain age can remember what it was like before the advent of mobile phones and PC's. The state of the art video games were two white lines and a wee white dot that went blip blip. There I go off topic already. Anyways it got me thinking about things like bush craft and how we learnt to hunt.

 

Most of our time as kids was spent out doors playing footy, building bogeys from old prams and sliding down bings on bread boards. Remember all the daft games you played as kids, chap doors run away, hunt, hide & seek etc etc. Our whole year was devided up so we knew when it was time to collect frogs newts & lizards from the old pond and brickwork. In the winter we made slides on the roads & pavements. I was always facinated by wildlife, projects in school were usually about birds (feathered variety) or animals. My mates uncle owned ferrets and if we were lucky we got to go out with him on a Sunday. Usually we were the bag men carting a big heavy ferret box over your shoulder or carrying what felt like giant rabbits for him (well we were only about 6 or 7yrs old).

 

It was bloody hard work at times and you learnt to be quiet and follow instructions to the letter with a boot up the arse if you did something that caused a rabbit to escape. We learnt to set nets the right way recognise signs that burrows were occupied or ones that hadn't been used in a while. Over time you become quite adept at stting snares under fences were rabbit runs went. All great learning experiences, I was about 9 or 10 before being trusted enough to go out on my own with dog and ferret. Most of these trips were pretty uneventful and never produced anything of great note. But I continued to learn from my mistakes and became pretty useful at the ferreting game with or without a dog.

 

Now of all the things I got up to out doors my favourite pastime was bird nesting. In between Coatbridge and Viewpark we had what we referred to as the Glen which was basically a 7 mile stretch of wood land that ran from our scheme all the way to Glasgow zoo. This was our playground as kids, there were ponds and old coal bings to explore all kinds of wildlife and birds and we knew exactly where and how to get to it. Egg collecting was one of the major pastimes for us as kids we could spend the whole morning and afternoon looking for eggs and often did.

 

Now leaving aside the morality of the thing for a moment remember these were the days you could walk up the road with 4 or 5 rabbits over your shoulder and no one would give you a second glance, more often than not you would be patted on the back and told well done...lol. Anyway what it did do was give me an education I couldn't get in school. I knew all the types of birds by sight what their eggs looked like and where they nested, I could even tell what the bird was by looking at the nest. Some of the scrapes we got into trying to retreive eggs from nests that were in trees that must have been 30 odd feet tall quite a feat for a 10yr old. We would shimmy up cliff faces for rock doves or rock pipits wade waste deep in the foulest water to get to ducks or Moorhen eggs and even fight of bloody great big swans for our prize. Between us we had one of the most sought after egg collections in our scheme. From Linnets, yellow hammers, swallows and house martins, to Herons and kestral hawks and owls we knew where to look and how to extract eggs from the trickiest of places. Anyone who has tried to extract a blue tits egg fro a tiny hole in a tree will know what I mean.

 

Everyday was an adventure for us and without thinking about it conciously we learnt all sorts of things from the wildlife and the environment around us. We even had a kind of moral code that you abided by and if you didn't stick to it you were out the gang. We had a rule that you never "herry" a nest which meant you never took all the eggs. You could only have two of a kind of any egg and you never took anyone you didn't know to nesting sites. This was how I learnt my field craft and still to this day when I'm out I still look for tell tale signs of birds nests and I dont suppose this will ever leave me. I remember us being the envy of all the scheme when a mate of ours nicked an ostrich egg from a glass case in our school, no-one else had seen one nevermind had one...lol. Any this kinda brings me back in a roundabout way to the point I was making about fat and obese kids. How many of these kids have ever climbed a tree or would recognise a blue tit from a sea gull? not many I'd wager. As kids we had a great degree of freedom to explore our surroundings and take risks which we did on a regular basis. Does it make us better people I dont know but I would like to think so. We had respect for our elders we didn't rob or abuse old folk will kids ever get that kind of freedom again? I dont think so which is sad cause theres a whole world of experience out there and things to be explored it would be a shame if it was lost to whoever follows us next in this world.

 

ATB

same life different place great post,