Not to sound like a codger, but I would walk a mile and a half to and from kindergarten

[hunter]

69. In the 'sixties we walked about a mile to school in fluid mobs of neighborhood children.

We had to cross one very busy Los Angeles street but there was an adult crossing guard there.

I frequently walked with a third grader I admired who introduced me to firecrackers. (I was in the first grade.)

We had a neighbor whose front fence was chains welded to 3/4" galvanized pipe. The tops of the pipes were open.

One morning we were dropping lit firecrackers into the pipes and then we'd quickly drop in a small handful of dirt and small rock chips that we'd swept off the street. It made a nice shotgun effect and was great fun. We could hear the little rock chips raining down on parked cars and the sidewalk.

Then a firecracker didn't go off for a few seconds and the kid inexplicably put his face over the pipe to look.

BAM!

Fortunately they were small firecrackers so his injuries were not permanent. Nobody ever mentioned the true cause of the accident to any adult.

Boys are stupid.