Five Things - I miss from my childhood

Sphere: Related Content

1. 
   
2. Remember the days of innocence when you thought you could fly to the moon. Your first time at the beach. For some reason today I remembered my younger days. I've attempted to compile a random list of five things I remember with nostalgia.
   
   
   
3. 
   

1. Television: In the good old days before cable and DSTV, ignorance was bliss. I just loved NTA 2 Channel 5. From children's shows like Sesame Street, SuperTed, The Munch Bunch, Banana Split, Animal Crackers, Voltron and the other five team show (I've forgotten the name now) to British imports like Some Mother's do Ave em, Mind Your Language and of course American Sitcoms like the Jeffersons and Good times,; it was always a blast to come back home at 2pm and wait/play outside till TV started at 4 and closed at 10. Of course during school days, I had to sleep by 8. On Saturdays and Fridays I could stay up all night if I wanted to. The locally produced shows like the Adio family, Winds against my Soul, Cockrow at Dawn really made my day at night. Weekends were also fun with the Saturday Matinee on NTA 2. Sundays were soap opera days with some of the best locally produced shows especially from NTA Jos. And who can forget the lipsynched German shows from Transtel. My favourite movies were martial arts and Indian ones. Bruce Lee was so cool in Enter the Dragon. James Bond movies were always a pleasure to watch. I could go on and on. When I think about it now what we were watching were really old shows but we didn't know any better. But we still enjoyed TV. Now kids have so many other things to keep them occupied; the Internet, DSTV, Video Games etc. I miss the days of having little yet appreciating so much.



2. Playing outside/Games: I remember how much I used to want to play outside, inside, infact everywhere. Playing and fighting with my twin and cousin was a daily affair. I remember "Police and Thief", Mummy and Daddy, Ten Ten for the girls, football, table tennis, table soccer and Subuteo table football. I definitely remember the first time I ever played PacMan on an Amstrad Computer. Who would have thought that three dots on a screen could excite so much. By the time my Dad bought a Commodore 64 computer (so named because it had 64kilobytes of memory!) games had become more sophisticated. You now had more dots on the screen making for interesting game play. Toys? I remember my first action figure. I think it was one of the characters from the A-Team. Not quite sure which one. We could make toys from almost anything. Cans, tins, broomsticks. Do kids still make kites? All you needed was old newspapers, broomsticks and some eba. My first Raleigh bicycle which I used for years brought much pleasure. I better stop before I get teary eyed.



3. Asking questions: I used to be so curious about the world around me. Everything was a mystery. How does television work? When will I be as big as Daddy? Where do babies come from? Where does the tooth fairy come from? Who created God? My parents were always patient enough to answer my questions. Some questions remained a mystery for many years. I smile when I see things that used to baffle me. Some are still unanswered. Don't ask me which ones!



4. Going out: I always looked forward to going out. It didn't matter where. The Bar Beach was the in spot in those days. At least we Mainland kids got to see Victoria Island in all it's splendour. The beach used to be so lovely. And then of course I remember Apapa Club on Saturdays. Swimming, suya and sand! I also got to buy comics at the bookstore. If I remember well, they stocked DC and Marvel Comics, Beano, Dandy and some British war comics (those were my favourites really). Going out also meant parties! The richer kids always had better presents as we used to call them. I got to see how some of my Corona friends lived. Along with parties came music. Michael Jackson, The Gap Band, Shalamar, Cool and the Gang...we mimed to all the cool songs back then. If I had such a retentive memory for songs how come I forgot my times table?



5. Nigeria: Most of all I remember when things weren't so bad in Nigeria. A brand new 505 was 10,000, bread was 10k; a coke was less than 50k. My first trip to the UK in 1984 cost my Mum less than N500 for each of us. The ticket was expensive then but my Mum, God bless her heart just had to sacrifice for us. Things were so much easier then. NEPA wasn't great in the 70s and 80s but it was much better than now. Potholes were a rarity and everywhere was clean. At least from a child's perspective. I remember the two coups that brought in Buhari and Babangida. I was forced to grow up a bit and become a bit politically aware after these events. It was then that names like Umaru Dikko, Joseph Wayas, Olu Olunloyo, Awo and Zik became part of my consciousness. This coincided with my teenaage years and a time when things became a little bit rough for everyone. My folks still managed to keep us happy but even as a kid I knew things were not the same. I miss those days...

What do you miss most about being a kid. Go on, try to remember. For some people it feels like just yesterday, for some it's a distant memory. What stories will you tell your children when they begin to grow?