Den's & the distance of age

My cousin visited today, bringing with him the most scrumptious rhubarb tart, which didn't last very long. Soon we and his auntie, my mother got talking about life back then, when we were the kids. Doing the age old thing of compering then and now, both as in life i think, have their positives and negatives. 

In our reminiscing about the way things use to be and how we use to go out and play, traveling no small distance's and making dens in which to hide and play. It reminded me of a conversation i had with my sister, she's a primary school teacher... now'adays the teachers have to take the kids out and show them how to make dens and stuff... My jaw hit the floor when she told me that... Explaining that kids just don't do that these days... Really hitting home just how much things have changed and how unknowing i am about what goes on today ... out of touch ... so to speak.
It's another thing that's made me feel the distance of age, i can't comprehend having to be taught by a teacher how to make such a staple of childhood activity... kind of makes me sad, all they do these days is play playstations ... Nothing wrong with that, but hey not at the expense of real life in the fresh air, parents should kick them out ... but then there's the fear of what's out there. 

Neither my cousin or I every lived in a time where fear ruled like it does today, maybe with good reason maybe not. Mum said there's to many nutters around today, but really there were plenty back then as well but that was counterpointed by the fact life 30 years ago wasn't as violent as it is now, not that things then had a rosy glow, just that the bad area's didn't hold sway, not like now.

But that distance between me now and childhood now is huge, i'm 41, i'm also pretty sure that 40 odd year olds felt the same about me when i was 13 - 16. Its the conveyor belt of life. You keep rolling along and one day you look behind and you can't see all the way home anymore, its kind of gone from your eyes. So you rely on memory and reminiscence and you look at youth at its not you, if your smart or lucky you'll feel relief, i do.

Childhood was better back then, you could pick brambles and berries from anywhere and just eat them, no need of washing them under a tap of dettol, no buying them tasteless from a supermarket. The little hide-away places of my youth are now sweeping roads or office blocks or those awful Barret type of housing ... it was cool having places to go, now we all sit in front of the TV switch on the play stations and stay put.

We had bikes that could transport you from one end of the district to the other then bring you home all covered in mud. No worries about the amount of cars on the roads because there was enough off-road places to get you there and back again. 

But at the same time playstations are cool, as are the wii's and the iphone's (if you can afford one). 

It about balance, besides you can't really compere childhoods of 30 years back to today in terms of gadgets but you can compere in terms of freedoms to roam and larking about, with pressure on space that's been compromised .. 
Though i'm not saying that i wouldn't like my time again, i would and live it better and fuller. Kids are wiser today, gifted and sharp. Though i think to many demands are made of them, i could never do school again.
So a childhood full of playstations, not for me, not when the sun was shining and the mystery places were there for the taking, those were irreplaceable.