Well the children always managed to keep themselves occupied in the Dumbiedykes- My young brother and his wee gang got up to all sorts of mischief. He could imitate a little chimpanzee he'd seen at the zoo. At the bottom end of Dumbiedykes Lane there was a section of the building that fell into the plantations- it's where the trees are now............This was a favourite place for climbing and playing- I think there was a couple of sewers that went there too because I remember an awful smelly bit that was in the plantations. There was also a bit where they had all tyres and things and this was favourite place for collecting stuff for bonfires. There was always a bonfire at the end of Dumbiedykes Lane for bonfire night.... there was real rivalry between the Holyrood Square and the Dumbiedykes children- they were always pinching each others' bonfire stuff. Do you think areas still have rivalries like this? We played in the street - there was never an accident there when we were young. You just learnt to be streetwise. We played at rounders, we played at everything- all over the street but there weren't so many cars maybe the odd one or two. Are you streetwise? Do you think it means the same thing today? Everybody, all the boys & girls played together but you very seldom had an argument, you know really- they were all friends.... Where we lived in Buccleuch Street we used to get a lot of books and (once we'd read them) we used to have races in the street for the books. Prizes you kept. Any other books you had you just gave them as prizes. The thing is there was always a lot going on- so that if anything was going to go on everybody would know. People didn't necessarily look out of the window all the time, but someone always knew if anything was wrong. If a stranger came into the street, they would be spotted right away. We went to the park, the Meadows, all just children ourselves- no adults at all with us and we were safe- there again there were a lot of Park keepers going about- you know- there was always someone there you could go to if something was wrong. Personally I don't think the children now have the freedom we had & I think that's a big miss for them really- we were able to go out and enjoy ourselves and have fun. You were always on the street- you never missed anything. Do you agree? Do children today not have the same freedom? Why?

Swinging on a lampost at the top of Richmond Street Playing in the street Playing peevers near Richmond Place