I went to school Primary School in the 1950s, the days before trendy backpacks. Girls carried little cases and young boys had little leather backpacks but nothing like the modern ones. Older boys, if they were lucky had kitbags. I think maybe kitbags and long pants went together!
Inside the cases and bags there were no flash drink bottles, insulated lunch boxes, MP3 players, mobile phones or “tablets” even if they belonged to big Year 7 kids. Things you might have found in a case or bag were some doogs (marbles), skipping rope, piece of string to play “Cat’s Cradle” or a ball. There would probably have been a reader, maybe a homework book and most kids would have had lunch in a paper bag. I can’t remember ever taking my lunch, Mum always gave me money to buy it from the little shop beside the school.
The little shop sold all traditional lunches, pies, pasties, sausage rolls and I guess sandwiches. In my last couple of years at Primary School they introduced Hotdogs and they were very popular. Coke must also have been available because I remember a particular incident concerning Coke.
When we were thirsty we used to go to the taps at the troughs and drink the water from our cupped hands. Nobody wandered about with little Fruit Boxes or pop top bottles of drink. One day our teacher must have felt an overwhelming need for a Coke because she sent me to the little shop to get it for her. On the way back the urge to taste it was just too great. Everyone else was in class so I took a sip through the straw then realized it would be lower than she expected so I topped it up at the water trough. She drank her Coke and said nothing but I was never asked to get her a Coke again.
You didn’t know that about Nana did you?
Musings of a Retiring Person 