When we were shopping at the weekend there was a child absolutely breaking his heart and sobbing for England because he wasn't allowed a Buzz Lightyear figure. While I can remember desperately wanting similar stuff around that age (especially when "everybody else" had one) I don't recall ever having hysterics in public over them. I could be wrong of course, probably the mind blocks that sort of thing out in the child, while the parents will recall the grief and embarrasment of dragging a screaming child away away from something plastic.
Right now, while I would give a lot for a computer that just worked (an update to our anti-virus software seems to have buggered up the ability to connect to the interwebs) I'm not about to have a tantrum over it. And I can happily live with the knowledge that there will be a new Iron Maiden album out on Monday without having to be at HMV for the store opening (of course, if I get the computer sorted I coukld order it to arrive on Monday!). Maybe that's just an age thing, but even the stuff I really wanted as a kid I could generally wait for rather than having to own it right now.
I don't think we were hard done by at all, but here are some of the things I really wanted when younger that I never did get to own...
Lego Railways - We had an old Hornby 3-rail system that had been Dad's and was got out from time to time but at some point he sold it. I can't recall why now, and am sure the intention was to update with a modern set but this never happened. At the same time Lego started doing their train sets and these seemed like the absolute business to me. Not only could you do what you liked with the track, but you could make your own trains as well. Mind you, I also used to read Railway Modeller magazine every month (they got it in the school library - I wasn't bad enough to buy it myself) and would have been just as happy with a non re-buildable system.
Scalextric - My brother had a rip-off slot racing thing with blue track that was great fun for what it was, but there was no way of buying extra track so we were limited to a couple of different layouts. And it was battery powered rather than mains, so never lasted long before the cars were slowing down of their own accord.
Radio control cars - Again, little brother had one or two that were fun enough in their own way, but what I really wanted was a Tamiya kit jobby. High performance, fast and dangerous! Assorted friends had their Superchamp, Wild WIlly, Audio Quattro and Opel something or other models which were great for the half hour or so the batteries lasted when I could get a go, but to have my own would have been bliss.
Hmmm, something of a transport theme here. I also craved some Star Wars space ships to go with the action figures that we did manage to collect but these were all out of our price range. I'm sure there was other stuff, but that's another post...
