Board Games – how I remember them.

I think its safe to say that we have all the usual suspects when it comes to board games.  Hungry Hippos, Operation, Buckeroo, Pop-Up Pirate, to name a few – we actually have a cupboard full of games.  Hungry Hippo’s is always the one that comes out first when we suggest we play a game and I would say that its probably TT’s favourite.

The thing is, I remember many of these games being far more fun when I was little.  I’m sure that the 1980 version of Operation was much harder and therefore proved more of a challenge than its 2015 counterpart.  What happened to trying to stretch the elastic band around the knee and ankle joint? and I distinctly remember that the Adams apple was virtually impossible to get out.  The parts now, a digital music player and game controller, are in shallow little dish shapes and are actually very easy pluck out with the tweezers – even though TT finds it quite difficult as he hates the buzzing and therefore gets cold feet every time.

I am also sure I remember Buckeroo being far more sensitive (or vicious, depending on your outlook).  You only had to show the horse you were going to hang the boot on his saddle and it would buck everything off.  Now, TT has actually got into the habit of bucking the horse with his hand after we’ve put everything on the saddle and with not even a hint of a buck despite our deliberate heavy handiness.

We’ve got TT Guess Who for Christmas and I’m just hoping that this doesn’t fall short of my expectations too – although what could you possibly do with Guess Who to change the concept? Ah, but you can! I saw an advert on the TV showing a digitalised version of the game ?? What ??  The whole point, and appeal of Guess Who was its simplicity, and this made it fun.  You can’t make it digital? No! – But, they have.

Its all a bit disappointing really.  I want to struggle with the Adams apple again and literally jump out of my skin when I touch the metal with the tweezers, and I want to watch the horse fire the cowboy hat half way across the room and get hit in the eye with a stray plastic imitation rope – that was all part of the fun.

Perhaps as an adult these games just aren’t all that fun any more – age might be the culprit. Maybe I’ve got to that age where I need to sit down and play a very age appropriate game. Bridge perhaps. But, TT essentially does really enjoy all of the games we have despite my misgivings. And it is something that all three of us can sit down and do together which TT loves. So putting all of my issues with these to one side, perhaps they are actually really good.

A trip down memory lane

My last post was about pictures that are stuck in a defunked computer.  Memories of my little boy when he was born, memories of us being a new family, new beginnings and exciting times.  Luckily, with the help of the internet (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) I have found quite a lot of my most favorite pictures were already saved remotely and for everyone to see.  But this is a relatively new way to store, and retrieve your memories.

When I was a child, pictures/photographs were in slide format.  I have fond recollections of us all sitting around as a family while my dad put on a slide show for us to watch.  I’ve not seen any of those pictures for years.  Times move on and even my dad now owns a digital camera and my mum actually asked for “a frame thing to put on the piano, where the pictures change by themselves” (aka – digital picture frame) at Christmas.  Things are changing all of the time and I think that’s the reason we are all almost obsessively storing pictures, memories and even feelings.

I try to think back to my first memories as a child and they are fuzzy at best. I seem to remember things rather than specific events.  I’m not sure if the events that I do remember are slimmed down versions of what people have told me over time or whether it is a real personal memory brought to the surface from the depths of my 40 year old consciousness.

I don’t like doing lists of things on blogs, it feels often out of place.  But today it feels appropriate and rather than share just one event, I have listed just a few of those memories that have stuck with me over the test of time.  You may even find yourself relating and remembering them too.

I remember, straws being made of paper and the end sticking together after getting wet so they didn’t work any more.
I remember, going to see Father Christmas in the Co-Op at Harlow and getting a set of paints as a gift.
I remember, being told that there was a boy in the garden who would eat my dinner if I refused it yet again.
I remember, tinned peaches being a bit of a treat and tasting a whole lot better than they do now.
I remember, having chickens, a rabbit and guinea pig.
I remember, absolutely hating having my hair washed.
I remember, digging in the garden looking for dinosaur bones.
I remember, hating the taste of orange and pineapple flavored squash. In fact I still do.
I remember, having the original Wheebles and thinking they were marvelous!
I remember, my first roller skates were ones that fitted over your shoes.
I remember, things in the supermarket being priced with ½ pennies and not being able to wait to get home so that I could stick the Green Shield stamps in mum’s stamp book.
I remember, watching Captain Caveman, Fingermouse and Bagpus and even recall Andy Pandy in black and white.
I remember, that when the little plastic stopper that prevented air escaping from my armbands came off, my dad sticking bits of twig into the hole to try and fix the problem.

I remember all of these things and as I’m writing them down I’m smiling and even giggling slightly.  They are good memories and they are my memories.

Looking Back

I am lucky enough to have two computers.  One that I, loosely, use for games, and the other much newer one I use for everything else.  Recently I had the misfortune of the older computer giving up.  Well, it hasn’t really given up, it needs a new Bias battery – easy to sort out, so I’m told.  But this got me thinking about pictures and how I store them.  Whilst I consider myself reasonably tech friendly, I am a bit rubbish at doing general PC maintenance and even though we have a, however many terabyte, wireless storage device, in fact two (one as a back up), I am ultimately crap at moving pictures, movies and any other saved documents onto them.

All my pictures are on my old laptop which is now rendered useless until I pluck up the courage to change the battery. The battery, as I’ve said, everyone keeps telling me is so easy to fix but I feel quite daunted by the prospect of doing it.  All TT’s baby pictures are on there, all those memories which are now locked securely away. So securely even I can’t get at them.

But, hold on a minute! I store pictures everywhere! The whole social media and online printing thing has meant pictures are everywhere – actually quite a scary thought.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the company I use for printing pictures…. they all have my memories in them.

My pictures are not locked away and out of reach, they are in fact very in reach and I’m now sharing them again on yet another from of internet social interaction – my blog.