Mother took my little sister and me back to the seaside town we had been living in before the war, when it was nearly over. Once the barbed wire was taken down and the sands cleared of mines, we were allowed to go onto the beach and paddle in the sea.

When the big indoor funfair opened again we roamed around the rides, booths and slot machines as our mother worked there as a cashier and we were able to get on rides when they were not full.

We had quite a free life but had to check in sometimes "on the hour" and when we played in the nearby Public Gardens, if we stood at the entrance we could be seen by a parent from the front window of our flat to wave reassurance.

Apart from being warned not to go off with strangers, that was about all the restrictions we had.

One of my favorite books is "Where did you go?" "Out" "What did you do?" "Nothing", by Robert P. Smith.

My brother was 16 years older than I, and we spent some happy times, when I was in my 20's, reading this aloud to each other and remembering our old neighborhood and how we each had our own memories of it, and how we pent time when were childen.

The book is written about a time earlier than what I would remember, but the quality of the memories are the same.

I spent much of my childhood in a subdivision of new houses so there were many interesting construction sites to explore ! Our favorite was a huge tree that had been felled. I fashioned a paper stewardess cap and we would climb up onto that tree and pretend that it was an airplane !

Building treehouses was another great pasttime as was making a tent in the backyard with an old bedspread. We were never bored or without something wonderfully creative to enjoy.

I grew up with unsupervised and unscheduled playtimes as well - whenever we got too rambunctious inside, we were run out-of-doors with an injunction to "Play outside!" The main restriction I remember was not being able to cross the street until I was old enough to demonstrate that I could do it safely (this was an urban area). When we moved to the country, we'd spend hours off 'exploring' in the woods, and the neighborhood kids would have impromptu games in the street.

An amusing misadventure occurred when I was maybe 6 years old - my best friend and I went (alone!) to the neighborhood park after a big rainstorm. The park was about 3 blocks away from our street, and deserted probably because of the earlier rain. We tried to reach the sandbox, and we both ended up stuck in the mud, and stood there for what seemed like a very long time, wailing and calling for help. I finally managed to get out (leaving my shoes in the mud) and ran home for help. Just as my mom and I arrived back at the park, someone had finally noticed poor Elsa still stuck in the mud, and was pulling her out. We laughed about this for years.

Donnamira, when my hubby was about 5 years old, he and his best friend got in big trouble - they had been told many times to never, ever cross the street without an adult (a residential street but with a fair amount of traffic). Of course, one day the convenience store across the street was just too much temptation and they went! They had a little change and bought Pixie Stix. They would have gotten away with it if the mailman hadn't ratted them out to DH's mom!

Fifty years later and they still laugh about that incident.

Donna

What fashion fads do you remember from your HS years ?

When I was in 7th grade I thought that seniors were wonderful and savvy ! The guys used to have taps put on the heels of their loafers so that when they'd walk the granite floors of the school they'd make a "click, click" sound......SO cool !!

The girls used to wear their cardigans backwards so it would button up the back, then add a white furry collar tied at the front with a bow and balls of fur !! Small scarves and scatter pins were also the rage accessories.

And if you "went steady" with your boyfriend you wore his class ring on a chain .

yoyo, the freedom you had at school! In England uniform is always the norm as were single-sex schools back then.

Our uniform consisted of a brown pleated skirt and a short sleeved blouse with a cardigan for colder (ie most of the time) days.

A new 'rule' came in that the first 5 inches of the pleats must be sewn down, which was not very flattering for the fatter girls. One very small girl, in the junior school, had a skirt measuring only 11 inches so must have looked ridiculous had she followed that particular regulation.

Another girl, in my class, stood out not just because of her peroxide heavily backcombed hair but for the can-can petticoat she wore under the pleated skirt. The Irish-nun Headmistress called her into the office and said "Lorraine, either the can-can petticoat goes . . . or you go." So she went!

I was in HS in the late 60's and the big fad then was very short skirts. The school was up in arms about this trend and girls were regularly sent home for skirts that were revealing. They were too short - sitting became an engineering feat. I remember many girls placing their books on their laps so that All Was Not Revealed.

In my earlier HS years there was a fad for crocheted vests which lasted a couple of years. I could not crochet, but my mother kindly made one for me and our sister Carol. Rouan, did you have one too or were you still in elementary school? (I have just revealed that I am the older sister.)

And a couple of years earlier, there was a year or two when everyone wore a color called cranberry with pink. Cranberry was a dark red so it would be a cranberry skirt with a light pink blouse of some such combination. Very popular. Not sure I would like it today, but of course I thought it very beautiful at the time.

Oh, and speaking of colors. Back in the day, we were warned by upper classmen that you were never to wear yellow and brown on Thursdays because it meant you were a fairy ! And not a lovely little impish elf either ! Back then that was a word that meant you were "light in your loafers" if you were a guy. Not sure back then if it ever applied to girls but we followed the rule religiously !

Rosefolly, I was in junior HS in the late 60s, and the band uniforms were a gold blazer with black pants for boys and skirts for girls. The pictures show skirts barely peeking out below the blazers. My dad would not allow me to wear a short skirt so I am easily recognized by the skirt you can actually see. :)

Donna

In HS I was a cheerleader and our skirts were exactly just above the knee and that was pretty short for us ! Now some of the skirts that girls wear leave almost nothing actually covered.

I was in high school in the early 50s, and our skirts were so long that they scooped the top of your (turned down) bobby socks when you walked down the stairs. Our don't wear on Thursdays color was green. Not that we knew anything about why.

I wonder what it was about Thursday !

Also, there was something called a "slam book" when I was in 7th grade. Someone took a composition book and wrote a person's name on each page. Then kids would write something about each person. Egads. I hope back then kids weren't as heartless as they can be today ....and that maybe some good things were written as well !

Like Vee, I had a school uniform, our colours were green and gold braiding on the blazers with the school insignia and motto on the top pocket. We wore a box pleated tunic with a narrow sash at the waist and everything was regulation with name tags and bought from a shop which stocked these items.

One day a French girl came to classes and promptly set a fashion by raising the collar of her blouse at the back and just allowing points at the front, tres chic.

We started to follow but were told that it made the view from the back of the uncovered school tie look incorrect, so that was that!

Ann, we never wore ties as part of our uniform as the school's founder, an English (as opposed to Irish nun) claimed they were un-ladylike. For the same reason she had not allowed field/track sports in the Summer . . . for which I was ever thankful. A gentle game of tennis or rounders or merely lying in the grass out of sight of the sergeant-major of a games mistress suited me just fine.

Vee...I would have loved to see our games mistress! She picked out the best twelve girls who had played tennis before coming to the Grammar school, mostly from the private junior schools and coached them exclusively on the hard courts for the championships played between the schools. The rest of us were sent to the grass courts, where we played knock-about tennis or slacked off lying chatting on the grass,

When the Headmistress once said we were all to take a turn on the hard courts, she took off to go to the top teams playing on the grass courts that day with one girl wailing at her from a hard court "Aren't you going to coach us?".

She only returned when the Headmistress came to see how we were doing and positioned her with her back to us so she didn't see how bad we were!

I have never forgotten this event but when I mentioned it recently to someone. adding that I could have played at Wimbledon with proper coaching, she thought I was being truthful rather than ironic and commiserated. Oops!

Wonderful how I can forget to take back a library book today even though I put it with my purse but can run events of some seventy years ago in my mind's eye!

I grew up in the deep South and only the Catholic schools had students wear uniforms. I remember well the fad of "penny" loafers (a sort of moccasin with a real penny in the slot). With those we wore "bobby sox." On weekends, we wore Bermuda shorts with knee socks. Like Yoyo, I recall the sweaters with buttons turned around the back and those sweet little collars.

Later on, a plaid called "Madras" was very popular, in muted colors. When not clothed in Madras, girls wore flowered printed blouses which, I think, were called "Liberty of London" . Also we wore "Circle pins" on our collars.

Girls who got "pinned" by their fraternity boyfriends wore the pins on the left side of their sweaters. I wore my "boyfriends" ring on a gold chain around my neck.

When asked to a "formal", girls wore uncomfortable dresses of stiff net. Our male dates always brought us a corsage which we often attached to our wrists.

It's fun to walk down "Memory Lane..."

Circle pins ! Yes, and I recall that they indicated your virginal status ! Egads.

Oh, yes. Circle pins.

Rosefolly, yes I got one of the crocheted vests too. As to the short skirts, I remember complimenting a classmate on an outfit early in the day one day and running into her in the hallway a couple of hours later wearing something completely different. She had been sent home to change her clothes as her skirt was deemed too short. I remember thinking that the one she had on was just as short as the original one had been.

I think I can see why school uniform is no bad thing! We never had the bother, worry or expense of waking up in the morning and thinking "What shall I wear to school today?" or "Which of my several boyfriends 'pins' should I put on whatever side of my collar?"

What happened when a girl and boy fell out, were they expected to hand back the 'pin' or ring? Did the boy just give it to the next girl he met? Did boys keep a collection of jewellery to hand out to the favoured girl-of-the-moment? And what happened to the unfortunate girls who had no boyfriend? Did they attend functions on their own or stay in their bedrooms doing their homework shedding tears over the school books?

I just can't seeUK parents back in the day putting up with any of the above but then that whole 'cultural difference' would have been so alien to us . . . I always thought it was just an invention of Hollywood!

Vee...when you "went steady " in HS ( were exclusively dating each other ) the boy gave you his class ring. When you broke up ( got sick of him ) you gave his ring back to him ! Pinning was a college thing when a frat boy gave his girlfriend his fraternity pin to wear as a sign that they were sort of "pre-engaged" . There was usually a ceremony after hours ( dorms and sorority houses locked up at 11 pm back then ) when the whole fraternity gathered outside the dorm or sorority house and sang a song to woo the girl out . Then the guy pinned his beau and it was "official" ! Usually a bouquet of roses were part of the ceremony as well. Very traditional and quite nice back in the day. Some fraternities also had what was called a lavalier which could also be added to the pin.

Thanks yoyo, you realise you are almost speaking a foreign language. ;-) We don't have fraternity or sorority houses over here nor do many students want to get 'hitched' when barely out of college; most appreciate their freedom too much!

I do remember when staying in the US back in 1970 (blowing away the mists of time) an Aunt and daughter, who was all of 15-16, discussing at length her 'possible' wedding. No Mothers over here would have been encouraging their daughters (or sons) to get married so young. Even if some unfortunate girl was 'in an interesting condition' she was most likely 'sent away' somewhere and the child adopted. Irish girls were sent to England or had a really horrible time of it back home.

Things have altered so much in recent years that few young people bother to get married at all and some change their partners so frequently and have such a variety of ill-assorted children that I really feel for the next generation not knowing their backgrounds or how to make 'meaningful' relationships.

I know I'm showing my age here!

.

What yoyo described in detail is very much my own experience, although I grew up in the deep south. Some Universities and Colleges in the US still have fraternities and sororities, believe it or not. And they still sing special songs and have their own special traditions. Vee, it really was not as bad as it might sound to a Brit. Most of my friends waited til they graduated college to marry, although there was always the exception. Most were comforted by the "traditions" that went along with the wedding plans: the "bachelor party", the wedding "shower". It was all rather fun and nice, back in the day.

Back in the day.....it was all fun and tradition. We were slaves of Seventeen magazine and the wedding propaganda they spoonfed us monthly ! In that era it was expected to graduate college, get engaged/married, work or have children....the Ozzie and Harriet sort of Father Knows Best life. And it was all a scam!!!!

I think women today are much more savvy and smart about life choices.....hopefully waiting into their 30's before getting married. Of course there is no rush to the altar since most either live with their guy.....or play the field ( as we used to say) so they have much more experience at the art of love ( so to speak).

LOL, I waited a whole five days after graduating from college to get married! My dad was not amused when I joked that I was getting my M R S degree.

Woodnymph, I thought nearly all colleges in the US had Greek life. All the ones in FL do, except two year colleges and maybe some very small ones.

Donna

I am not sure if the Greek life is the same as it was "back in the day". It was a simpler time of hallowed traditions.......remember sneaking over to a frat house and painting your sorority letters on their slate sidewalk , hoping not to get caught !?

Today you have to hope they don't kill you during pledge week.

Donna, yes, I think most of, or at least, very many colleges in the US still have Greek life. I know that it is alive and well here at the College of Charleston, with their special "houses" and parties and dresses and songs. However, the college I went to in VA (which later became a University) never had sororities.

OK, will someone please explain Greek Life to me. I hope it isn't as decadent as it sounds!

They are called Greeks because their sorority /fraternity names and insignias are greek letters, such as :

Alpha Kappa Phi, Sigma Tau Alpha, Beta Kappa Phi etc.

Here's another take on why they have Greek names :

To shed their boozy reputation. Clubs have existed on America's college campuses since 1750. Many began as literary debate clubs, and some took Latin names because it was the language of the scholars. Take William and Mary's popular F.H.C. society—which may have stood for the Latin Fraternitas, Hilaritas, Cognitoque (people knew it better as the "Flat Hat Club"). Ostensibly a debate club, in practice it was a group of drunken rabble-rousers. So on December 5, 1776, five William and Mary students met at a tavern to start their own debate club. The new club wanted a fresher, more serious image so they penned their motto, charter, and eventual name in Latin and Greek to differentiate it from all those drunky clubs (and to keep their motives secret). Today, we know this group as the prestigious honor society Phi Beta Kappa. In the late 18th century, ΦΒΚ expanded to other schools, inspiring students at Union College to form spinoff groups in 1825. They, too, chose Greek letters—and the social clubs quickly spread like a keg party to other campuses.

I was in college in the 70's. Fraternities and sororities were at their nadir then, still in existence but far less popular due to the political climate of the day. Also a lot of working class and lower middle class students were going to college as the first generation of their families to do so. It was a big change similar to the earlier big change triggered by the GI Bill a generation beforehand. This new cohort did not have that tradition to follow, or the funds to support it. In earlier decades students who did not belong were social outcasts at the colleges where Greek life was prominent.

Since those days fraternities and sororities have had something of a resurgence, though they've never recovered their previous influence. One of my daughters attended a huge urban university out of state where she felt rather lost. She joined a sorority in her sophomore year. Initially I was appalled. However as time when on I could see that she was genuinely benefitting from the friendships and sense of belonging, and was a much happier person for it.

We really don't all need the same things in our lives.

Rosefolly

Bon, it must be time for a language change again...most frats have that boozy reputation again!

I was in the women’s music fraternity ( yes, it’s a fraternity, and they’ve had boys also for quite a few years now), Delta Omicron. I am a lifetime member but really have had no interest in it since college.

Donna

I think most fraternities have always been pretty boozy, though my university had four that were dry. The sororities were much less so, though their members certainly drank at the parties hosted by their fraternity partners.

To be fair the greek name change was just to give the illusion of civility.

Back in the day....the fraternities were ALL about beer parties and conquering the fairer sex. The sororities of course would attend the parties but it didn't seem to be our 'raison d'etre'. We did many charitable projects as well. I enjoyed living at the sorority house for my last two semesters because it gave a closer, homelike environment. We had a House Mother who lived there as well and kept everything on track as far as curfews ( yes we had them ! ) and behavior. She was also the age of a grandmother so provided a great shoulder to cry on.

Today I am not sure things are run as tightly. The year after I graduated all curfews on campus and off were pretty much discontinued. Men were allowed into the housing and dorms as well....at all hours. It was the dawning of the drug culture, women's lib and Woodstock freedom !! Glad I got out when I did.

yoyo, this thread has led me to 'look up' info on 'Greek Life'. There seems to be almost nothing like it on other university campuses/campi world-wide. Apparently Harvard/Princeton authorities are trying to cut down on membership partly because of the drinking/belittling of women etc. while the defenders of the system claim they are an excellent way into later 'business' life through the Old Boy network plus it's a good way to make friends when in a huge impersonal institution. And possibly only as little as 10% of students are part of the system.

I realise you (in the US) already know this . . . but I found it interesting.

It seems many of these frat houses are expensive to join so I suppose a student needs a Daddy with deep pockets.

I went to an English Grammar School in 1948 which had been a fee-paying school until the year before I started to attend.

Some of the old traditions were still in place. We were allocated into Houses (but without using a Sorting Hat!) apart from our actual class but this was dropped the next year, deemed too elitist.

We then formed our own groups of friends, based on mutual interests, where we lived or family income even! The last meant that the girls who had been educated in the Private schools tended to band together.

Vee......I think the "old boys networking for business" and " deep pocket costs to join" might be applicable only to those Ivy League schools.

With most others there is no cost to be in a fraternity or sorority and unless you are really fortunate, these friendships aren't established to push your career forward !

Ann, my old school (or High School as our US friends would say) had become a Direct Grant Grammar in 1944 so the majority of pupils were 'very clever/bright' girls who had obtained a scholarship. As a boarder most of, but not all, my friends were fellow 'shut-ins' and we were actively discouraged by the nuns that ran the place to mix with anyone older or younger which made for a narrow acquaintance base. With little to do at weekends and no permission ever given to venture outside in the fresh air most of our 'free' time was spent bickering, as only bored girls can do, and not getting on with useful 'mending' ie darning stockings, sweaters etc. Even reading was discouraged and no books from home were allowed. ;-(

I never remember any groups being formed because of family income . . . it wasn't until I got to College that I first met the inverted snobbery that so surprised me. "My Dad's a coal miner and only rides a bike but he is just as good if not better than your Dad who probably owns a car." And this said before I had opened my mouth!

Vee, a school where reading was discouraged? Oh dear.

When I started college in the early 70's, sororities were are their lowest popularity (anyone else remember Lily Tomlin's "Laugh-in" skit, where she stood straight in her Casual-Corner outfit singsonging "I'm Susie Sorority of the Silent Majority..." with a vapid smile on her face?), but I wanted out of the dorm without the hassle of taking care of an apartment, so I boarded at a sorority house. I found that it wasn't populated by rich, snobby girls after all, and really liked the 'homelike' environment as Yoyo described it. I loved being in a house, not a dorm. No curfews by then, and no rules about dressing up for dinner (but you did have to yell "Man on the floor!" when you brought a male onto the bedroom level to warn anyone thinking she could dash from shower to bedroom without a robe), but the social life was more organized and constrained than dorm life, with the occasional charity projects as Yoyo mentioned. The frats varied - we joined with a frat to go Christmas Caroling one year and it was so successful we tried again the following year with a different frat, but this one dragged along a keg of beer and got so drunk that several of us girls left in disgust halfway through. The sorority provides a structure to maintain friendships later, and the only people I'm still in touch with were both pledge sisters. I've never found being part of a social sorority to have helped my career, though!

Back in the day , teens and college kids would actually get summer jobs to earn money.

I worked as a waitress in a department store cafeteria and although I didn't love it, I did it.

I also worked as a counsellor at a day camp , where I actually learned to ride horses !

The kids today seem to not take work too seriously. One friend who tries to hire summer staff told me that these kids are shocked that you want them to work EVERY day , ALL week ?! But.....but...what if they have a birthday "week" .....or the family plans a vacation ???

I worked at summer jobs from age 12 to help to pay for the school uniform and other clothes. My family had a tight budget as only Dad worked and then a third unexpected child came that year! The jobs varied from child-minding, working at a cafe and in a flower nursery, taking side shoots and buds off carnations, which was so boring!

I always took the last week of the six week break off, to go away to my grandparents for a holiday.

I didn't have to work as a child as there was enough money to support us, although my brothers were often 'employed' by my father during the summer in his boat-hiring business (on the River Avon at Stratford). Both my DD and his sister had to get early morning paper-delivery jobs as their father had died leaving them very poor. The sister helped run a 'kiosk' at their local station selling papers, cigarettes etc. (probably accounts for her 20+ a day habit!) I'm not sure if these above jobs were legal as there were/are strict laws about child employment.

While at college I had a terrible job strawberry picking at a local vegetable research farm. It rained almost every day, no sitting down was allowed and often the rows of fruit had been treated with various pesticides etc so eating them would NOT have been a good idea. Other plants were covered in mould but still had to be picked and weighed.

An easier indoor job was working for one of the properties in Stratford to do with Wm Shakespeare. After learning the 'talk' I got to show tourists round and earned a few tips. It might have been that if I didn't know the answer to a question I made it up but the bosses never found me out!

Where I Used to Work

Vee, as for the work being illegal, I lied about my age which the employers knew about but if an Inspector should come, they could say they didn't know!

One day I saw a couple of teachers from my Grammar school headed for my cafe. I wasn't supposed to work while I attended there. They casually turned around and went elsewhere as though they hadn't noticed me. Good sports!

I am glad that none of my children or grandchildren had to work at such a young age as I did (excepting the greatgrandson who did some TV commercials but that was a different story!) but they all had casual after-school jobs at around fifteen and I think they were better for this when they left school and got into regular employment.

In the urban environment I grew up it, even if one's family could support one, it was considered "good for the character" for teenagers to get summer jobs. The boys I knew mowed lawns and delivered papers, mostly, although a few got jobs in markets. As for myself, I was a camp counselor, both North and South. I taught archery, which I had learnt while attending my own summer camp for 4 years. I was a counselor in a beautiful part of Massachusetts, near Pittsfield once. (Our charges were spoilt city kids from NYC). The second counseling experience was in the wilds of the North GA mountains. Not for the faint-hearted ---- rattlesnakes as large as a man's arm, tarantulas, and one night a visiting Mountain Lion ascended the rafters of my cabin.

Some of my female friends found waitressing jobs in nice resorts. I find in general today's young people lack the work ethic my generation took for granted. I'm glad I had my summer jobs, despite having merely earned $100 for 2 solid months of hard work.

I didn't have summer jobs in high school since I grew up on a farm in a rural community, but I did work in the cafeteria my first year of college. For this, I received free meals; and it was the first time in my life I ever gained weight. Those meals were filling and full of carbs.

The following year, I went to business college and worked at Woolworth's during the summer before I started and then on Monday nights (late opening night) and Saturdays until Christmas when I was told I had to work Christmas Eve and quit. I had to ride a Trailways bus the 90 miles home. It didn't run at night, and not to be home for Christmas was unthinkable.

Vee, the senior group at my church, called Speeders because after 55 you are considered to be speeding in an auto, is going to a U-Pick farm the last of May to pick strawberries for fun. I can see us now crawling to the end of a row to pull ourselves up at the fences.

Carolyn, those fruit farms, which we call Pick Your Own used to be very popular over here, but not so much now; maybe the 'self-pickers' ate too much of the fruit on the way round! Plus much of the soft-fruit growing now uses quite sophisticated growing techniques, huge 'poly' tunnels, special climate control, strawberries growing from May to November (and quite tasteless IMO) and gangs of pickers from Eastern Europe who live 'on site' and work very long hours.

I don't know how speedy your group will feel after a few hours picking! Keep some energy in reserve for turning the surfeit of fruit into jams/jellies/desserts etc . . .

I cannot imagine anyone in the UK travelling 90 miles by bus to get to or from work. Commutes of more than 30 miles to/from large cities by train are considered bad enough!

I don't plan on a surfeit of berries, just enough to enjoy with my breakfast cereal and perhaps to make a luscious dessert. Strawberries are one of my favorite things.

This farm is quite large and employs migrant workers, almost all from Mexico, throughout the season. Pumpkin season in the fall is quite popular with children choosing pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns. They offer "home-cooked" meals in a large dining room and serve much of their produce, as well as selling said produce, daylilies, pony rides for the kids, hay rides, etc. Needless to say, they do very well financially.

As you would suspect, I'm not one of those who checks out the barns. I may be the most citified country girl around. I do like my sidewalks and indoor plumbing.

Remember going to get fitted for your first bra !?!??

I think I wore a AAA cup with a tuck. There were no "training bras" back then. I had to go to one of the department stores , up to the lingerie department and some old lady actually came into the fitting room with me ! What a thing to do to a fragile, self-conscious teen ! I was so embarassed.

I'm still embarrassed, although it reminds me of my husband's nurse when he didn't want to show her his hernia repair incision. She said, "Oh, one of those men." Just another day's work for them, of course.