What could be found in Soviet yards and why for children these finds were worth their weight in gold

The childhood of Soviet boys and girls took place in the yard. After school and extra clubs, everyone rushed home. The schedule was very tight. You need to have time to have lunch, learn lessons, perform household errands from parents, sometimes go to the store for bread or milk. And only after that you can walk in the yard. And in the yard were waiting for friends, new adventures and good finds.



Yes, when the Soviet Union began mass construction of housing stock, you could find anything in the yard. Pieces of wires, fittings, all sorts of hardware and much more. Some items were then handed over for scrap metal or given to parents. My dad used to put it in the garage or closet until the right time. And other finds are very often used to create homemade yard weapons. Such a weapon could chase cats in the yard, and exchange it for riding a friend’s bicycle.



The main attribute of the Soviet hooligan was a slingshot. And if one slingshot appeared in the yard, then a month later even girls shot it. The main thing is to find the right branch with branching and cut it smoothly. Rubber tourniquet could be bought at the pharmacy or again somewhere to find. A piece of copper wire at a construction site in a nearby yard was not a problem either. Everything was well fixed, and you could safely go to chase pigeons. To make this slingshot required skill and ingenuity. Those who could not make themselves a slingshot, were forced to change it for inserts from gum and other fashionable things.



Instagram could have been made easier. All at the same construction site to find a piece of aluminum wire and bend in the form of a slingshot. If you were lucky, you could find a flagellum. Well, or to get a rubber band out of underwear, it was perfect for this case. Stick it all together, and the slingshot is ready. From pieces of the same aluminum wire, horseshoes were bent, which could be fired at pigeons and cats. This type of slingshot is very simple, so it did not cause much harm to anyone. To carry home this miracle of engineering in any case was impossible. So the slingshot was either a secluded place, or simply passed on to someone by inheritance.



Another type of weapon in the yard was darts. It is easier to make them, especially if welding works took place in the yard. The electrode garments had to be well sharpened on one side on the curb. On the other hand, pigeon feathers were tied, and darts turned out no worse than in the store. So all the wooden doors were littered with small holes from accurate hits. Trees also got hurt, but they could be scolded for it.



And in every yard there were mysterious letters E or Sh. They were metal and could be used as a boomerang. But none of the children knew where they came from in the yard, and were happy to find it. As adults, many learned that these are parts from transformer substations that stood in almost every yard. But how fun it was to find that treasure and launch it.



Children who did not have the Internet and computers, learned the world around them experimentally. Unfortunately, such experiments sometimes ended in injuries and injuries. But still in each yard there was a group of hooligans who continued to experience various finds in the yard. What was interesting about your backyard? Write in the comments your childhood memories.