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The fifties and sixties were the best of times! You could ride
your bicycle to school and walk downtown! If it were sold, it was sold downtown.

Kids played outside because it was saf. Nobody locked their car and no one locked their door to their home. It was safe to leave their doors open at night.

We didn’t have air conditioning either at school or home. We had the attic fan to keep us cool at night but we didn’t have fans at school. One thing you didn’t do, you didn’t argue with your teacher because you didn’t want to get the same at home.

You collected Pepsi bottles cause you got five cents for them. They weren’t the only bottles you collected, Dr. Pepper, Cokes were the same amount and you could go get you a Bill’s hotdog and Mr. Ammon’s hot donuts to go along with it!

The days are gone when you could say” charge it “. Maybe at the local neighborhood store and you had two parents in business for themselves or parents who came in daily, you could say charge it!

Gone are the days when you dressed up for school. You would try to impress the older students at school. The kids nowadays wear what they wore yesterday or shorts and the teachers are the same way. Teachers should set the bar higher and should be setting examples.

I remember playing after supper in the neighborhood. The night was young and kick the can was always fun and wiffle ball was too. We got some of the best wiffle ball games ever played in the evening.

Shooting basketball in the gym while the varsity practiced was a no-no! Opening the gym up during the holidays was against the rules because Mr. Wagner could catch you.

Getting in the football game without paying is a sin! Many times I could sneak under the fence without paying to see my big brothers playing and could get a cup ball game going.

That was the way it used to be, but no longer. Times have changed so change with the times. I for one will never change.

They were the best times with the best of friends and in the best of places, Washington, NC! The Original Washington!

Harold Jr.