21.30
A: Well, when we were little, it was a case of you played things like--, you
played marbles, allies, we used to call them, you know, and you could flirt
and see who got the most, and you had huge collections of these, you know, and
you had your special ones that were your lucky ones. And you'd make a bag, you
know, out of some material, and it was really your pride and joy how many allies--,
you used to count them up who'd got the most [laughs].
22.00
Q: And how did you play the game?
22.02
A: Oh, yeah. Well, you just--, you had one--, it's a bit like, I suppose like
bowls in a way, you know, you have one and it's a case of who gets nearest or
who hits it wins it, and they have those allies, you know, whoever hits this
thing or gets nearest takes that as well as their own. So, you know, that's
how it worked. And then, if it got too close and nobody hit it, you could, what
we used to say, span it and see if you could reach from that to yours. And it
was--,
22.34
Q: With?
22.35
A: With your thumb and your little finger. Well, they used to say it wasn't
fair because I have got quite a large span of my fingers and I could really
span quite a big distance and they said it weren't fair 'cause you've got that
extra gap [laughs]. But we used to play that, and we used to play ticky it,
you know, running about, tick somebody and then they'd have to chase you. Then
as you got older you played kick can, you know, putting a can down, kicking
it, and then all running off and they had to find you. Hide and seek, then you
played balls on the wall, you know, two balls and three balls on the wall. Skipping.
Then you had the ropes on the lamp.
23.23
Q: Skipping two ropes or one rope?
23.25
A: Oh, you could do--, we did both, you know, you'd have your own set of skipping
ropes, but you had big long ropes that you'd put across the street, you know,
and you just, you know, there might be six of you all skipping together and,
you know, two of you'd be turning up and four of you'd be skipping together,
or different things like that.
23.44
Q: Overlapping.
23.45
A: Yeah, that's right, overlapping. You had two ropes that you could overlap,
if you turned them one in each hand and you turned them the opposite direction,
and you had to sort of skip in and out without getting your feet tangled up.
Then we had the ropes that we used to put on the lamp, long ropes that were
tied up, and the gas lamps had bars on, you know, so you used to throw one on
one side and then you used to wrap it round, you know, overlap each one, like
you would a skein of wool or, you know, wrapping it round until it was short
enough. Then you used to put your coat on, fold your coat up and put your coat
on the rope, sit on your coat and swing round the lamp [laughs].