Visit from Grandpa Paddy

Two of us (a boy from Ms. McLoughlin's class and a girl from Ms. O'Connor's class) have the same grandad called Paddy Ryan.  He is 70 years old, and he came to talk to our classes today about what life was like when he was young.  Paddy is a terrific speaker, and he gave us a very entertaining and informative talk.

We saw photos of Paddy as a baby in his pram (actually, we thought it looked like a boat rather than a pram), and we saw pictures of the thatched cottages in the Claddagh where Paddy grew up. Paddy always wore shorts as a young boy (even in winter) and lots of his friends had no shoes growing up. They played outside all summer on the grass and on the roads. Sometimes they even got tar on their feet and legs. Paddy played lots of great games with his friends. One of Paddy's favourite games as a young boy was "Cowboys and Indians" which is not played at all now.  Paddy and his friends used to enjoy going to the woods to find sticks to make their own bows and arrows.  We also heard about football, camogie, hurling and marbles.
It was safe to play in the roads in those days, because there wasn't so much traffic.
In bad weather Paddy and his 7 sisters and 2 brothers played games with garters (elastics for holding up your socks).  It was played in the dark and sounds so much fun.
We think that Paddy had a very happy childhood, eating yummy soup, bread and jam and drinking water, milk or buttermilk by the heat of his turf fire.
Thank you so much Paddy for telling us all about your childhood.  We really enjoyed your visit!