I read that The Big Ship Sails is about the Manchester Ship Canal (the ally-ally-o referring to the Canal or its nickname).
We used all the rhymes you mentioned. Goosey-goosey gander scared me anyway but esp. after Sapphire and Steel - it's even scarier in the book. We played In and Out the Dusty Bluebells, On a Mountain, and Oranges and Lemons, and Lucy Locket: Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Katy (or Kitty) Fisher found it, there was not a penny in it but a ribbon round it (then you chant 'drop it, drop it...' until the girl who's on, drops the handkerchief behind someone in the circle, they have to spot it, pick it up and chase her round to the empty place in the circle.
There were tons of skipping rhymes of course - Cowboy Joe, and I'm a Little Bumper Car, and I'm A Little GirlGuide, and All In Together, Girls, and Vote Vote Vote and tons more. Some of the less politically correct ones date back to the 1850's.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2006-02-24 04:02 pm (UTC)We used all the rhymes you mentioned. Goosey-goosey gander scared me anyway but esp. after Sapphire and Steel - it's even scarier in the book. We played In and Out the Dusty Bluebells, On a Mountain, and Oranges and Lemons, and Lucy Locket: Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Katy (or Kitty) Fisher found it, there was not a penny in it but a ribbon round it (then you chant 'drop it, drop it...' until the girl who's on, drops the handkerchief behind someone in the circle, they have to spot it, pick it up and chase her round to the empty place in the circle.
There were tons of skipping rhymes of course - Cowboy Joe, and I'm a Little Bumper Car, and I'm A Little GirlGuide, and All In Together, Girls, and Vote Vote Vote and tons more. Some of the less politically correct ones date back to the 1850's.