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Re: Childhood games

It was what the boys did, the girls only heard the stories about it and how the got chased. Did any girls out there go 'proggin'?

Re: Childhood games

’Skittles Sounds likethe game I tried to remember, though late forties would have been my time - pre- teens.
Thanks!

Re: Childhood games

Donald and Liz, I remember going proggin with my younger brother by climbing over the big wall facing our house on Mill Street to get to the apple trees beyond. With a few dozen fruit stuffed down our jumpers we made the return trip only to be spotted by our mother who was waiting up the road at the stop for the Lisburn bus. She was small but carried quite a punch and I can still feel the stinging blow I got as the older "wiser" sibling. Still went proggin tho but made sure I was never caught again...

Re: Childhood games

Donald, in our neck of the woods Proggin referred to sneaky raids on someone’s orchard, at night, or when you knew the owners were not at home.

We kids had our selected preferences, where we knew the sweetest tasting fruit was there, just waiting for us.

On one daring daylight raid, I was up a tree, stuffing the bulging tail of my shirt with this forbidden fruit, when the owner came along, searching, as they used to say “ lookin’ and jukin’ “

I remained up a tree, silent and unmoving just where I was, and thankfully he continued on his beat, without me being discovered. We retired afterwards , and shared our spoils as always after a successful Prog.

Proggin’ was not confined to apples alone, at Xmas time we progged holly. Only certain trees had red berries but we knew where these were.

On one such raid, I was standing Dick, while the late LD was up the tree, gathering twigs of holly. Unfortunately, the owners appeared and I yelled, “ C’mon McNulty, they’ve seen ya’ “

LD descended the tree and we rejoiced as we heard the owners saying, “ One of them is called McNulty! “

Them were the days......

40

Re: Childhood games

Hildenboy
Donald and Liz, I remember going proggin with my younger brother by climbing over the big wall facing our house on Mill Street to get to the apple trees beyond. With a few dozen fruit stuffed down our jumpers we made the return trip only to be spotted by our mother who was waiting up the road at the stop for the Lisburn bus. She was small but carried quite a punch and I can still feel the stinging blow I got as the older "wiser" sibling. Still went proggin tho but made sure I was never caught again...
Hildenboy
I remember that wall, there was a support cable for a wooden pole which we "speeled" up. Remember the Alsasian dog "Rusty" which was sometimes let loose in the orchard? There were pear trees growing on the inside of that wall near the bottom.

Fortycoats,
wouldn`t it be great to re-live those times?
Donald

Re: Childhood games

Yes Donald, reminds me of SONG of the MIRA

“Out on the Mira on warm afternoons
Old men go fishing with black line and spoons

And if they catch nothing they never complain
I wish I was with them again”

Would be nice to return to those days, if only we knew then, what we know now.

I remember gazing admirably at Ford Zephyrs, the six cylinder “luxury” cars on display in a showroom in Chichester Street and their relatives, the smaller Ford Consuls. I remember thinking, I’ll never be able to afford one of those, but I can dream.

Just a few years later after immigrating to Canada, we were able to afford an even better automobile but I will always remember my boyhood dreams, with my nose pressed against that showroom window.

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Re: Childhood games

Fortycoats
I remember in Smithfield Belfast a shop which sold music instruments, as boys we used to look into the window and dream about owning one, either a guitar or a set of drums.
donald

Re: Childhood games

Donald, regarding your comments about musical instruments, you probably remember a store in Wellington Place, that sold the same ware. I often gazed through their window and actually purchased a couple of Hohner chromatic mouth organs over the years, even bought a tin whistle from there and a plastic recorder.

I looked up the location on Street View and there is presently a huge new building on the site. There is also a music shop fronting on Wellington Place called Matchetts, but I don’t know if it has connections to the old store.

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Re: Childhood games

Fortycoats
I think the one in Smithfield was across from the Petshop
donald

Re: Childhood games

I don’t remember the Pet Shop, but I do remember Joe Kavanagh’s. You remember “ I buy anything “

Joe, to his credit, refused to buy a compass “ found “ by LD and myself, on a crashed aircraft in Hillsborough Park.

On the Royal Avenue side of Smithfield, may have been called “ The Magic Box “, there was a wee magic shop, where we could buy Itchy Powder and fake Ink Spills as well as anything else our nasty little minds could think of.

I wish I was back there again.......

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Re: Childhood games

Fortycoats
I remember "The Trick Shop" in Smithfield, I once bought imation dog´s poop ( we called it **** then)and set in on the doorsteps in Hilden, laughing at the facial expressions of the housewives when they saw it thinking it was real.
donald

Re: Childhood games

Speaking of childhood pranks.

One of my most regrettable tricks was to place a Meta tablet on a stovetop while attending a winter Sunday school function. Meta was a solid fuel ( Metacetaldehyde ) and was used as a substitute for Methylated Spirit.

It was readily available but few, thankfully, knew its dark side.

All of us children were having a great time, feasting on tea and wee buns under the supervision of the Rev J.H.Orr when “ The devil made me do it “.

I placed a Meta tablet on top of the hot stove.

Soon the entire classroom was filled with snow, caused by the solidified fumes of the Meta falling and causing a real mess.

Afterwards, I regretted doing this, as his Reverence was really distraught at the mess it had made.

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Re: Childhood games

another product on sale in the Trick Shop was a liquid that if you shook out a few drops the whole room smelt like someone broke wind
donald