I have been remembering Sighthill in the daylight summer hours. Mainly. But there was a life after dark too. Once again it is hard to imagine later parents allowing their children such unsupervised freedom outdoors at night but it was commonplace in my memory.
And darkness favoured different sorts of sports: those that might be loosely grouped under the heading “Pissing-off the Neighbours”.
The most basic, the easiest, and probably the most rewarding was “Knock-door-Run”. The rules were not very complicated. A nominee from the group (and this was a game that only made sense with more than one player) had to advance up the garden path and knock loudly on the front door before legging it after the others who had already started their escape. Experience showed that certain targets were more responsive than others so they got more attention. There was also merit in playing the same front door several times in a night, and producing an accumulation of irritated abuse. There was recognition of outstanding bravery.(Continued in Part Two)