Anyone remember?

The official season for guests is over. I mentioned a few posts back that it was "all scrunched up." Twenty three days, eighteen guests, thirteen of them ten and under. Just enough time to wash sheets and towels between visits. It was a most enjoyable time and for the most part the weather cooperated and the children (and their parents) made the most of our two parks, the splash pad and the swimming pool. Comcast did not. First there was the dog that ate the cable, then the modem gave out—fortunately that only affected the computers and we were not cut off from Dora the Explorer. Not that I sat everyone down in front of the T.V., but it comes in handy while finishing up meals or performing last minute tasks.

It got me thinking, though. I was a child of the forties. By the fifties I was reading and, as my mother said, "Always had my nose in a book." I can't remember doing anything other than reading—and that paid off.

But what was I doing in the earlier years? I have been racking my brains. All I can remember is a rectangular cart on wheels containing bricks/blocks with letters of the alphabet. It was kept along with the vacuum cleaner in the infamous "cupboard under the stairs." I remember spending time in my parents' bedroom playing "dress-up." There was not much more to dress up in than a pink printed chiffon number. Why did it never occur to me to ask my mother why she had a dress so inappropriate for her current life of cleaning widows and eking out meals from our ration books? I must have had a doll or two, but I can't recall names or faces. I do remember vividly my brother's train set which spread all over the front room floor. But of course girls wouldn't play with trains.

I suppose that even as a young child I was sent "out to play." Our street was a cul-de-sac and no-one had a car. I had a bike and spent my time playing with Janet Agombar, Alan Salter, Sylvia Bell and other children with names I can occasionally remember.

But did I have toys? Anyone my age remember what kept us amused and our minds busy?