Land before time.

It's amazing how much we rely on technology now-a-days. Think back, oh, say 20 years at the things we did as kids.(That is if your in my age range ^_~)

The days before Playstation, X-Box and company, when you was lucky to have an Atari in your house. When you played out on the street and the neighbours mum's used to yell at you for the noise.
When you all owned either a bike or a pair of roller skates.. and you played *Dutch ball on the neighbours wall. In them days your neighbour's were exactly that, your neighbour. You looked out for each others kid's.. brought Ice Cream from the van not only for your own kids, but those playing with them. You told them kids off to, not fearing the reprisal from the parents.

Yes, I am taking a walk back in memory lane. Trust me I have had enough time today to do that! There are a couple reason's for this though. Let me explain.

Firstly,
At work a while back, I listened to an elderly gentleman having a chat with a friend of his. He must have read a newspaper article, or listened to the news on his radio, as the topic of conversation was about the government. Not wanting to engage in this, I carried on with what I was doing. I did catch the "odd" comment though. They were talking about "the state of the kids now-a-days", and how in their day a "good hiding" kept them in place. They went
on to say that if the young "uns" had to do National Service again, they would all be in line. That the government have no clue about how to run the country, and should have left it to the "capable folk". I must admit, these men reminded me of my late Grandad. He always said
the same stuffs.

Secondly,
I woke up this morning, as usual, and went to check my messages from IM. I was greeted with a nice page message:

"The page cannot be displayed".

Bear in mind that I had just woken up, and just sat looking blankly at the screen a good 10 mins before it finally sunk in that, no matter how much I pressed the button, no homepage was going to be displayed!

Time for tea!!

I return after "waking up", tried the same button again (yep I know dumb!!) and then decided to investigate.
I am connected directly to my internet, so I check the cables to make sure that none have come loose. No joy there. Check my router hasn't gone "pop" still no joy. Then I notice that the light isn't on the router box. I reach for the phone, thinking that the ISP might have turned me "off"
by some sort of accident. Ummm there is no dial tone. So that is the Internet AND the phone-line?!

Did someone forget to pay the bills this month?! (No.. I always pay my bills thank you =P)

I take a wander upstairs to put the tele on for the kids, who are now running round the house trying in vain to kill one another! And there is no Tele.. So then I figure that it must be the Cable Company at fault, so I grab my mobile and give them a call.

We have workmen in the area currently renovating a ladies house up the street. They are not English, and it amuses me at times to hear them arguing at each other in their own tongue. (I have a "thing" for different nationals, as you may or may not know!=P). They work everyday and from early morning to late at night.

Well a couple of days ago, one managed to cut a major cable that supplied the Electricity to the area. Cut us off for about 2 hours.. that was fun for all, and the kids at school were sent home early.(Seeing as the school is on the same road). Early hours of this morning, they managed to cut a cable fibre optic line. It's Sunday, and the cable company won't fix it till tomorrow. Oh great joy again!!

So that is the rather long winded account of why my internet and stuffs is currently not working.
Ok so the point of all this is?

Well go back to the beginning. Remember the day's without all the things we have today? The reason I am writing this, is because I have my children at home. They are bored senseless without their computer games, or their T.V to watch. There are so many videos and DvD's that you can watch in one day, without doing something different. We have a cupboard full of board
games that hardly see the light of day.. only to be complained at when they do. So I have to find some sort of entertainment for them. We cannot go over the road to the park.. not unless we want to change into swimming gear.. it's pouring down!

I remember entertaining my younger siblings by playing "adventure" games.. (usually involved climbing around the bedroom furniture without touching the floor), Playing schools (I was the teacher with cookies!) or even just drawing pictures together. My kids on the other hand just
want to tie each other up and play hostages!

I had a brainwave.. I grabbed a sheet and put it over the door and chair.. a tent! I grinned to myself as I remembered doing similar with my brothers and sister. I dived in, expecting my kids to come in with me.

A small head, (my daughter.. the one who always "leads") pops around the opening and with wide eyes looks at me and says "mummy, what are you doing with the washing?"

Bah technology, it's killing the mind (say's she who cannot live without her computer)


* Dutch ball consisted of two tennis balls that were "juggled" against a wall, usually along with a song. The song was sang, such as:

"Mrs. Mop owns a shop, all she sells is lollipops, red, yellow and green".

As you sung the colours you would do a "movement" with the ball, such as under your leg or one hand, ETC, Lots of fun!!