Blakeys!
Picture yourself in any concreted playground in any British school in the 1960's and 1970's......imagine yourself closing your eyes, and just ponder for a minute or two...
What do you hear?
The clack clack clack of those ball things on strings that used to knock together and bounce back like a Farmstore's Newton's Cradle?.....yes, maybe..
Or was it the sickening skull hitting thump as a laced leather,usually wet, twenty four pound football that has richoched into the unsuspecting and startled face of a first year, who has been launched backwards into a crumpled heap onto the cold concrete playground?....well, could be...
Still pondering?....imagining those playground sounds?.....the swish swish swish of a skipping rope brushing lightly against the concrete as chanting girls skp and bob and leap to escape the ever circling rope...maybe,maybe not....
Or,incredibly, is that Fred Astaire tap dancing outside the windows to the art block?...Fred Astaire?...tis impossible...nah...must be..er...um....a horse?...clippity clop, clippity clack, clippity clop, clippity clack,clack, clack....I know that sound....opening your eyes,yes, tis what you pictured...a kid wearing Blakey's!
Ah the memories....Blakey's in the tips of your soles, and hammered into the corner of your heels...these were the universally acceptable footwear that was worn in abundance. They were amazing things....worn at the right time they were the Playstation 3 of the late sixties and early seventies, a ful entertainment package that was the perfect accompliment to any new shoe.
Sparks were literally flying all over the country as thousands of Blakied kids would screech to a halt with a dramatic braking of the shoes...and then clippity clop away to get a run up for the next concreted skid, with extra points for dramatic arm gestulations that would add dramatic effect to the skid festooned playground.
Blakey's were both loved and hated in equal numbers...the teachers hated the noise of the assembly floor ripping gently underfoot as the Blakies kds dragged their tired feet into the hall....
Kids loved then for all the various reasons...
Blakey's...how I miss them.....................
