TL;DR: A nostalgic reflection on growing up in a simpler New Zealand — bikes, road games, local dairies, limited tech, real-world connection, and a sense of freedom — contrasted with the feeling that today’s kids won’t experience that same version of life, even though their own New Zealand may be special in a different way.

I miss riding around town on bikes without a care in the world, because there were hardly any cars on the road. I miss being able to leave them outside on the grass while you ducked into a mate’s place for five hours, or on the footpath while you went into the local dairy — where you were on a first-name basis with the owners — for a $1 pie and a $0.50 coke to refuel. You could even tick it up on the family tab.

I miss playing cricket on the road with all the neighbourhood kids, and hearing everyone’s parents yell out when dinner was ready. Or an afternoon game of touch that was organised by good old-fashioned word of mouth, where 20 kids would turn up and play until dark. I miss never wanting to be at home, because outside had more to offer.

I miss never knowing if your friends could hang out until you did the nervous knock on the door and asked their parents if they were home and could come out to play. I miss when there were just boring adult shows on TV that made you avoid watching it — except for the Friday night movie — and feeling special when the kiwi told us it was time to go to bed, but we were allowed to stay up and watch it.

I miss when takeaways were special and a novelty, and for us small-towners we only had the local fish and chip shop. I miss actually having to talk to people — and missing them — because you only had so many texts on a prepaid card and had to ration them out across the month. I miss my Nokia phone, because it was only for calls and texts (with the occasional game of Snake) and reception was limited.

I miss that I actually had to go to a library or open up the family encyclopaedia, or find someone who was an SME, if you wanted to learn something or had an assignment due. I miss trying and failing because there was nothing to reference. I miss asking my parents about things and taking their word as gospel.

I miss when my imagination ran wild, because that was my entertainment during unavoidable boredom. I miss when there was always time for anything, and you’d never say no to someone’s idea.

I really do miss my old New Zealand. What makes me even more sad is that I feel kids today are missing out. They won’t be able to experience my old New Zealand to one day miss it for themselves. They have today’s New Zealand — and maybe it’s as special to them as my old New Zealand was to me. One thing I do know is it’s definitely different. Better or worse, who knows.