Knock Down Ginger versus Ding Dong Ditch

[sloopjohnc]

Ding Dong Ditch was one of those game you'd play when you had absolutely nothing else to do or were really bored in the Summer. It was always about 25th on the list after playing hoops at the schoolyard, lighting firecrackers in people's mailboxes or drainage pipes, making tennis ball rockets with lighter fluid, riding our bikes off Jeff's roof into his family's swimming pool or shoplifting baseball cards from stores downtown.

It was something you either did on a dare or one of my knucklehead friends would do on a whim and tell you he did while he ran past you on the sidewalk.

It was usually late in the afternoon when we did it and no one was home anyway.

[zoomboogity]

So that's another vote for Mrs. Howell, then? You rascal, you!

[meetthesonics]

The old kite string strung across the road about bumper high with cans tied to each end, can't forget that one.

[Moleskin]

I did this when I was a kid, in my gang, like a lot of people, but the lark was resurrected when we were 18 or 19 and we'd be walking home from the pub. We'd pass by rows of terraced houses in the posh part of Whitehaven (yes, there is one!) and it was ideal for knocky-nine-door.

We'd dare each other to do worse things, too - like uprooting plants from people's front gardens (we loved the word 'uproot' and if we did it we'd be able to say the word the following day if other mates asked what we'd been up to). We smashed a few windows, too. I took out the window of the Cons Club (at the time proudly displaying a large picture of Maggie T) once, and lived in fear for weeks afterward.

Once, a gang of us moved a parked mini from one side of the road to the other on our way back from the pub.

[Minnie the Minx]

Well, in Bradford it was ‘Knock a Door Run’ which is pretty literal considering what it entailed.

[Six String]

Seeing zoomboogity’s posts made me a little sad.

[Matt Wilson]

Yeah, I was a bit surprised (and pleased) to see Richard's old posts. I think of him often.