Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 21, 2023

When we were kids, we slid down the hot slide in our short pants and we liked it!

Calvin sure felt the heat!

Just run down instead.

Builds character.

Calvin is no good at any physical activity.

Calvin must be living near me in North Texas.

Our town park had the foresight to put the sliding board in a group of trees — out of the direct sun.

Sit on a burlap sack.

seeing this comic reminded me of what that was like way way way back in the day when i was small and a kid and all that stuff. The way it looked there at the top of the slide, the heat of the metal, the shine of the sun on that metal.

Finally, got the hot bottom you deserve?

It’s not much fun in winter either.

On “Red and Rover”, they are having a week of “It’s so hot…” jokes.

Plastic slide not much better. They draw lightening from static charge.

Even the plastic slides these days get too hot. I took the grands last week and saw why no one was at the playground! Everything was stupid hot!!!

Back then we just tolerated a hot slide; It didn’t bother us.

Take a towel to sit/slide on.

That just brought back a flood of childhood memories.

And the slides were a nice shiny steel that could burn you on a cool day. It was so tall that could almost touch the clouds. And it was scary to climb those steps. Well, at least that how I remember it.

Just seeing Calvin’s expression in the second panel!

Sweet days of early youth !

Ooooh! Talk about a HOT SEAT!

Lesson learned is education. Repetition not so much

A hot slide? You had to balance on your heels and bum.

No raw flesh touching the slide. Includes hands.

Hit the bottom, tumble @rse over teakettle, laugh, repeat.

Who knew Calvin lived in Texas?

Been there, done that. HOT, HOT, HOT, OWIE!!!!!!!

I burned my biscuits on the metal slide in the park. I learned that metal stuff gets real hot in the sunshine. Why is it that the school of hard knocks usually includes pain in the az?

We used to dump buckets of water on the slides. Made it a lot more fun.

Calvin, you’re a wuss.

This is why metal slides aren’t around anymore, or at least where I live. Nowadays they’re thick plastic.

Used to have lots of of red bottoms in the summer if you were the first few sliders.

Having grown up in north Florida, the way to deal with a hot slide is to throw a couple of handfuls of sand down the slide ahead of trying to slide down yourself. Of course in Florida the sunny playgrounds have a lot of sand around.

This is why we don’t have hair growing on the back of our thighs.

That brings back memories!

Now that slides are made of plastic and not metal I wonder how many kids have missed out on this experience?

Don’t feel bad, Calvin. We’ve all been there more than once. The school I went to as a kid (before 6th grade) had a tall metal slide that got burning hot on sunny days. Not so bad in the fall or spring or winter, but yeah. Burned our backsides a number of times. Just tough it out, kiddo.

We didn’t have a slide at my school. Kids would just sit on the ground, legs extended, and go “weeeeee”

Today’s toon brought out some pretty funny comments. Thanks people.

Just like my car seat.

Dad would squirt our slide with the hose; made all the difference!

right?

I used to go down in shorts! C’mon Calvin. Suck it up.

Way back when sliding down the metal slides on a hot summer day sitting on sheets of wax paper to go faster!

Look at those eyes in panel two – love them!

I remember these days.

It builds character.