I played with the other boys in the street in games like soccer and cricket. I wasn't remotely interested in dolls or anything girly. I didn't want to do skipping games, in fact everything the girls in the neighborhood did looked very boring. My toys were also of the tomboy persuasion and I had 10 toys which I played with the most.
Rainy days were often spent inside with my fort.
It was a well built fort with look out posts. The cavalry soldiers guarded it against the Indian invaders. It was probably the best of my favorite 10 toys. I also had a farm, which had pigs, horses, sheep and cattle. There was a big tree and a well. I made the farmer and his wife work very hard, milking the cows and driving the animals to market.
I also had racing cars which were a bit beat up but I loved them anyway.
I gave each one the name of a racing driver, so there was Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, Allan Clarke and Graham Hill. A list of favorite 10 toys has got to have cars in it. My train set was another beloved toy. The locomotive was a big, black one and it pulled several freight cars. There was a ticket office and people standing on the platform. Sometimes I put the budgie in one of the freight trucks and took him slowly round the track. He seemed to like it.
Westerns and cowboys were an obsession of mine.
I loved TV series like Gunsmoke and Wagon Train, so I liked to put on my cowboy suit. It had a cowboy hat, waistcoat and six shooter in a holster. After seeing The Magnificent Seven, I pretended to be Steve McQueen and practiced my fast draw endlessly. The 10 toys I mostly played with would always include it. Another much used toy was my spinning top. I spun the top with the suede whip and tried to spin it as fast as possible.
I got to be quite adept at the yo-yo, after ages of practice. I would take it to school and show off to my buddies. Once I'd got into my rhythm, I could go on for a long time. A roll call of 10 toys today would not include one as they've gone out of fashion, which is a shame.
When I was a kid, there were few TV channels and computer games hadn't been invented, so the 10 toys which occupied my time were very important to me.
I liked to play with my swing ball, even though it could be frustrating sometimes. Marbles are another toy that have fallen out of favor. I used to play with those a lot and took them to school for recess. Finally, I had a boomerang which actually worked. I'd stand in the street, throw it and by some miracle, it always came back. So there we are. 10 toys to beat a computer game, any day.