Moments of Nostalgia

I was flicking through the channels tonight and landed up on Ski Sunday. I was vaguely aware it was still on but I haven't seen it in years. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I used to hate it when I was young because it signalled the weekend was nearly over. Late Sunday afternoon, you knew it was tea, bath and bed soon. I felt the same about Heartbeat. Earlier in the day though was Football Italia which was a highlight of any weekend. I could easily rattle of a Milan team from about 1992-2001 easier than I could name any Scottish Premiership club other than Hibs now.

A few days ago I was at my parents, same house I grew up in, and had to walk to the local Tesco. It's built on the site of an old field we used to play football in and I was quite melancholy thinking of the huge games or football we played there. 10 half time, 20 the winner if you had enough for a full game. World cup headers and volleys if there was only a handful. Got me thinking there must have been a last time we all played there, I doubt anyone knew it would be the case but that was it. Silly thing to get sentimental about really but all the same.

Finally on Friday night I made mince and doughballs for dinner. First time in ages. Again when I was young I went to my granny and grandads for tea every Thursday. Mince was often on the menu and as hard as I have tried I can never quite make it the way my granny did. I get close but something is never quite right. I'd pay all the money in the world to have one more plate of that mince on a Thursday night.

Avoiding the nasty undercurrent that is often present on social media nostalgia places does anyone else ever have these moments where memories feel almost tangible? I often find it very bittersweet. Anyone else have any favourite memories of things you used to do, things you used to be able to buy etc?

We lived free as children, my childhood other than broken parent wise we still lived our lives as one big adventure. My household was toxic to say the least and I think I spent more hours outdoors than I did indoors, unless when staying at my Nana and Grandads house most of the summer.

Leith was amazing as a kid, industrial, dirty and dangerous but so much to do and so many derelict buildings from factories to tenements to pubs to explore, Leith had it all.

Arthurs Seat and Duddingston golf course held many great memories, the golf course in particular where the minute you walked off the beaten track the noise of the road traffic ceased, it was a new world of smells, colours and sounds, as well as giving you all that it gave you a history lesson from the secluded mansion house hotel to the location of the war time Nissan huts to the water lades that served Duddingston mills in days of yore.

Arthurs seat where we would spend endless hours rolling about on the hills or trying to climb some steep inclines, my Nanas dog chasing the sheep and us getting chased by the “parkies”

Dicing with danger trying to navigate the ice on St Margarets or Dunsapie Lochs or the risk of breaking our ankles doing the popular burn jumps.

Searching for scrap bikes in the Niddrie burn to build our own bikes or for old prams to salvage the wheels and springs to assemble our guiders. A summer never went by without a 15 aside game of football and then home at tea time to await the chippy van followed by Arcaris or Johnnys ice cream vans.

If I could turn back time to the good old days.

Another one was usually about this time of year my parents coming home with a holiday brochure or 5 and sitting with the neighbours we went away with looking at hotels then flicking to the back to see what airports were served and what the flight times were😅😅😅😅 Then going into an actual shop to book it.

It's about 4 clicks online to book a holiday now.

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Originally Posted by Pretty Boy

I was flicking through the channels tonight and landed up on Ski Sunday. I was vaguely aware it was still on but I haven't seen it in years. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I used to hate it when I was young because it signalled the weekend was nearly over. Late Sunday afternoon, you knew it was tea, bath and bed soon. I felt the same about Heartbeat. Earlier in the day though was Football Italia which was a highlight of any weekend. I could easily rattle of a Milan team from about 1992-2001 easier than I could name any Scottish Premiership club other than Hibs now.

A few days ago I was at my parents, same house I grew up in, and had to walk to the local Tesco. It's built on the site of an old field we used to play football in and I was quite melancholy thinking of the huge games or football we played there. 10 half time, 20 the winner if you had enough for a full game. World cup headers and volleys if there was only a handful. Got me thinking there must have been a last time we all played there, I doubt anyone knew it would be the case but that was it. Silly thing to get sentimental about really but all the same.

Finally on Friday night I made mince and doughballs for dinner. First time in ages. Again when I was young I went to my granny and grandads for tea every Thursday. Mince was often on the menu and as hard as I have tried I can never quite make it the way my granny did. I get close but something is never quite right. I'd pay all the money in the world to have one more plate of that mince on a Thursday night.

Avoiding the nasty undercurrent that is often present on social media nostalgia places does anyone else ever have these moments where memories feel almost tangible? I often find it very bittersweet. Anyone else have any favourite memories of things you used to do, things you used to be able to buy etc?

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The high school I went to is long gone, a new one built on the original ones playing fields, then the old one knocked down and new playing fields put there.

My daughter’s swimming lessons are in the new school, every week when we’re there I get loads of memories going through my head. My daughter loves running up and down a hill which is where the goals were that we always used to play football at (pitch was on a slope so one end was elevated to keep it level), the pool is on top of what was once another football pitch, the rugby pitch, and where they painted the running track in the summer months. Those days don’t seem all that long ago, yet they’re circa 30 years ago now, happy and sad at the same time when those memories are running strong

Catalogues, I remember my Aunty used to have a Kays catalogue which was about twice the thickness of a phone book, remember them ?

I must admit I am partial to grabbing a Screwfix Direct or Toolstation catalogue, Im power tool mad and its my version of a “scuddy mag” where I drool over table saws or flick a page and see a healthy set of diamond tipped drill bits 🤣

I have to watch my relationship with nostalgia as it can lead me to unhappy places. At my worst I have a tendency to wallow.

It’s funny because there are some things that I loved at the time but don’t feel remotely nostalgic about - I’m mainly thinking of stuff like cramming as many bottles of cheap alcopop as possible down my neck at student night. After having eventually been at Uni for 7 years, whilst my boozy, young, free and single days were lots and lots of fun, I wince when I think of them rather than pine for them.

One thing I’d maybe go for… I was going to a family funeral a couple of years ago. For about 10 minutes, before we headed up to the funeral in separate cars, it was just my mum and dad, my brothers and myself in my mum and dad’s house. No partners, no kids, no grandparents, just the five of us as it had been so much growing up. My mum commented on it having not happened for such a long time. I’d probably choose a run of the mill dinner, just the five of us. Piss taking, bullying, correcting grammatical slip ups or destroying anyone if they said anything stupid, stealing chips off each other… it was a great training ground for all sorts environments we’ve found ourselves in since. Obviously we still see each other but the dynamic is very different with my parents being older, the 3 of us having wives / partners and there being 6 kids between the 3 of us.

The problem with nostalgia imo is that it can stop you appreciating the stuff under your nose that you’ll be nostalgic about later. I find that the more I make an effort to appreciate something at the time then the less I feel the need to pine for it later. Kids growing up, growing out of outfits and stopping doing things is an emotional rollercoaster though.

I get that, it’s weird to think that there must have been a last time you did something that felt so normal. The last time you played football with your mates, the last time you went on a night out to a particular place or went drinking in a random spot that you always used to end up. Before we were going up town for clubs etc we always ended up at platinum point in the park. When we started going up town it was Hive or bust most of the time.

I spent a lot of my summers in East Lothian at my grandparents. Had some great times, first proper girlfriend, football for hours, den making, skateboarding, looking for half finished fags.

Grandparents both dead, contact with anyone I knew at the time long gone, everything about Innerwick seems smaller now. The last time I was at the park or the school was with my own bairns.

It’s weird, being 16/17 was an era of firsts but it was also a lot of last times too, those last times just felt less important at the time.

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Originally Posted by Smartie

I have to watch my relationship with nostalgia as it can lead me to unhappy places. At my worst I have a tendency to wallow.

It’s funny because there are some things that I loved at the time but don’t feel remotely nostalgic about - I’m mainly thinking of stuff like cramming as many bottles of cheap alcopop as possible down my neck at student night. After having eventually been at Uni for 7 years, whilst my boozy, young, free and single days were lots and lots of fun, I wince when I think of them rather than pine for them.

One thing I’d maybe go for… I was going to a family funeral a couple of years ago. For about 10 minutes, before we headed up to the funeral in separate cars, it was just my mum and dad, my brothers and myself in my mum and dad’s house. No partners, no kids, no grandparents, just the five of us as it had been so much growing up. My mum commented on it having not happened for such a long time. I’d probably choose a run of the mill dinner, just the five of us. Piss taking, bullying, correcting grammatical slip ups or destroying anyone if they said anything stupid, stealing chips off each other… it was a great training ground for all sorts environments we’ve found ourselves in since. Obviously we still see each other but the dynamic is very different with my parents being older, the 3 of us having wives / partners and there being 6 kids between the 3 of us.

The problem with nostalgia imo is that it can stop you appreciating the stuff under your nose that you’ll be nostalgic about later. I find that the more I make an effort to appreciate something at the time then the less I feel the need to pine for it later. Kids growing up, growing out of outfits and stopping doing things is an emotional rollercoaster though.

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I agree with your last paragraph.

I think there is a danger with nostalgia, or overly rose tinted nostalgia at any rate, of pining for a golden age that never really existed. I think we often forget that our brains filter out a lot of the bad stuff to leave us with the mistaken belief it was always the best of times. It's why so many people talk as though it was sunny every day of summer in their childhood.

I appreciate my life now and there are loads of things I look back on and wince; like you I don't really feel any warmth towards my student days. I enjoyed part time jobs I did then and loved the guys I played football with but the student nights out and whatever leave me cold.

There are odd moments though when a wave of nostalgia just hits me though. Today being one of them hence the thread😅

I took a walk (last year) around where I grew up. All totally changed now as it's been demolished and rebuilt but the burn we used play in / jump over was still there - albeit full of rubbish and with no water.

The football pitch at the high school was there but totally overgrown, though the rusty goals were still standing. Happy memories of scoring a barrowload of goals on it - everyone of them probably miles offside 😀

The fields which don't have housing are empty. They no longer have turnips to steal or hay bales to jump around in.

One thing I don't do so much now but did back then, is listen to the radio. I remember football being on radio 2 back on the day and used to listen to it in the kitchen with my Dad.

One that sticks in my head was when Colin Harris scored in a Hibs win at Ibrox in the early to mid 80's. A bit random!

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Originally Posted by Pretty Boy

I was flicking through the channels tonight and landed up on Ski Sunday. I was vaguely aware it was still on but I haven't seen it in years. It hit me with a wave of nostalgia. I used to hate it when I was young because it signalled the weekend was nearly over. Late Sunday afternoon, you knew it was tea, bath and bed soon. I felt the same about Heartbeat. Earlier in the day though was Football Italia which was a highlight of any weekend. I could easily rattle of a Milan team from about 1992-2001 easier than I could name any Scottish Premiership club other than Hibs now.

A few days ago I was at my parents, same house I grew up in, and had to walk to the local Tesco. It's built on the site of an old field we used to play football in and I was quite melancholy thinking of the huge games or football we played there. 10 half time, 20 the winner if you had enough for a full game. World cup headers and volleys if there was only a handful. Got me thinking there must have been a last time we all played there, I doubt anyone knew it would be the case but that was it. Silly thing to get sentimental about really but all the same.

Finally on Friday night I made mince and doughballs for dinner. First time in ages. Again when I was young I went to my granny and grandads for tea every Thursday. Mince was often on the menu and as hard as I have tried I can never quite make it the way my granny did. I get close but something is never quite right. I'd pay all the money in the world to have one more plate of that mince on a Thursday night.

Avoiding the nasty undercurrent that is often present on social media nostalgia places does anyone else ever have these moments where memories feel almost tangible? I often find it very bittersweet. Anyone else have any favourite memories of things you used to do, things you used to be able to buy etc?

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There were a few programmes like that. Bullseye and Songs of Praise are the ones I associate with that Sunday evening gloom. Scotsport was something to cling to, although the real kick in the guts was when for whatever reason they weren't actually showing football highlights and were instead live from some indoor bowls event or curling. You might has well just have sent me into school there and then.

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Originally Posted by DaveF

I took a walk (last year) around where I grew up. All totally changed now as it's been demolished and rebuilt but the burn we used play in / jump over was still there - albeit full of rubbish and with no water.

The football pitch at the high school was there but totally overgrown, though the rusty goals were still standing. Happy memories of scoring a barrowload of goals on it - everyone of them probably miles offside 😀

The fields which don't have housing are empty. They no longer have turnips to steal or hay bales to jump around in.

One thing I don't do so much now but did back then, is listen to the radio. I remember football being on radio 2 back on the day and used to listen to it in the kitchen with my Dad.

One that sticks in my head was when Colin Harris scored in a Hibs win at Ibrox in the early to mid 80's. A bit random!

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I've also got a powerful memory of that one, driving back from somewhere with my dad and the car radio relaying news of that late winner. Brilliant.

Rangers feature heavily in my radio memories come to think of it. The 79 Scottish Cup final replays plus the away leg of our 85 Skol Cup semi-final win at Ibrox. The former had me in tears, the latter almost too wrung out to be happy!

Some of my most nostalgic moments relate back to my primary school days. I was born and brought up in Leith in the 1950s and I went to Victoria Primary in Newhaven, where I spent lots of time with my cousins around the harbour and fish market. I’ve been away from Edinburgh for nearly 50 years, but occasionally drive through Newhaven on family visits etc. It always brings back fond and vivid memories.

Had a real moment of nostalgia on Christmas Day, I was loading the car, getting ready to head over to see parents and in-laws when two young lads came round the corner on what were clearly brand new Christmas present bikes.

I immediately saw myself in my old house at the Jewel, finally being allowed to use the mountain bike that had been in the dining room in the days leading up to Christmas, and getting it out for a shot at the earliest opportunity.


I agree with the poster above who mentioned trying to appreciate the here and now, I do think there’s room for those happy memories though.

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Originally Posted by He's here!

I've also got a powerful memory of that one, driving back from somewhere with my dad and the car radio relaying news of that late winner. Brilliant.

Rangers feature heavily in my radio memories come to think of it. The 79 Scottish Cup final replays plus the away leg of our 85 Skol Cup semi-final win at Ibrox. The former had me in tears, the latter almost too wrung out to be happy!

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85 cup game at Ibrox. Vaguely remember the bus windows getting tanned in after the game. Biggest Hibs support I've ever seen at Ibrox

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Originally Posted by He's here!

There were a few programmes like that. Bullseye and Songs of Praise are the ones I associate with that Sunday evening gloom. Scotsport was something to cling to, although the real kick in the guts was when for whatever reason they weren't actually showing football highlights and were instead live from some indoor bowls event or curling. You might has well just have sent me into school there and then.

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Antiques Roadshow always did that for me. Signalled the end of the weekend and that another week was here.

Got lots of childhood memories that pop up now and then, but the most regular one for me is driving past Wester Hailes High School which I pass on a daily basis. I spent my entire apprenticeship working in the consulting engineers office back in the early 70’s on that school learning to draw and eventually working on the site as the school was being built. Half of it has now been demolished and new buildings going up in its place. It’s mostly feelings of sadness knowing that something I was so keen and interested in as a young lad starting out at work and put all my efforts into at the time has now served it’s purpose and is gone forever.

I can remember when I was a kid and whenever we passed Meadowbank House that my mum would tell me that it was the bad boys home and if I didn't behave that's where I would end up, started working there when I was 17, left in 2002, due to start back there again next Monday. Actually feels a bit weird.

The social media algorithm at play here and combining with reading this thread earlier - Facebook showed me a 2-day old post from "The football community" of the away end (behind the goals) toilets at Tannadice.

It must be 20 years since I was last there, but they've not changed - or probably been cleaned - since then. Took me right back. Of all the places.

Warning - NSFW:

https://www.facebook.com/share/159z8kGnbZ/


I guess the wider nostalgia there was following Hibs home and most away games through 2004-09. A time when a game away to United would be the most important thing to me all week. I could reel off the remaining fixture list, had the line ups sorted, and couldn't wait to knock back my pre game Irn Bru's (for Tannadice, I remember a pub with trolls* and a wall clock that had a second hand that rotated smoothly rather than ticking each second away).

*Troll dolls - No offence to United fans, but from my experience of following home and away they seemed to have the ugliest support, but would be harsh to wait 20 years and call them trolls for it now.

A Hibs related one that we were talking about on New Years Day. Getting taken to the pub before/after a game. It would be my dad and his mates and one of his mate's son who was a couple of years older than me. It was originally the Loch Inn then when it dwindled to just my dad and his mate with his son, it moved to the Lea Rig which was near our house. We'd play pool but needed to be away from the pool table and sat a particular table by a certain time post-match, though as the other end of the bar had go-go dancers :greengrin

Not sure my mum realised about the go-go dancers until I mentioned it on NYD :greengrin. My wife was surprised even at me getting taken into a pub at an early age when at the football as it was different to her experiences of going the football when young (and she wasn't as young as I was when this started), albeit it was Ibrox her and her dad went to and they generally drove through.

Got us talking more generally about how pubs used to have go-go dancers in them - something you wouldn't really see now other than at a designated strip bar.

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Originally Posted by overdrive

A Hibs related one that we were talking about on New Years Day. Getting taken to the pub before/after a game. It would be my dad and his mates and one of his mate's son who was a couple of years older than me. It was originally the Loch Inn then when it dwindled to just my dad and his mate with his son, it moved to the Lea Rig which was near our house. We'd play pool but needed to be away from the pool table and sat a particular table by a certain time post-match, though as the other end of the bar had go-go dancers :greengrin

Not sure my mum realised about the go-go dancers until I mentioned it on NYD :greengrin. My wife was surprised even at me getting taken into a pub at an early age when at the football as it was different to her experiences of going the football when young (and she wasn't as young as I was when this started), albeit it was Ibrox her and her dad went to and they generally drove through.

Got us talking more generally about how pubs used to have go-go dancers in them - something you wouldn't really see now other than at a designated strip bar.

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Was there not a pub down the share that had go-go dancers and one was attacked by an exotic cat that was also kept at the pub? I mean now that I’m writing it I’m presuming it was an urban myth :greengrin

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Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Was there not a pub down the share that had go-go dancers and one was attacked by an exotic cat that was also kept at the pub? I mean now that I’m writing it I’m presuming it was an urban myth :greengrin

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Yes its a true storey, happened at Fairleys bar around the 70s, its where Gulianos is situated now at the shore.

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Originally Posted by Bridge hibs

Yes its a true storey, happened at Fairleys bar around the 70s, its where Gulianos is situated now at the shore.

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Yeah we talked about that story at New Year too as I’d read about it. Not been Gulianos for years, though. It’s a bar called Hemingway’s now.

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Originally Posted by overdrive

A Hibs related one that we were talking about on New Years Day. Getting taken to the pub before/after a game. It would be my dad and his mates and one of his mate's son who was a couple of years older than me. It was originally the Loch Inn then when it dwindled to just my dad and his mate with his son, it moved to the Lea Rig which was near our house. We'd play pool but needed to be away from the pool table and sat a particular table by a certain time post-match, though as the other end of the bar had go-go dancers :greengrin

Not sure my mum realised about the go-go dancers until I mentioned it on NYD :greengrin. My wife was surprised even at me getting taken into a pub at an early age when at the football as it was different to her experiences of going the football when young (and she wasn't as young as I was when this started), albeit it was Ibrox her and her dad went to and they generally drove through.

Got us talking more generally about how pubs used to have go-go dancers in them - something you wouldn't really see now other than at a designated strip bar.

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I had two football pub experiences. The pub before the game with Hibs and pub after the game if I went to watch my dad play.

My grandad was a Tamsons man so it was into the back room. Coke and crisps and sit in the corner. My mum always said it was a big improvement on her days with him when she was a child, for her it was pavement outside with juice and crisps. With my dad it was Leslie's Bar (still close to my favourite pub in Edinburgh). Seat in the back snug next to the fire, coke and crisps and then the big basket of pies got passed round. Trips to watch the TV above the toilet door which had the vidiprinter on showing the FT results coming in. The occasional bribe from my dad to tell my mum we 'just missed the 5 so had to wait for the next one' so he could get another pint in. We always got in about 4.30 and it was rammed until well into the evening.

When I was a kid and the Dads went to the pub before a game we were all left outside and mainly played football in the street with a crushed can

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Originally Posted by HUTCHYHIBBY

I can remember when I was a kid and whenever we passed Meadowbank House that my mum would tell me that it was the bad boys home and if I didn't behave that's where I would end up, started working there when I was 17, left in 2002, due to start back there again next Monday. Actually feels a bit weird.

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Getting driven by a angry dad to Doctor Guthries boys home and getting
threatened “one more time and you’re going in there “

The smell of a pub always takes me back to the Hopetoun which was our pre-match boozer of choice. Always got a seat, usually some lunch and the occasional illicit sip of lager.

It was a good pub in it's day. Don't know when it closed down but I drove past it and all of a sudden it was a Co-op.

Nothing does it more for me than a smell.

I was at a family event a few years ago and there was a lady who was a cousin of my granny who'd passed away the year before. She had the exact same smell when I went to give her a hug, it was absolutely bizarre. They had a passing resemblance to one another but they smelled the same, and it wasn't a perfume either. I could have been 4 years old giving my granny a hug again.

Walking past pubs when I was a kid and the smell of beer, just doesnt seem to be the same now.

Getting dragged kicking and screaming to the barbers from my Dad for a “baldy” that wasnt the worst of it though, I had bilateral **** off coos licks that resembled horns and at school everytime I walked past someone they went mooooo 😖

Great thread

I think one that always gets me is around my maternal grandfather.

He smoked a pipe and smoked Golden Virginia in it.

He died suddenly in 1970.

I never smelled Golden Virginia again until I was at High School (1974 onwards)

I remember walking down Brighton Place past a bus stop and a a guy at the bus stop was smoking it.

I was about 10 yards past him when it registered and remember turning back to the bus stop to check it wasn't my granddad as until then he was the only person I had known to use it.

I knew it couldn't be even that but couldn't stop myself checking

Love this thread! Grew up in Restalrig and I remember looking out the attic window of the house to see if the floodlights were on at Easter Road and, if they were, going in for my mate and running up to get into the ground. Used to go to any match which was on, reserves, youth team, a thing called, I think, Reserve League East or something, any excuse to go up. Once got to be a ball boy in the old terracing in a midweek reserve game. I was on that side by myself and I'm sure the players kept booting the ball as high and far as possible so I had to keep running to get it! :greengrin.

Also remember playing football in the old "dump" behind the old terracing at ER, then running along the walkway to get home. Every time I walk to the ground now with my son and we pass the new flats at the butterfly, it brings back memories.

Then there was being sent to the newsagents on a Saturday night to get the Pink. When it arrived, I'd have to take it to the Bottom Shop so dad could check his coupon before I went back up the hill! Good times.

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Originally Posted by McD

The high school I went to is long gone, a new one built on the original ones playing fields, then the old one knocked down and new playing fields put there.

My daughter’s swimming lessons are in the new school, every week when we’re there I get loads of memories going through my head. My daughter loves running up and down a hill which is where the goals were that we always used to play football at (pitch was on a slope so one end was elevated to keep it level), the pool is on top of what was once another football pitch, the rugby pitch, and where they painted the running track in the summer months. Those days don’t seem all that long ago, yet they’re circa 30 years ago now, happy and sad at the same time when those memories are running strong

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I cut my foot on the bottom of the swimming pool of the old High School when I was a bairn. My experience of attending the new school was decent enough, the pitches aren’t up to scratch though (unless they’ve been upgraded since I left). Used to love nipping out the gate on a free period for a walk around Dechmont Law and a “fag” with my pals, definitely made the rest of the day more entertaining. Liked a scotch pie from Morrisons (a mind when I was Safeway as well mate don’t worry[emoji16]) for my lunch and for some reason having to dodge the older boys launching bits of Morrisons saver chocolate at your head.


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