Much the same as you , we had collected this large bundle of wood also in a field which we duly then set fire to , it of course spread way beyond our planned operation and the Fire Brigade had to be called , from our perspective it looked not unlike the Great Fire of North London , for a few minutes it was glorious fun which as in your case soon got out of hand .

They were in my experience halcyon days , conkers , had bags of the bloody things , the delight in breaking your oppents , the excitement of breaking open the husk to see inside , shrimps, flying saucers , comics , presents in the comics (eagerly waited each week), marbles , regiments of toy soldiers , hornby trains , ray guns , cap pistols it semed endless the things we wanted

The Worst part of growing up was school , I think i could have had more fun in Broadmoor

BM

I agree. School was a different reality.

We had "Dean Man's Gully" - a storm water drain with a steep slope.

A cardboard factory was across the street, so we would grab large scraps of offcuts and slide down the hill on them.

One of the boys actually had a sling shot!  Got me in the ass as I was dragging my "slide" up the hill.

Bastard!

We had streets safe to play in , coppers on the beat who you knew and they knew you and where you lived and there was respect .

Breakfast then out and then back at 5 in the meantime somebodys mum had prepared sarnies and lemonade and you sat on your bum anywhere and ate fought laughed and had the greatest fun ever .

BM

Summertime was the BEST when I was a kid, six cousins let loose in the woods and lake at the cottage, (infants and toddlers left in maternal care), exploring, and splashing with no supervision, the eldest ones preventing the younger from getting harmed, until we all went back, hungry, scraped and bug-bit.

Then, the eldest female children were directed to dinnertime chores, while the boys ate and ran, as we had to be the scullery.  But my elder cousin and I like to pick interesting things out of the woods, and pile them in tasteful arraignment in the middle of the table for decoration. Bugs would crawl out as we were dining, but the Patriarch said nothing, he was amused.

Well, if they were beetles, then that could look quite festive!

Oh, but a table that seated 20 had ample room for our creations, but nothing spectacular like that, except for the occasional stink-bug beetle that was despised at mealtime.

We get those here.

Do yours look like this?

Not quite, your stink-bugs look more exotic, with all the flashy marks. Thank goodness that we don't have to compare the smells.

Oh, by the way, since so many are talking about running wild as children, were all of you at least taught how to swim first? We all swam and frolicked like otters, but I read so many sad stories lately of children drowning in PONDS even, because they didn't know how to swim. It was a first priority of mine, for my kids, and now they go to the Boundary Waters, and canoe every year, most vacations involve lakes, streams and rivers.