A-Z Challenge: N is for Nostalgia

Today is the fourteenth day of the A-Z Blogging Challenge. As you probably know by now, I'm doing an A-Z of human emotions, feelings and mental states.Today is the letter N and I'm writing about Nostalgia.

Nostalgia is a sentimental longing for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. Most of us feel nostalgic about our childhood and the school days which we hated at the time, but now see through rose-tinted specs.

Check out my Childhood Memories Pinterest Board!



 Here is a list of some of the things that  miss from my childhood and teens:

• Apple laces! They do still exist but now they're usually without artificial flavours and colours which makes them suck. But back in the day they used to be bright green and deliciously juicy.
• Kids TV shows like Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, The Poddington Peas, The Worst Witch,  Blue Peter, The Magic Roundabout, Playdays, Dennis the Menace, Fun House, Harry's Mad, Bernard's Watch, the Moomins, Morph, Art Attack, Noddy, The Clangers, Camberwick Green, Rosy and Jim and the Sooty Show. Anyone remember those?
• Harry Potter. I'm nostalgic about the early days when Daniel Radcliffe and co. were just tiny chubby faced little kiddies...look at them now! It's really sad that the books are all finished now, I miss the good old days when everyone was looking forward to the next book.
• Summer holidays. Now I have a job I don't really get them anymore- not six weeks anyway. Why is it that you always remember them as really long and impossibly sunny and hot? I used to run around in my swimming costume having waterfights with other kids at barbecues, without a care in the world. Now we're lucky if we get a couple of weeks of sunshine and most of that is spent with me sweltering in jeans and a T shirt because I'm too body conscious to get in a bikini. Oh well.
• Playstations and game boys. Sure they have fancy stuff out now like the X Box and nintendo DSi etc. but there was something really fun and retro about the original consoles. Something so appealing about beating up pixellated 2D characters on Mortal Combat. Now they're getting a bit too realistic and gory in my opinion. I loved playing Spyro the Dragon, Sonic the Hedgehog and Rayman.
• Pogs! Did anyone else used to collect those tokens from cereals and crisps with the looney toons on them? At one time they were the coolest accessory ever.
• Tamagotchis! I had a cute kitty cat and a dinosaur that hatched from an egg. Virtual pets were so much easier to look after- you just had to feed them, play with them and bath them every now and then, all with the click of a button. It was so uncomplicated and we felt like such rebels sneaking them into school.
• Airwear boots. I had lots in all different colours including a floral pattern. My sister and I had matching red ones with the 101 dalamations on them. They were so cute and comfy.
• Dungarees! I am so hoping these will one day make a serious comeback.
• Pokemon cards. I used to try to collect them all and spent a fortune in pocket money on buying cards and newsagents and garages. I would get so exctied when I got a 'shiny' and I was delighted to eventually get a Charazard. I used to watch the show too with the cheesy song 'Pokemon, yeah you're my best friend, in a world we must defend...pokemon gotta catch 'em all!'
• Rollerblades and skates. Hardly anyone seems to use them anymore but I used to go to roller parties all the time.
• Cheesy 90s pop. As much as I love to hate it I just can't help singing along if I hear an old 'classic' like Barbie girl or Dr. Jones or something by Steps or S Club 7. My siblings and I started our own 'band' called Chaos where we would basically just get my Dad and his girlfriend to pay us for standing on the sofa or bed and singing S Club 7 songs into hairbrushes. We took it really seriously at the time- I was the treasurer!
• Building dens. I built some amazing dens in my youth by weaving sticks together to create fences and roofing and then hiding away where grownups couldn't find me.
• Birthday parties! Remember when you got up at 6am on your birthday and rushed downstairs to unwrap all presents? Remember when your parents actually made a fuss of you on your birthday and got you things you really wanted instead of practical things for your house and you actually got a cake? 

That's about all I can remember right now. What are you nostalgic about?