Tuned in...
with Drivetime DJ Andy Walker.
Do you remember the rhymes you would chant on the school
playground? I was randomly thinking about this the other week.
“Ip dip do, the cats got the flu, the dogs got the chickenpox
and out goes you,” was a classic for deciding which of your mates
would be on your football or netball team.
Imagine if important decisions in life were made with that
rhyme. Perhaps they should be. “Ip dip do” could decide our next
Prime Minister, which car to buy or which girl you should take out
on a date this weekend.
Back to the playground, there was the obvious rhyme you would
chant at the two people you found out liked each other.
“Susie and Adam sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes
love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in a baby
carriage.”
If skipping was your thing at infant school, you will remember
the game, Help. There was one jump for each letter. The ropes would
spin faster and faster until the jumper missed a letter. That would
provide hours of fun.
The rhyme I could never get the hang of was “Peter Piper.”
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”
It has been some years since I was a school – stop sniggering at
the back – so I don’t know what is being chanted in playgrounds
today. If playground rhymes have ceased, what is in their place? Is
Kiss Chase still active? The only game that was OK to play as a
child but never as an adult. Shame really.
Once you went up a few years at school, Kiss Chase was replaced
with Man Hunt. One of the most competitive games during playtime,
it involved having jumpers for goalposts. Man Hunt saw one person
stand at a ‘base’ – something like a post while a group of friends
would run off and hide. Your mission was to make your way back to
base without being tagged by the friend hunting you. I used to love
this game and it would last right up until the school bell rang to
signal the end of lunchtime.
Just reminiscing about these games makes me want to set up an
adult version. If there are any head teachers reading this who
wants to open up their school playground after the children have
gone home, I would be interested. Adult Man Hunt! Who’s in?
I’ll speak to you on your way home from 4pm.
15/11/12
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