back in the dark ages), was seen as normal, although I was not.

I remember riding on home made skate boards (old skates nailed to an old plank of wood), no helmet, no padding. Disappearing into the woods and fields for HOURS at a time and our parents never worried unless we didn't show up for lunch/dinner. Walked about a mile to school. No worries at all. Trick or Treating was done on our own, carrying a pillow case that got pretty full because we had a BIG subdivision that was right down the road. We even used to play in the 'big' creek (Thread Creek) and the 'little creek' which was basically a drainage ditch.

Let's face it. A WHOLE lot of the time our parents had no idea where we were or what we were doing, unless we were in the neighborhood. Of course, all of the neighborhood stay at home moms kept their eye out and they were all listened to if we got caught doing something we probably shouldn't.

...but there really were eyes everywhere. That usually didn't stop us, but our villages were more obvious then than now.