Before we get started today, I'd like to share with you something I created last night while waiting for my hot water bottle to cool down/migraine medicine to start working:



Right, with that out of the way, on to today's topic at hand.

To wit: a little bit of non-threatening childhood rememberizing.

Through the glories of Facebook people occasionally "Like" things that give me pause to think, yes, I remember that, too. So I thought I'd collate a few of the kids' TV shows (and other '80s/'90s ephemera) that I've been thinking about lately.

PUDDLE LANE



I thought of this because of my intense fascination with everything sparkly, and I remembered a) the sparkly titular puddle and also, peculiarly, b) how my parents used to think that Puddle Lane was "rubbish". Watching it again now, I'm still unsure as to the inspiration behind their hatred of the show.

T-BAG


Even if the title seems, in retrospect, a little iffy, I remember LOVING this show. Looking back on it, it was a rather wonderful example of post-Doctor Who children's programming; the sort of thing kids today sorely lack (as much as I do love the various tween sitcoms). And did anyone else develop a mad crush on T-Shirt by the time he grew up at the series' end? Be still my beating 12-year-old heart:



Proof that there are worse things to do with your life than stay on a TV show from 1985 to 1992 continuously.


MATTHEW KROK



Seriously, what happened to this guy? One minute he was everywhere, and then he disappeared (only to appear again recently to offer his support in the queasy Hey Dad! molestation fracas).

Talking about the Krok, however, is really just an excuse to post this:


(Fast Forward is another of my beloved childhood television memories, which perhaps suggests - vis "rubbish" Puddle Lane - that my parents' censorship policy was a little... liquid.)


SHIP TO SHORE



(What a theme-song!)

Oh, Hermes Endakis, is there anything you can do? Preempting Sea Change's coastal community frenzy by about half a decade, Ship To Shore regularly had me dreaming of seaside school adventures and synthesised tin whistles. (And, yes, also dreaming of teenaged rangas.)

Likewise...

OCEAN GIRL



True Story: at the age of 11, I marched down the road to Vic Film (we lived in the only residential property on a pre-Kennett-makeover Port Melbourne street full of studios and factories) and handed over a very earnest (hand-written) letter, accompanied by a photo, detailing my skill at swimming underwater AND acting, in the hope that Mr Schiff would cast me in Ocean Girl. Such was the appeal of the show.

As you can see, that letter really took me places.

Now it's your turn - let's make this Thursday a veritable frenzy of childhood memories. What have I missed?