Brightly coloured plastic toys

were strewn across a road I pedalled down yesterday.

There were a lot in the particular shade of pink we associate with that "doll" with the impossible figure but there were also bright yellow, red, orange, a little green and a bit of blue. There was a sort of climbing frame, some broken Lego, a table and three (broken) chairs.

Obviously someone had been clearing out. Perhaps it was all there for the "hard rubbish" collection. A couple of teens were kicking some of it up and down the street. Nobody else seemed to be around.

I detoured past the teens and the rubbish. There was no point in getting involved. The two boys did not look friendly. They had shouted obscenities at me and someone running past them. Hopefully someone in the street was going to see them fooling around and do something about it.

But I was also reminded of several things when I saw those toys. The first memory was of something not so good. My maternal grandmother bought one of those ghastly dolls. I don't think she really thought we would play with it because it was one of those things she told us we had to be "very careful" with. I can remember how excited she was by this new toy. They had probably not been on the market that long in this country.  I was never a very "doll" sort of child and I thought it was awful. My mother, knowing what my reaction would be, warned me prior to seeing it that I was to behave myself. I tried but her mother was still "very disappointed" I did not enthuse over it. We children never played with it in the end. I have no idea what happened to it. Over the years I have helped children knit clothes for these dolls but I still don't like them at all.

But the abandoned table and chairs brought back a good memory. We had a distant elderly cousin in another state who was very generous with money at Christmas time. I remember struggling to write letters to this man. It was not because I did not want to thank him. I did but I didn't know him so it was very difficult. Our parents though were very sensible. I had my first proper doll as a result of his kindness and my brother had his first teddy bear. Several years later my brother and I had a very well made table and four chairs as a result of his generosity. The set was made from wood and it was sturdy. It lasted four of us, then my brother's children and then his grandchildren. The set is still in use - borrowed by another family with a young child.

And that is what can happen when things are well made from timber. I had a dollhouse (the one I turned into a railway station) made by the Senior Cat. I had a walker filled with wooden blocks made by him. My brother had an even bigger set of wooden blocks (now used by visiting children).

The Senior Cat made similar things for all his grandchildren and for the children in the street while he was still able. Every time they have been cared for, stored away for the next generation when no longer needed. When Middle Cat suggested to her boys they could pass the rocking horse on to their much younger cousins there was outrage. They were not parting with Henry! She gives it a loving pat whenever she is in the room it is stored in.

I don't think that sort of thing happens with most plastic. Plastic doesn't last. It doesn't feel the same. It can't stand up to the same sort of rough treatment - although Lego does seem reasonably tough and does seem to get passed down.  But, timber is timber. Properly made wooden toys will last and last. Things like the building blocks are often seemingly simple but their play value is immense.

I hope the children who had those plastic toys which were strewn across the street also have some wooden ones they have been able to keep.