At an age when I've forgotten how to play, I found myself the other day making a list of toys and games I received as presents in childhood. I remember each of these vividly, and feel good doing so: a big red plastic tractor with black wheels; a Lego set in a partitioned wooden box; a Waddingtons' board game called Scoop; a Waddingtons' Battle of the Little Big Horn; a second hand Subbuteo, with 2D players (from several teams, some incomplete) rather than the 3D models that were more common; a reel to reel tape recorder. (I know the last one doesn't sound like a toy, but that's in effect what it was for a ten-year-old.)
Funnily enough I can't recall anything else, other than colouring sets and the like, though I've been mulling over this for a few days. Oh, and an incomplete Totopoly set, which wasn't a present but just seemed to have always been around. The rules had got lost so we made up our own.
I suppose some people might think the brevity of the list points to some degree of deprivation given the very privileged childhoods some youngsters enjoy these days, but it didn't feel like that at all. Entirely the opposite. Since you got to play with all your friends' toys there was always more than enough.
I haven't a clue what happened to any of the above, except for the tape recorder. Mum kept that in her bedroom for years and it was thrown away when she finally moved out of Gresham Street. I can only hope the rest went second hand (or third in at least one case) to some kids who could enjoy them somewhere. I know I did.
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