Tell us: How did you beat the boredom of hot summer days in Columbia?

There’s nothing like a summer in Columbia. It’s long. It’s hot. And if you’re a kid, it’s ripe for running out of things to do.

Back in the day, when I was growing up in Forest Acres, running out of things to do meant it was time to get imaginative. My buddies and I camped out by the side of Laurel Lake. We flattened big cardboard boxes and slid down the back of the lake’s dam. We put playing cards in our bicycle spokes so they made a lot of noise. We created homemade skateboards by pulling a roller skate apart and nailing the toe end of the skate to the front of a two-by-four and the heel end of the skate to the back of the board. Anything to beat the boredom.

So, back in the day, what did you do with your neighborhood buds to beat the boredom when it came to a long, hot summer in Columbia? Or elsewhere, for that matter! Email me – contributing columnist Salley McInerney – at salley.mac@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Tell us: How did you beat the boredom of hot summer days in Columbia?."