Get back in your box Snoopy

Seems like everything from the 1970’s and 1980's is popular right now. I see things on social media that start with 'Remember this?' quite often.

I don’t have to remember anything. We have it all. We kept everything. That was the beauty of being from that era. You still had your grandparents around who had survived the depression and they taught you the value in keeping things. Besides the fact that the older toys were built with better parts, and just lasted longer than the newer toys made in China.

My brother, Matt and I have our original Atari. The joysticks are a little worse for wear but only because their rubber covers have come off. The unit and games like Space Invaders, Frogger and Ms Pacman all work fine.

We have our original Jack-in-the-Box from the 1970’s too. It’s Snoopy. While Mickey and Minnie seemed to have survived the passing of time, Snoopy is more dated. I guess it’s all down to marketing?

Sure our Snoopy-in-the-Box is somewhat dirty and has some tape holding the bottom on. But that's because we loved him. We loved the scare factor so much and would giggle for hours at the feeling of fright, even though we knew exactly at what part of the music he would jump out at us. And his soft black felt ears would stick out unless you pushed him back deep into the box. But he works perfectly more than 30 years later. That was the quality of the toy. My kids enjoy a good Snoopy scare now.

We also have our original Nintendo hand-held games. I have Donkey Kong Jnr and Matt’s handed over his Green House and Parachute. My partner and I still play them. Admittedly mostly on the toilet because that’s the only time we get peace from our kids. But the old games are still a great deviation from playing Words with Friends, Scramble or Angry Birds.

Matt has cars too. Things I never even knew he had as a kid. He’s got boxes of old lego, matchbox cars made from diecast metal not plastic and he’s got a great little Mazda RX7 with a gear shifter on its roof. I haven’t seen a car like it on the shelves today.

There’s nothing like finding something in an old box that reminds you of when your life was simpler. Childhood and adolescence memory triggers can really make you smile. I’m just worried that I’ve started to use terms like, “In the old days” and “When we were little” because that only serves to remind me that I’m getting further away from that carefree time. 

I have to go, Ms Pacman is backed into a corner, one kid is pulling the stickers off the Rubik's Cube again and the other has one end of the metal Slinky jammed in the door and is pulling on the other end until it's straight! 

"Listen here you brats, when I was young..." oh dear there I go again!