Can you imagine going off to the beach for a whole day without any adult supervising you? Having such freedom these days only happens when you are a teenager but when I was growing up it was a normal summer occurrence. For the first 6 years of my life I lived at Henley Beach and it was only a 2 or 3 minute walk to The Esplanade. On the foreshore there was a brown, brick kiosk with big steps going down from the road to a lower section then down again to the beach. If we wanted a more exciting day we’d walk up to Henley Square where you could buy Fish and Chips though I think giant Bush Biscuits were what usually sustained us.
One day for some reason lots of little crabs were scuttling across the sand and we had great fun catching them and watching their mouth parts moving and their little legs frantically scrabbling to get free. Great fun until one managed to get hold of my thumb with a claw. OUCH! I shook my hand madly and the crab was dislodged but not its claw. With only one hand to do it there was no way I could get the latched on claw off my tortured thumb. I guess I was running to find a big brother to get it off when a nice lady responded to my tears and removed the claw. I imagine the thumb went straight into my mouth then, according to Dad that was always the best way to make it feel better.
You didn’t know that about Nana did you?
Musings of a Retiring Person 
Just perfect for times past. I don’t think even as a fellow baby boomer I went to the beach without adult supervision probably until I left home but then I didn’t grow up in a beach suburb. I have to ask what was a giant “bush biscuit.” I don’t know whether they are a specialty of Adelaide or do I know them under a different name? We too were told to suck it and it’d feel better. Wonder if that is an Aussie belief. Thanks for taking part and adding another Australian voice to the mix.
The more I think about it the more I believe Mum was just happy to have us out of the house. When we lived at Henley Beach I was one of four children, number five arrived after we moved to the next suburb.
Thanks for the welcome to your site.
There weren’t the dangers lurking then that there seems to be these days. We had a lot more freedom. Glad you made your way over… 🙂
I’m not sure about there being more dangers today but there is certainly a lot more publicity about nasty happenings. I also think as kids we had a lot more responsibility for our own safety, I can’t recall any “helicopter mums”. I do wonder though if the proliferation of cars means that more “nasties” do try to act on their evil impulses confident that they can get away quickly if things blow up in their faces.