memories from my childhood

I'm pushing late 50s and lately have been thinking about the neat things we saw and did when I was a kid . I remember going with my dad and brother in law to Normandale ,I must have been about 6 ,it was after dark and there was a lot of people with flashlites ..we scooped smelt out of the lake by the bushel basket full .I doubt this happens anymore .I also remember about the same time in Dover ,cars could not get up the hill because there were so many lake flies on the road . Any other neat stories out there ?

It was in the mid fifties when I saw my first movie. It was in Simcoe and I seem to remember it was in the same vicinity as the current Strand. We lived in the country and I got to go with some rich kids down the road..... and what a thrill it was to see that movie. I remember it was in black and white, starring Roy Rogers and Gaby Hayes. The title as i recall was On Top of Old Smokey.There was singing and the bad guys in black hats. I don't think people can imagine what an impact that would have on kids that didn't have tv or any of the other media toys we have now. In those days, we listened to the tall wooden floor radio with the green eyed 'tuner" that was used to focus the signal. To this day it's probably why I like musicals and enjoy cowboy lore and western movies.

I remember my mom telling me once about seeing soldiers pass by their house when she was a child. Her and her brother's and sister's would give them food and water as they were walking by.

When i was about 6-7 we lived in Hamilton Saturday Mom gave me 10 cents 5 for the movie 5 for candy
The six shooters never ran out of bullets

watching the olympics just brought another memory to mind .I remember competing in the high jump in public school. Forget the soft cushy foam landing area...someone would bring a shovel and turn over the sod to make a dirt pit to land in . One year we went all out and landed in sawdust. Cracked my wrist in grade four doing the high jump....no one got sued .

My first job 80 cents a hour 6 days a week just sunday off

As a young child, I remember going to the Capitol Theatre on Norfolk Street. It was located in the Leon's/Canada (?) Trust building. This theatre had a balcony and for an extra nickel we were allowed to sit there. If I recall correctly, the seating on the main floor was graduated. What's that expression...Everything old is new again? Don't recall what I saw but was just very impressed at being able to actually be there! Anyone else remember this theatre?

One of my earliest memories is of going to visit my maternal granparents on the farm in Northern Ontario. Of course the "summer kitchen" wasn't in use, except for storage. I remember twirling around and around like a ballerina on a jewellry box, exhaling frost from my mouth and covering my ears with my hands because it was so cold. The best part of the visit was going into the "winter parlor" and sitting near the pot bellied stove while mom or grandma toasted bread on a fork over the fire. It just tasted so good!!!

During the blizzard of 1977, I was 7 years old. I remember we were at school and one of the moms in my neighbourhood came and walked all the kids from our street home. We went to school when everything was cleaned up and, I swear the snowhills were as high as the school. We had a blast playing on them and we were allowed to. Nobody was worried someone might get hurt. We just got to play on them and couldn't wait to get outside to do so

During that 77 blizzard (I was about 18) ... I was on a train from Vancouver to Toronto. The train in front of us had derailed a few days earlier, and it was an eerie sight as we slowly passed by, looking at the over-turned train and darkened windows.

When I got into Toronto, I discovered that Port Dover was snowed in and it stayed that way for almost a weak. When I finally went home, it was a single lane that was cleared down the Blueline (with occasional areas plowed out so cars could pullover for on-coming cars), with the snow piled way above the height of the car (I'd guess about 8-10 feet).

I remember the outdoor games! Groups of kids played until dark and didn't want to go inside even after dark! Playing Hide and Go Seek in the dark! Terrifying!

There were games like "Annie, Annie Over,"“Red Light, Green Light” and “Mother, May I?” We enjoyed “Hide ‘n Seek,” “Touch Tag,”, “Freeze Tag,” “Simon Says,” “Dodgeball,” "One Potato, Two Potato," "Musical Chairs" and “Red Rover.” I remember lines set up for "Red Rover" in the schoolyard with twenty to thirty on each side! It was a fairly daunting scenario but also a vivid memory etched deeply in my consciousness. Nearly got your arms ripped out! It all ended when one girl fell backwards and got a concussion.
Then there was no more Red Rover played at our school.

So many great games...and so much fun!

We used to play pick up baseball on empty lots and hockey with a ball on the street there was only 1 car one the whole block

I remember going with my dad to the dump, it was OUR weekly trip and I would always get a pop, chips and chocolate bar under a dollar. No garbage pick up when I was growing up!
I also remember heading down to Cape Breton to visit family and I would always lay in the back window of the car LOL can't do that now days

We learned to count money taking empty pop bottles to the store. Two cents per bottle and you could get a Popsicle for 5 cents or a bag of penny candies...blackballs or gumballs. Some candies were 2 or 3 for a penny!

There were 5 cent bags of chips in those days and also 5 cent and 10 cent chocolate bars! This was mid-50's.

every Saturday morning in the early 60's my mom would send me to Hubbards grocery (located in Colborne village ) . The order was always the same ..2 white and 1 buttermilk bread . She'd give me a dollar bill and I'd have enough change to buy some gum or candy. 5 cents at that time was a big deal to a kid.

I remember coka cola , the bottle was ten cents.Large sponge toffee was a nickle.Bread was 4 for a dollar.Choclate bars were a nickle.I also remember in the 80's when minimum wage was $5.oo. Gas was 39 cents in the 70's. Ice cream cones were 5 cents at the causeway. Car seats only became legal in 84.

SZQ said:

Quote :

As a young child, I remember going to the Capitol Theatre on Norfolk Street. It was located in the Leon's/Canada (?) Trust building.

Hi SZQ ... just to refresh your memory, the theater you are referring too as the "Capitol" was actually the "Norfolk". The Capitol was in the next block south and across the street from the old Walker's Store, about where the Pizza place is now.

During the 2nd world war, you could go to the old Lyric Theater on Kent St. south with admission being a can of used cooking grease (for the war effort). Of course only us OLD people would remember that!

The Norfolk was so beautiful. It had a large lobby and you went up a few stairs with brass rails to get into the theater. One of the first shows I remember was Sinbad, the Strand use to run the shows one after any other we watched it twice and get in trouble for not being outside to be picked up when our parents came to get us. remember going dog dealing with my Dad on Sunday afternoons. We where all over Norfolk and Oxford countries trading hounds. Skating on the pond across the road from my grandparents house on moon lit nights was fun (cold too) and Sundays if we had company and the neighbours did too we'd play hockey. I'm sure that's why I have these bad knees today. The only way the boys would let my girlfriend and I play was if we where goalies! Took alot of pucks in the knees but didn't complain. In High School at lunch we'd walk downtown and eat lunch at the Tartan and window shop on the way back. Seems there was alot more stores in town then.

Do you remember getting a "hot foot" when your foot/skate broke through the ice and it felt like it was HOT? Then you limped home all the way with a soggy foot? And it took some thawing to get your feet back to normal??
And then they would get itchy when they finally warmed up??

Oh, the joys of outdoor ponds! They used to go on and on across the neighbour's fields! Between the corn or tobacco stalks. Sometimes huge expanses of sheer ice! It was a simple but exciting time!

We used to go down to Booth's Harbor and clean the snow off the ice to skate

Rustee wrote:

SZQ said:

Quote :

As a young child, I remember going to the Capitol Theatre on Norfolk Street. It was located in the Leon's/Canada (?) Trust building.

Hi SZQ ... just to refresh your memory, the theater you are referring too as the "Capitol" was actually the "Norfolk". The Capitol was in the next block south and across the street from the old Walker's Store, about where the Pizza place is now.

Hey Rustee, SZQ was right with her location. Her memory doesn't need refreshing. There was definitely a theatre where Leons is now in 1950's and maybe up to 1960 or so. I was there myself. The one across from the old Walker's store had closed long before that one ever opened.

Blue Jays fan Wrote:

Quote :

Hey Rustee, SZQ was right with her location. Her memory doesn't need refreshing. There was definitely a theatre where Leons is now in 1950's and maybe up to 1960 or so. I was there myself. The one across from the old Walker's store had closed long before that one ever opened.

Hey Blue Jays fan ... reread that post! I didn't say the location was wrong at all. I just corrected the NAME of that show ... which was the Norfolk. As a teen, I spent many hours in that show (mostly in the Balcony .. ). Their was also a large house on the corner of Norfolk and Young where the owners of the theatre lived (The Hamiltons).

Playing outside until it was dark and our mom called us inside. In the summer it was swings, baseball, tackle tackle tom tom, crayfishing, anything we could think of and just being with other kids in the neighbourhood. In winter, the same thing, building snow men and snow forts and snowball fights and anything else we could do in the snow. Oh yeah and toboggoning at the golf course on the mile a minute hill. Ah....the mile a minute hill.

Now it's video games, outside for a half hour, more video games, computer, fight with your sibling inside, go outside for another half hour cuz you're mad at your sibling, then maybe a couple of cartoons on the couch and more video games.

Cartoons were only on Saturday mornings before noon and a couple on Sunday evenings

on our star choice is a station called retro cartoons. I'm wishing they would put the popeye cartoons on someitme. I know this dates us but those were always my favorite.You know the cartoons are just not the same any more. We used to have good clean funny ones but.......those were the days

AnderPooh wrote:

...You know the cartoons are just not the same any more. We used to have good clean funny ones but.......those were the days

LOL ... Many of the bugs bunny cartoons have been re-edited to cut out all the violence.

I don't think popeye would stand a chance in it's original form.