[naturelover]

Originally Posted by ziggybigwig

Oh it is lovely to hear other peoples happy memories.Especially cheering on a drissley grey day in Essex,to remember the good old days!! Actually,we must be really lucky here as only yesterday I took my daughter and the dog to pick sloes down 'the track' which is through some local woods just behind us,onto a track which runs through farmers fields.Admittedly it was blowing a gale,but we all still enjoyed it!! It is a public footpath and further on there are lots of blackberry bushes,which we may try out later on if it ever stops raining! I am 37 and my childhood memories were from the country,and at our school I remember one misty morning we were all taken outside to see the spiders webs on the hedgerow.I thank my teacher for that,as its one of my most vivid childhood memories,the beauty we all saw even at the tender age of 5 or 6,the whole hedge was covered in delicate white webs glittering in the morning sun,then we all went back in to draw them!! I also remember those endless summer holidays,going to play on a rope swing over a local pond,we swung right out over it,it was fantastic,with no adult supervision of course!! I remember sitting on the bales in the farmers fields,with the heady smell of fresh straw under our noses,whiling the hot hours away doing not much,but never ever bored!! Bike rides on country lanes,picking berries along the way.We had such great fun,but my daughter doesnt have any of these experiences,only things we do together,which,although enjoyable can never compare with the freedom we had as kids.

how right you are its such a shame its all gone,my chidren remember cos i am 61 but your child is young, but you are scared to let her out of your sight for too long with this wicked world as it at the moment,i would be no different if my children were young i would be scared to turn my back.