...of rats, ropes and tin tubs.....

Schoolchildren in the village are on holiday. How do we know? We were told! Hardly a child to be seen outside! What do they do? Don't they play outside anymore? When we were at school we couldn't wait for the holidays to be outside roaming around doing things......no computers, no television even, in my primary schooldays.
When I went to work in the 90s in a big government office in Edinburgh my workmates were mainly in the 20-30 year old age group. They said that vandalism was caused by not enough for youngsters to do.........what!........there are playparks, playschemes, cinemas, icerinks...the list goes on. We made our own entertainment back in the 40s and 50s.
I suppose we were lucky in that we had the farm and fields to play in, plus dogs, cats and a pony. Usually, in those days there were children from the ploughmen's cottages as well. We played hide and seek, chasing, kick the can, football, cricket (Gyp, the collie was an excellent wicket keeper) and other recognizeable games.
For a time, every night after dark, we would all creep down to the barn and up the stairs to where the grain was stored in huge piles on the floor, each of us armed with a huge stick. One person had been appointed to switch on the light and we would rush about chasing the rats which had assembled for a feast. I was terrified of the beasts (and still am) but I couldn't lose face in front of the younger children.
Climbing along the rafters in the sheds was another favourite as was making gang huts, and swinging over the burn.Sitting on a huge knot on the end of a long piece of rope tied to the branch of an overhanginging tree, provided endless fun.
In the summer we would go "dooking" in the loch, (we lived on the banks of Loch Leven in Kinross-shire) clad in our vest and pants, always ending up covered in midge bites.
Once I suggested to my brothers that we should try sailing on the loch in a big tin bath we had found. A trial followed with one of the dogs as crew. A long piece of rope was attached to the handle at one end and we walked along the stone pier pulling the "craft". It was a very short maiden voyage as the dog didn't fancy the experience and deserted the tub. Ross was then volunteered as the sailor but didn't last long either as the tin bath was flat bottomed, and very narrow and tipped over just as Jack and I had managed to pull it to the deeper water at the end of the pier. We were in trouble as we were supposed to be at Sunday School but had decided to opt out that day.
Home was a huge , very old, three storey farmhouse (I thought all my friends lived in similar houses), with a fairly long driveway covered with some sort of fine, red ash. This was regularly ploughed by us with a long forked branch resembling (roughly) the real thing, pulled by Beauty, the Shetland-cross pony. We had no harness but we improvised with sacks and pieces of rope.
We played "horses" most days and I have spent hours tied to a post while my brother went into the house for meals or hammered at my feet, playing the blacksmith. I took the part very seriously!
.......................I still haven't seen a child in the street!