Hooses aw jint up bar a middle gap,
a fair walk fae bottom tae tap.
Concrete pavement fae end tae end
open sheugh, wae nary a bend
ootside coalhooses, washhooses tae,
outside closets tae rin tae, nicht or day.
Whinstone roads, sair oan bare feet,
folk struggling tae make ends meet.
Store books and store tokens,
bare feet, tae save shin and stockings.
Friday nicht, shilling a week man
run sheepy, and kick the can,
gir an cleek runs along the raw,
fitba’ headers if somebody had a baw,
skipping ropes, prams and dolls,
rounders roon the four claes poles,
built in beds, gas mantles tae
open grate fires, kept the cauld away
running messages tae the store.
A ton of coal at the coalhoose door,
washday, mither hinging claes on the line.
Yer nicht, tae get washed in a wooden bine
nae doot the bane came tae,
tae keep the molickers at bay.
Big ringy, wee ringy, muggy an aw
played till yer knuckles were raw,
boat races, when raining, in the sheugh
up and doon tae ye were oot of puff.
Boats were matchboxes, or a bit of wood,
or anything that floated was jist as good.
Nae wellies tae wear back then,
played away in yer bare feet, ye ken
Y shaped slungs, bow and arrows,
pram wheel trolley, or wooden barrows.
Saturdays at the picture hoose, matinee.
Sunday school, trips and soiree,
school holidays a time of pure joy,
looked forward to them as a boy.
Chestnuts or a paper kite, hame made,
winter, freezing, sliding on the frozen lade,
whips and peeries, or chalk drawn beds
skipping ropes, or a wooden sledge,
catching minnows, or dooking in the burn,
bird nesting, egg collecting, getting their turn.
These are things you did as a lad,
poor times, happy times,
never daeing onything bad,
but most of these things drifted away
when ye moved tae a semi-detached tae stay.
Its sad but not many kids play them today.
As you grow older and your memory is still clear
you can look back to days that you hold so dear.