Westbank Reminiscence Group (Chris Milne, Beatrice Bisset)
Lundies wis the game we played maist aften in the playgrun. Twa quines wid crank twa skippin ropes roon an roon, an we'd line up tae takk shotties tae lowp inno the rope an skip. There wis rhymes tae lundies, bi I jist mynd on the coontin. Ye coontit ilkie skip untiil ye made the rope stop bi catchin it wi yer fit.
A lot o's brocht twa baas tae school, twa rubber baas that we stotted against the waa. Again, there wis rhymes tae this, bit I've forgotten them aa. That's the worst o growin auld, yer memory's nae sae gweed!
Beddies wis anither game we likit. Ye drew squares ower the playgrun an nummered them, an made a beddie wi a steen in ae square. Then ye'd tae hop tae the beddie, pick up the steen an hop back again withoot faain ower or crossin a line.
Loons an quines didna play thegither, that wadna hae bin richt. No, a fence ran atween the loons' playgrun an oors. Loons can be affa roch, an they fecht, ye ken, sae it's better they dinna play wi the lassies.
Sometimes we'd play haunstauns up against the bike shed waa. Ye'd tae tuck yer skirts inno the fit o yer knicker elastic an staun upside doon wi yer feet touchin the waa. Aa the bluid ran tae yer heid so ye cudna dee it ower lang. The dominie said it wisna nice tae show yer legs aff like that.
Fur a playtime piece, some o's cairriet brokeners. Brokeners wis broken biscuits that ye bocht frae the back door o the baker's shoppies. Ye got a full baggie o brokeners fur a hae'penny.
Efter school, some o's gaed roller skatin at Calder's, a wee hall aff a roadie that ran ahin the Music Hall. Ye cud ging roller skatin fur hauf a croon....aboot 12 new pence. That wis rare fun! Aulder bairns wi bikes bikit oot intae the country wi a bottlie o ale an a picnic. Nae mony folk hid cars, then, ye see, an we widna hae hid money tae pye oot on buses!
The worst thing we iver did as bairns, wis ging intae the chemist an buy a
haepenny worth o snuff. We'd hae bin aboot 13 year auld, I suppose. The chemist selt it tae us nae bother. A lot o big folk took snuff. It wis a kinno pooder ye sniffed up ae nostril, syne the ither, a pinch at a time. It made ye sneeze something terrible! We got an affa row frae the dominie for that, ay, a richt ragin. We niver did it again. We war feart he'd tell wir folk.