There are skills I learned as a child that I expected to use as an adult but never did, for example … quicksand.
There were several movies and television programs where the hero or protagonist was caught in quicksand.
The musical score built until the tension was so tight viewers held their breaths.
I am a kid from the 70s and early 80s, that means many of the tv shows were westerns or shows where kangaroos or dogs saved the day.
We watched Bonanza and High Chaparral, and I learned how to survive through careful study.
I’ll share two tips with you because keeping them to myself would be selfish.
When stuck in quicksand, don’t move around too much because you will be sucked in faster.
If someone is with you then tell them to find a long stick and slowly pull you out.
People who have horses that can understand ‘human’ need to make silly noises and the animal will lower its head just enough that you can grab the bridle and be pulled out.
Dogs can help too but you’d need to call yours Lassie because that’s the only dog I’ve seen pull someone out of quicksand.
Wait, did someone say Skippy?
The last two tips are completely nonsensical, but it was television in the 70s so what do you expect?
We also watched cop shows like Chips, Starsky and Hutch and Magnum Pi.
Crooks were caught when police dogs tore up the countryside looking for them.
I watched enough cop shows to know the best way to lose a ‘tail’ was to go into the water.
My 10-year-old self watched how those on the lamb purposely ran though creeks and rivers to escape.
There were dogs tracking them and the water washed away the scent.
The man being chased ripped a reed from the riverbank and used it as a straw to draw air while hiding underwater.
Note to self, if chased by police hide underwater.
Fast forward to December 2025 and I read the story of a crim in Queensland who was tracked and found hiding underwater by a police dog.
The report even stated there were reeds in that water … reeds!
With that my plan of outfoxing the law disappeared as quickly as a criminal in quicksand.
Luckily 2025 Lara has something 1970 Lara never had and that’s the internet.
‘Can a dog track through water?’ was my search term.
I discovered dogs are so well attuned to smell that they track specific scents through different materials, including water.
That’s one of the reasons why they are successful when searching for missing people or hunting down criminals.
But that was my plan for escape and I had no plan B, thankfully I have no desire to commit a crime either.
I also watched television programs like Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica.
I loved the idea of using handheld communication devices and being transported onto a strange planet.
There’d be alien people there and I’d learn all about their way of life.
If I was under attack, I’d tap my communicator and a starship officer named Scotty would beam me up.
Very enterprising that one.
If he’s unable to, well that’s okay too because I have a plan that involves hiding underwater and I’m fairly certain dogs exist only on Earth.
Now where did I put that reed?
