Children I

Once upon a time, when I was young, we didn’t have computers. We spent our free time playing in the streets, playing football, playing cowboys & indians, climbing trees, climbing small cliffs, running, bicycling, playing hide & seek, exploring, skiing, sledging, skating, playing king of the hill, spying on other kids, building wooden cabins, swimming, fighting other kids, sailing, fishing or driving our boats between the skerries. Some times I played alone, in the forest, with a wooden sword or with my air rifle, or I made cool armours out of empty cardboard boxes. When indoors we played with LEGO, toy cars, toy soldiers, Playmobile and on rare occasions board games.

A younger me: 

Then came “progress”…

Too many cars made it impossible to play in the streets at all. Most of the trees were cut down to make room for more houses and apartments. There was no longer anywhere to ski or go sledging, and the little lake we used to skate on turned into a bog as they drained the whole valley, to squeeze in some more boomer-apartments. There were no longer any kids in the streets and nowhere to build anything at all. But by then I was already in my late teens. I think I might have belonged to the very last generation in Bergen who spent my free time more or less as it is meant to be spent by kids.

At least my free time was spent well, something I can not say about the time I spent in kindergarten or school. Farewell, childhood. I wish I could have spent more time with you, but I was not allowed to. Most children no longer are. See you next time. I hope the world is different by then. Au revoir.