It is a convivial time of relaxation, fun and events but some things have changed over the years, over the decades…and so I’m here to tell you what Summer was and used to be like when I grew up during the decade of the ‘80s.
I remember that in June, right after the school year had ended mid-June, together with my classmates we ended up in the city fountain to get wet and celebrate ‘freedom’ and we often started throwing water balloons at each other filling them up at the drinking fountain of the playground.
Now it is forbidden to bathe in the fountains although some tourists still do it and it is rare to find drinking fountains still working.
When I was a child, I would spend my Summers at the seaside. My parents would drive me there and lose sight of me until dusk. I would swim, play with other children and go for walks along the shore.
Now parents keep an eye on children at all times. Maybe times have changed and now there are more dangers than there used to be, or maybe parents have just become more attentive…who knows.
Every year we would get the same beach cabin, the same chairs in the same row and so we knew our beach umbrella “neighbour” and we would share updates on family members year after year.
Also the lifeguards were always the same and being a lifeguard was a profession.
Now people come and go, change beach resort year after year searching more affordable solutions.
Lifeguards change year after year too and it’s getting harder and harder to find them because people do not want to spend their Summers working for a miserable pay.
Back then, we would play beach volleyball tournaments, hopscotch on the promenade, badminton by the water and start huge water balloons fight too. We would fly kites or use glass or plastic marbles and organize competitions building tracks on the sand by dragging by the feet the smallest child in the group.
Now most of these activities are forbidden on the beach (not to disturb other clients) or no longer played by children (such as hopscotch, kites or marbles).
During my childhood, I would read comics under the beach umbrella, mainly Disney comics and my parents would read a book or do crosswords.
Now most children and adults relax or watch their phones under the beach umbrella.
In the ‘80s I remember my mother's rice salads and sandwiches eaten on the beach.
The iced lemon or peach tea ordered by the cafe’, the Eldorado ice creams (now Algida) with prices in Italian lire and the freshly fried donuts bought from the beach vendor walking up and down the beach saying : “Bomboloni caldi!!!” (hot donuts/fritters)
Hot bomboloni sold on the beach
Now it is borderline forbidden, or at least frowned upon, bringing food from home to the beach resorts and you are supposed to buy expensive food from the cafe’ on the beach and the food vendors are no longer seen maybe for a matter of licenses.
After lunch on the beach we would rent a moscone, a very small rowing wood catamaran that we used to visit the nearby inlets or watch jellyfish.
Moscone
Now you can still rent fancy plastic paddleboats on the beach but it’s not the same and the mosconi boats are reserved for lifeguards.
I remember that in August we would watch mainly horror films on TV at night because all the channels showed a lot of horror films reruns (not sure why).
Now families watch TV on demand, paid channels and TV series online, what, where and when they want.
I may be a bit melancholy because Summer is coming to an end or maybe because my son has just turned five and he is growing up so fast…truth is I miss the ‘80s and the old times and I think Summers used to be better back then. Maybe I was just young and carefree.
