Where have all Huck Finns gone?

SCHOOL holidays are here and the sense of freedom was palpable on the cheery young faces I saw emerging from classrooms last week.

It also evoked memories of different times when the holidays brought not just joy but, even more importantly, a sense of freedom when children could do as much as they pleased for two months. Kicking off your shoes and going barefoot, while on holidays symbolised that freedom.

Some of us who were school children in mid-20th century Ireland like to believe we had a better time (and, of course, the weather was also better!) than today’s growing generation.