Post by Matt McNamara on Sept 16, 2008 23:04:38 GMT
The following sent to me by a forum member (Sean Tracey), his original version was based on growing up in America. I have modified it to reflect growing up in the Curragh during the years.
[glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN ON THE CURRAGH CAMP IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !![/glow]
1. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses that contained asbestos.
2. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
3. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints and if you were posh you had a army tea chest for a play pen
4. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking in and out to Newbridge
5. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
6. Riding in the back of a APC on Calvary Day was always a special treat, with heads and arms sticking out every hatch.
7. We drank good Curragh water from any available tap and hose and NOT from a bottle.
8. Take away food was limited to fish and chips from the Wez, there was no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Burger King.
9. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
10. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
11. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at Sands Home and buy penny toffees and some Red Matches to make bolt bangers.
12. We ate iced buns, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
13. We would leave home in the morning and play all day in the plantations of Connolly, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on or the MP’s started their evening patrol on bicycles.
14. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
15. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the various hills of the Camp, Trolley Hill, Hospital Hill and Lord Edwards Hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
16. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
17. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.
18. Only girls had pierced ears!
19. And if it was Action and Adventure you wanted, there was always the Commando Magazines otherwise known as 64's to swop.
20. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
21. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!
22. We played war games on Saturday mornings and build Camps in which we would defend against the marauding kids from the neighbouring barracks.
23. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
24. Mam didn't have to go to work to help make ends meet!
25. Football and Hurling had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
26. Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.
27. The idea of a parent getting us off the hook if we got into trouble with MP’s was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! And God help you when you got home.
28. This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
29. The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
30. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
[glow=yellow,2,300]HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
[/glow]
And YOU are one of them!
[glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS CURRAGH KIDS! [/glow]
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids in The Curragh Camp, before the Solicitors, Barristers and the government regulate our lives for good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your Kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Matt
[glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN ON THE CURRAGH CAMP IN THE 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !![/glow]
1. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses that contained asbestos.
2. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
3. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints and if you were posh you had a army tea chest for a play pen
4. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks some of us took hitchhiking in and out to Newbridge
5. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
6. Riding in the back of a APC on Calvary Day was always a special treat, with heads and arms sticking out every hatch.
7. We drank good Curragh water from any available tap and hose and NOT from a bottle.
8. Take away food was limited to fish and chips from the Wez, there was no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Burger King.
9. Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
10. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
11. We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at Sands Home and buy penny toffees and some Red Matches to make bolt bangers.
12. We ate iced buns, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!
13. We would leave home in the morning and play all day in the plantations of Connolly, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on or the MP’s started their evening patrol on bicycles.
14. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
15. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the various hills of the Camp, Trolley Hill, Hospital Hill and Lord Edwards Hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
16. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
17. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no Lawsuits from these accidents.
18. Only girls had pierced ears!
19. And if it was Action and Adventure you wanted, there was always the Commando Magazines otherwise known as 64's to swop.
20. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
21. You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!
22. We played war games on Saturday mornings and build Camps in which we would defend against the marauding kids from the neighbouring barracks.
23. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
24. Mam didn't have to go to work to help make ends meet!
25. Football and Hurling had trials and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
26. Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.
27. The idea of a parent getting us off the hook if we got into trouble with MP’s was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! And God help you when you got home.
28. This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
29. The past 70 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
30. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
[glow=yellow,2,300]HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
[/glow] And YOU are one of them!
[glow=red,2,300]CONGRATULATIONS CURRAGH KIDS! [/glow]
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids in The Curragh Camp, before the Solicitors, Barristers and the government regulate our lives for good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your Kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
Matt
