Thunderbolt Kid Rekindles Childhood Memories
March 23rd 2007 21:26
Hi again
This seems to be a memories week, I guess though it's because we all live such fast, busy lives that we sometimes forget who we once were? Now then, this post came about last night as I was reading Bill Bryson's book The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and a couple of thoughts came to me. I am currently on chapter Welcome to Kid World which is pretty much about how we were as kids, although doubt if it will be the same now? The way Bill describes things he recalls as a kid got my mind thinking (for all you who know me, thats hard I know lol).
A small part of the chapter: 'I knew eaxctly how clouds drifted on a July afternoon, what rain tasted like, how ladybirds preened and caterpillars rippled, what it felt like to sit inside a bush. I knew how to appreciate a really good fart, whether mine or someone else's'.
Now apart from the fart bit, I think we all shouldbe able to recall something like that and I can recall many of those things but again I had never thought about them until reading this book.
Bill goes on to describe all the names that were given to places like The Trestle which was a railway bridge or the little 'secret tracks' which weren't secret at all normally, more the case that the adults then didn't use them. But these to a kid with an imagination were like gold dust.
Now I grew up for a while in rural Norfolk in a village called Sedgeford
Sedgeford is a small village with about 600 inhabitants on its electoral roll. It is in the county of Norfolk, part of the region called East Anglia, and quite near the coast - about 6km south of the North Sea and 5km east of the Wash. It is north east of Cambridge (about 90km) and London (about 170km
The village lies in a fertile valley in the belt of chalk covering this area, with a small river running through it. This river and the many springs feeding it have always ensured a good water supply for successive groups of people who have settled near it in the past.
The village is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. Part of the church, built of flint and stone, is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and we know from archæological evidence that people have lived here from much earlier times. There are remains of Roman villas, pottery and a gold torc from the Iron Age and many earlier artefacts, like the Neolithic flint tools which are found in fields and gardens.
This is a predominantly agricultural area, with barley, wheat and sugar beet as the main crops, although tourism has become increasingly important in recent years. There is easy access to the North Norfolk coast from Sedgeford, with the Peddars Way providing an attractive route for walkers.
Now we had a few names, there were The Pumps which was a pond at the other end of the village, which rumour had it was meant to have been bottomless as once a double decker bus went into it and never came out? (story told to me as a kid). There was the tunnel (never seen) which dated back from the English Civil War and went underground from the Old Amoury ( which was close to the Pumps I think) to the church, which would have been easy 1 km. We had the Crossstyles which is where we all used to play in the river, during the long hot summers.
Although when I went back in 2004 for the first time in about 15 yrs, it looked a bit over grown but its a shallow river and we used to wade along it for ages, and every so often in the silt you could see spring water bubbling up from below. Also to the right of the photo was the farm and there used to be a stone bridge there with planks across it to restrict the flow of water. Well one time we were in the river playing and didn't realise that they had pulled them all out until the water came roaring along. Probably wasn't that bad but didn't say anything to my parents as that might have benn frowned upon. If you followed the river along you came to these woods that we used to play in all day long, collecting old spent shot gun cartidges, they used to come in different colour cases and once I found one that hadn't been used.
So I managed to open the top, take out the pellets and then decided to drop a lit match into it! Well the flame whooshed out and upwards burning bit of my nose in the process, hmmm I thought better not tell parents about this either.
But the main ogre in Sedgeford, was the dreaded Sherbourne Hill, as at the time it seemed higher than Everest and none of the kids could ride up it on their single or 3 speed bikes. so to lay the monster to rest, I revisited it in 2004.
Anyway the hill got the better of me, as had been raining for 3 days solid and I was going cabin crazy so went for a walk around the village and decided to walk up the hill. Wasn't too bad actually this time around.
There is a lot of history around here if you are visiting the area, Sandringham, the Queens summer residence is very cool.
Also there is the gold field in another village close by where they have found heaps of gold torcs and things like that, plus Peddars Way I think runs from Bury St Edmonds through to Hunstanton and an old pilgrims route, something I wanted to mtb one day along with the Ridgeway track. Anyway good books to read on the UK are Timpsons England series all about strange quirks and odd curos.
So remember the cool good things from your childhood as to remember the simple pleasures we have all seemed to have forgotten in ths busy world.
Anyway got to go, have a great weekend
Hal
Ps I know there are some spelling mistakes in this but when I reread it a second time to edit them, could I find them? No I couldn't.
This seems to be a memories week, I guess though it's because we all live such fast, busy lives that we sometimes forget who we once were? Now then, this post came about last night as I was reading Bill Bryson's book The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and a couple of thoughts came to me. I am currently on chapter Welcome to Kid World which is pretty much about how we were as kids, although doubt if it will be the same now? The way Bill describes things he recalls as a kid got my mind thinking (for all you who know me, thats hard I know lol).
A small part of the chapter: 'I knew eaxctly how clouds drifted on a July afternoon, what rain tasted like, how ladybirds preened and caterpillars rippled, what it felt like to sit inside a bush. I knew how to appreciate a really good fart, whether mine or someone else's'.
Bill goes on to describe all the names that were given to places like The Trestle which was a railway bridge or the little 'secret tracks' which weren't secret at all normally, more the case that the adults then didn't use them. But these to a kid with an imagination were like gold dust.
Now I grew up for a while in rural Norfolk in a village called Sedgeford
Sedgeford is a small village with about 600 inhabitants on its electoral roll. It is in the county of Norfolk, part of the region called East Anglia, and quite near the coast - about 6km south of the North Sea and 5km east of the Wash. It is north east of Cambridge (about 90km) and London (about 170km
The village lies in a fertile valley in the belt of chalk covering this area, with a small river running through it. This river and the many springs feeding it have always ensured a good water supply for successive groups of people who have settled near it in the past.
The village is recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. Part of the church, built of flint and stone, is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and we know from archæological evidence that people have lived here from much earlier times. There are remains of Roman villas, pottery and a gold torc from the Iron Age and many earlier artefacts, like the Neolithic flint tools which are found in fields and gardens.
This is a predominantly agricultural area, with barley, wheat and sugar beet as the main crops, although tourism has become increasingly important in recent years. There is easy access to the North Norfolk coast from Sedgeford, with the Peddars Way providing an attractive route for walkers.
Now we had a few names, there were The Pumps which was a pond at the other end of the village, which rumour had it was meant to have been bottomless as once a double decker bus went into it and never came out? (story told to me as a kid). There was the tunnel (never seen) which dated back from the English Civil War and went underground from the Old Amoury ( which was close to the Pumps I think) to the church, which would have been easy 1 km. We had the Crossstyles which is where we all used to play in the river, during the long hot summers.
Although when I went back in 2004 for the first time in about 15 yrs, it looked a bit over grown but its a shallow river and we used to wade along it for ages, and every so often in the silt you could see spring water bubbling up from below. Also to the right of the photo was the farm and there used to be a stone bridge there with planks across it to restrict the flow of water. Well one time we were in the river playing and didn't realise that they had pulled them all out until the water came roaring along. Probably wasn't that bad but didn't say anything to my parents as that might have benn frowned upon. If you followed the river along you came to these woods that we used to play in all day long, collecting old spent shot gun cartidges, they used to come in different colour cases and once I found one that hadn't been used.
So I managed to open the top, take out the pellets and then decided to drop a lit match into it! Well the flame whooshed out and upwards burning bit of my nose in the process, hmmm I thought better not tell parents about this either.
But the main ogre in Sedgeford, was the dreaded Sherbourne Hill, as at the time it seemed higher than Everest and none of the kids could ride up it on their single or 3 speed bikes. so to lay the monster to rest, I revisited it in 2004.
Anyway the hill got the better of me, as had been raining for 3 days solid and I was going cabin crazy so went for a walk around the village and decided to walk up the hill. Wasn't too bad actually this time around.
There is a lot of history around here if you are visiting the area, Sandringham, the Queens summer residence is very cool.
Also there is the gold field in another village close by where they have found heaps of gold torcs and things like that, plus Peddars Way I think runs from Bury St Edmonds through to Hunstanton and an old pilgrims route, something I wanted to mtb one day along with the Ridgeway track. Anyway good books to read on the UK are Timpsons England series all about strange quirks and odd curos.
So remember the cool good things from your childhood as to remember the simple pleasures we have all seemed to have forgotten in ths busy world.
Anyway got to go, have a great weekend
Hal
Ps I know there are some spelling mistakes in this but when I reread it a second time to edit them, could I find them? No I couldn't.
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