Yet another story of being a young lad arounf 10/11 years old or there abouts.
My Grandmother lived in Perranporth on the north coast of Cornwall, I spent many happy hours there during the holidays fishing off the rocks or walking along the 3 mile beach when the tide was out.
Imagine the competing among the local kids to find the glass fishing net floats that had broken away from the nets, so it was a case of getting up very early and racing to the beach to start the hunt.
Best time was after a storm or a few day after, beginning the hunt among the rocks for any glass balls used to support the fishing nets from the Fench fishing fleets. way out at sea . To say I had a bit of success? well yes I still have about 10 in my loft here. Shops sell imitations ones easy to tell because wrong green colour or too light. I also have a clear glass one wich is relatively rare now,
What one did as a kid is so far removed from kids of today
Outstanding, realspeed!
During the few years that we lived directly on the coast, we would race out to collect empty abalone shells after storms raced down the California coast from Alaska. There were so many to be had that I remember our neighbor lining her sidewalk with them. I was enchanted with the Mother of Pearl linings in the shells, and the tidal pools where we would sometimes find them. The anemones, urchins, and starfish would cling to the rocks or hide in the sandy bottoms of the pools, a thousand times more intriguing than any aquarium. We would explore until our feet were too cold and numb to jump from rock to rock, and our fingers had gone white from the icy Pacific salt water.
Though it’s not the same as California, the attribute that pushed me over the top on buying our current house was that it would afford my twins the same free exploration; it just came in the form of salty marshes and muddy estuaries. I had a lot of muddy shoes, grubby treasures, and wet, filthy clothes to contend with from all those explorations, but it was an easy price to pay.
Thank you both. @Surfermom and @realspeed for the Happy memories you recall .Does seem with new technology , the old ways are lost and simple enjoyments you describe are no longer enjoyed .
@realspeed Did you know that they were ‘invented’ by a Scandanavian merchant Christopher Faye and first produced in Norway by Hadeland Glassverk of Jevnaker in 1842.
BTW, this info came from my wife Mags (Magnhild)