Comics UK

I had a Bayko set. Lego was so much easier! :/

philcom55 wrote:I had a Bayko set. Lego was so much easier! :/

I preferred Betta Bilda, which few people seem to remember now.

On talksport last week they asked for odd things you used to play cricket with. Someone said a plank of wood and the hand grenade from a Johnny Seven gun. I remember the adverts in the sixties and wished I could have had one.

stevezodiac wrote:On talksport last week they asked for odd things you used to play cricket with. Someone said a plank of wood and the hand grenade from a Johnny Seven gun. I remember the adverts in the sixties and wished I could have had one.

...A plank of wood? ("When I were a lad we dreamed of owning a plank of wood...!")

Actually, they had a Johnny Seven gun on display in the paper shop at the top of our road one Christmas, and I remember drooling over it with my face pressed against the glass almost every day. Never did get one though!

stevezodiac wrote:On talksport last week they asked for odd things you used to play cricket with. Someone said a plank of wood and the hand grenade from a Johnny Seven gun. I remember the adverts in the sixties and wished I could have had one.

Nothing wrong with playing with a plank of wood. It could be a cricket bat or if you had been watching some American cartoons, it could be a baseball bat, a bat for rounders, a gun of any description from Cowboys and Indians to a laser death ray for any SF story. Or it could be a spear for deep in the jungle. It was also great for getting things out of local rivers and burns without getting wet!

Which was great when you had your mates to play with but when on your tod, it was back to the comics or the ZX81!

Ah, you had a Spectrum? I had a Commodore 64. Considering the loading times of those old systems, I'd say it back to the comics AND the ZX81 - you could probably read a few pages while waiting for a game to load!

Living in Surrey Docks we had loads of wood yards around us so had a plentiful supply of sticks to use as rifles or to make bows from. The arrows were long twigs from trees.

Back in the late 50s my Dad used to make me these throwing arrows out of a stick about 18 inches long, split at one end to take a flight (usually an old tab packet), sharpened at the other end with a bit of wire twisted found for weight. Then you'd get a piece of string and sort of wrap it round and then you could throw it for miles. Its a wonder I never blinded anyone.

In the early 1960s our house was located in the middle of a building site which meant that we were surrounded by loads of discarded building materials, including planks, wooden offcuts and nails of all shapes and sizes. As a result we were able to construct fleets of battleships bristling with gun turrets which we used to play 'Pooh-sticks' in the local brook!

Digifiend wrote:Ah, you had a Spectrum? I had a Commodore 64. Considering the loading times of those old systems, I'd say it back to the comics AND the ZX81 - you could probably read a few pages while waiting for a game to load!

I graduated to the Spectrum in the mid 80s as I had started on the ZX81 and yes you often could read a comic or at the very least a few stories during the loading times!

As a kid we lived on a newly built estate bordering farmers fields.Damming brooks playing pooh
sticks ,climbing trees these were regular activities.With a stick, poking cow pats seemed to be fun
but I learnt poking a wasp nest with a stick was not such a good idea.

...No. I learned to my cost that it wasn't much fun sitting on an ants' nest either - especially while wearing short trousers!