The Lost World Symphony – Pt 3

...and more

The good bank of Dad was there for a few,

For the rest we'd just have to find things to do.

Not everyone born with the same kind of luck

The rest need some scheming to get them a buck.

Over the wall at the back of The Thistle,

and snaffle some empties, as quick as a whistle.

Money-back bottles round to the King's Head

Next time we go King's to the Thistle instead.

I really don't think that it did too much harm

season or place could mean nowt' at the farm.

Sometimes we'd go haymaking or picking the 'taters

before this was all stopped by the new automators.

Finding lost golf balls all over the course,

then back to the club-house and sold back to their source.

Then off to the woods when this was all done,

Time for some time-out and good outdoor fun.

Building of dens with some old tarpaulin,

and branches and bracken and corrugated tin.

Collecting the dead wood to make a campfire

watching in wonder as flames reach ever higher.

Corned beef and veg in tinfoil was flash,

usually just 'taters would cook in the ash.

There'd be ropes with a tyre or a branch as a seat.

Those long summer evenings were times... Oh so sweet!

Those days for us are now out of reach

we MUST take our kids though, our history to teach.

Long summer evenings with rarely a fee,

Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so many things we did to entertain ourselves, for free.
Ah the golf balls. I caddied for several years...and on our time off we would go to the creeks on several holes and retrieve the golf balls to sell back to the country club...
Life was well, life.
In 1968 up in Lockport we had a massive snowstorm....many inches of snow fell.
I built an igloo in our back yard, one in which we could almost stand up...
it was warm in there...but wow, that thing lasted for three weeks....
That kind of playing outside is foreign to many kids now...they are inside on xboxes, computers etc.
The world of technology has replaced the wonders of being a kid, playing outside till after dark.
Not wanting to be inside...life is different...these poems of yours take me back to the good old days.
At least for me they were.
j.

[Tinman07]

Golf balls weren't 'lost' until they stopped rolling :)
On one hole the players had to clear a big pond at the bottom of a valley to the green opposite... somtimes we would be hidden in the surrounding undergrowth and rush out while the players were crossing the valley.
They seemed quite perplexed when they arrived... quite sure they had hit the green.
I saw a cartoon not too long ago with Mother telling computer gamer he should 'play outside in the nice weather' frame two showed him peering in through the window, controller in hand.

[emmajoy]

I remember days like that from the daughter perspective... the things we did, my siblings and i... off and away for a day, too long, tiring and always repeated the next day, rain, shine and in betweem.

Feel that you've challenged yourself to slide briefly and happily into a colourful past.. a time when life was exactly what is was, real, uncomplicated, good old-fashioned fun. Not everyone's experienced that.. so sad to think that... but seems you'd be more than willing to share.

Mever collected empties but do happen to have two brothers who... ) Scrumpting?

[Tinman07]

Scrumping didn't happen too much where I was... there were some fruit trees, but no proper orchards, in a business sense.
The refundable bottles were from the days of 'real' recycling, where they would be washed out and reused. I think most glass recycling is now just crushed and used in road surfacing and stuff.

The golf balls were the best source of ready cash, I lived on the doorstep of Europes biggest municipal park which had an 18 hole golf course in one corner... we knew all the hardest fairways to hit, and where most of the misses went :)

In summer my Mum and Gran would 'buy' berries picked from the hedgerows to make jam and pies.

You are exactly right about them being simpler times, and so, so much fun. Better than walking the streets staring at a phone looking for purple dinosaurs or whatever Pokémon Go provides.

Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. It was fun to remember and try to make it all rhyme.

[emmajoy]

You are exactly right about them being simpler times, and so, so much fun. Better than walking the streets staring at a phone looking for purple dinosaurs or whatever Pokémon Go provides.'

Doesnt that comment read fantastically exciting.. habits to live by.. dreams come true.. NOT! '