A lot of those stories are very similar to my experiences here in Ireland. I grew up in a suburb of Dublin in which the front of the house faced the city and the rear the country. Virtually ideal. Not many of us had BB guns though, we called them 'pellet guns'. We were poorer than you rich Yanks
We just used slingshots and had stone battles with neighbouring streets or areas. I remember being besieged in our garden by the enemy. This was no game either, it was genuine hostility. Another time, we fought a running battle with another neighbourhood at a major road junction, our street differences forgotten in a major confrontation with the next parish. Imagine how that would look nowdays.
Gun were not uncommon either. I remember seeing a couple of young lads walking down the street heading off to shoot rabbits with their rifles casually slung on their shoulders. Try that now and you'll feature heavily on the six o'clock news. I remember finding a live shotgun cartridge once and throwing it on a fire to see what happens
As a ten year old, I led teams of youngers children into the city, then onto the train to the seaside. Imagine how you would react now if a seven year odl went away all day with a group of other kids with a maximun age of ten. What were our parents thinking? Even then, it really wasn't that safe in the city. Equally we would hike out into the countryside, climbing into the Wicklow hills to visit places like the 'Hellfire Club' which has a scary story surrounding it. Adult supervision? Don't make me laugh. Even when I joined a first aid auxiliary our team leader for our outings to far flung parts was a sixteen year old.
Different times certainly. I read recently that some overprotective parents actually want their kids 'chipped' so they can track them at all times.
I don't think we should get too carried away with the 'good old days' mentality. Things were not that idyllic, not in cities anyway. Bad things happened but I suppose there was more tolerance of it back then.
