A Season for Marbles
page 12


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Games

There was a season for marbles, you know
You always had a season for everything
How did you know when the season began?
You always played out in the street so you knew
There was a big rope across the road

We'd chant:
Mrs Simpson's a dirty old bore
She's been married twice before
Now she's knocking at Teddy's door
In Eastbourne all the girls from different laundries
would come out and skip on Good Friday
There were hoops, whip and top, rolling a hoop,
marbles, alley, alley up the wall, Kaleidoscope, play all
up the gutter, big marbles, tin can copper

We used to play Farmer's in His Den
How does that go?
Stand in a circle.
Farmer wants a wife,
wife wants a child,
child wants a nurse,
nurse wants a dog
and we all pat the dog etc.
We used to throw a ball against the toilet wall
in the garden
It went like this:
Plainsie, clapsie,
round the world and backsie
Touch your knees, touch your toes,
round the world and back you go.
We'd put string on people's letter-boxes, pull and run like mad.

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