Humble Homes

[Tom Balch]

Now I was born in Portsmouth
Pompey to us kids
our playground was the bombsites
filled with rubble and with bricks,
just off Queen Street we was living
not far from the docks
opposite the barracks
where Royal Marine bands marched the blocks.

We had no toys cos money was short
in those days just after the war
we made wooden swords and catapults
a kid couldn´t ask for more,
I´d have one sock up and one sock down
shirt hanging out at the back
holes in me jumper shoes well scuffed
when I got home I´d be in for a whack.

Me nose was always running
and me sleeves was filled with snot,
me knees was bleeding, caked in mud
but playing out we liked a lot,
we fought battles on the bombsites
we played cowboys all day long
we´d smash bottles with our catapults
and walk round singing dirty songs.

Now I was born in Portsmouth
in nineteen forty eight
when valves went in the radios
and it was spuds that filled our plates,
we never had the bleeding internet
I-pads or mobile phones
we didn´t really need them then
cos we all came from humble homes.

[stevenstirk]

I'm in the same ball park Tom, and my childhood was just the same. God knows where we are all heading these days, because I don't. Such simple pleasures, beautifully portrayed. You may not have been snotty, but at least your sleeves were.

[Stella]

Wonderful flow here Tom and yes i can relate to this so well...life was so easy and uncomplicated then, there were no other girls where i lived and so i became a tomboy we played in the streets all day and came home when the streetlights came on..lol

Parents never had to worry about where we were...we came home when we were tired and hungry, grazed knees and snotty sleeves were the norm..

[Cindy]

Things were so different then. When my children were young, we didn't dare let them run loose like that. Too dangerous. Parents who were able to let their kids just run and be kids had it so much easier. I never had an electronic toy during my childhood. Like your poem says, we didn't need them. We had a life instead.

[Prashant Shaurya]

I hail from a small village in India and I certainly know how it used to be when we were kids. The kids today enjoy playing football more on their playstations than on the ground. Its true, we didnt need them all. And as Stella put it, grazed knees and snotty sleeves were the norm...

[Fay Slimm]

What simple pleasures they were back then Tom - - I remember playing shops with just leaves, twigs and mud-pies for sale......... great read - I enjoyed every line.