I must agree with Wally about the Downs being a favourite place. In the 40s and 50s our Downs were above East Brighton Park. Just over the hills was Ovingdean, another playground. The golf course had 2 or 3 bomb craters that we played soldiers in. In the summer we used pieces of cardboard rubbed with a candle to make it slippy and zoomed from the top to the bottom, and then back up again for some more. It always snowed in the winter then and we would get hold of bits of lino or trays and thunder down to the bottom on the snow. There were very few fat kids then, we were too busy running around. A few years ago I took some of my grand kids to the park to show them where I played as a kid. The scars from those bits of cardboard are still there after all those years. And so are the scars of the paths we used to go back up to the top again. In those days we did not have very much at all. Just full bellies and lots of fun. I think that the kids of today miss the sort of fun that we had. We didn't feel the need to carry any weapons, and we didn't feel the need to vandalise anything either.