Only, back in the 1960s most of us from Oxgangs didn't.
But was I bothered?
No.
But more interestingly, why didn't the majority of us, whilst a sizeable minority did?
Looking back three prominent reasons occur to me.
Although on most weeks there might be occasional notable absences of some of the usual suspects out playing because they must have been away for a short break the majority of my friends stayed at home.
If Father was unemployed then we were poorish but could just get by; but even when he was in work, a summer holiday just wasn't contemplated.
And so having never been for a summer holiday we mostly didn't know anything different so we never really felt that we'd missed out on one or felt we'd lost out at all.
The exception of course proves the rule and the solitary exception for me came toward the end of the decade when aged 13 I went away to the Highlands to Newtonmoe, Kingussie and Grantown-on-Spey with my grandparents for a few days in 1969.
Oxgangs
Because Oxgangs had only been built less than a decade earlier in the 1950s it was chockful of young families and local children to play with, with a wealth of potential adventures and entertainment on our doorsteps. 
There were local burns to jump and parks to play endless games of football in as well as cycle rides to go on as far as Dalkeith or Portobello not to mention our wee part-time jobs so the summer was full and fun and sometimes exciting with each day heralding a new fresh canvas to record an adventurous day upon.
But as mentioned a sizeable minority did enjoy a summer holiday.
Before they left The Stair in the mid-1960s at least one of the Rennie's (6/8 Oxgangs Avenue) went on holiday as shown by a postcard from Ayr.
Dawn and Gordon Sibbald with their mother, Milport
When I met up recently with my good friend and former Hunters Tryst Primary School classmate, John McDonaugh (Oxgangs Farm Drive) he entertained us all with his memories of how he and his siblings spent halcyon summers half a century previously with his relatives down in Campbeltown amongst farming and fishing communities.
Meanwhile my sister Anne would spend a part of her summer at our Edinburgh New Town cousins, the Rosses at 6 Henderson Row which was great allowing my brother Iain and me to get up to some un-reported misadventures whilst Mother was out working!
Given these examples it might sound like many children went away but bear in mind that in our stair alone there were 25 kids living there and that was probably similar in many other Oxgangs stairs too.
Interestingly the one common denominator running through many of these stories of holidays away is that often the key was to have relatives living somewhere outside the capital.
Given these examples it might sound like many children went away but bear in mind that in our stair alone there were 25 kids living there and that was probably similar in many other Oxgangs stairs too.
Interestingly the one common denominator running through many of these stories of holidays away is that often the key was to have relatives living somewhere outside the capital.
When I say we never had a holiday this isn't strictly true.
Firstly we had the chance of one down in Peebles at a cottage on the outskirts of the town but only survived a night!
My grandfather had managed to secure us a short stay through one of the customers who used to frequent Tam Black's butcher's shop in Gorgie Road where he worked.
When the time came for us to have the holiday my mother and we three kids were given a lift down by Gaga on a Saturday evening. However, Mother found it so God-awful and depressing that I was sent to the phone box on the Sunday morning to ask our grandfather to come back down and take us home to Oxgangs.
The cottage was indeed small, dowdy and dark with crappy old furniture and questionable beds and with no radio or television alongside the inclement wet weather which forced us to stay indoors with no entertainment was a bit of a culture shock to us; it was such a surprising depressing downer that come the Sunday morning we were happy to return to sunny Oxgangs.
For me there were also two other exceptions.
One was a camping holiday to Stobo, Peebleshire aged 16 in the summer of 1972 with Oxgangs pals which I write extensively about elsewhere based on extracts from my diaries with the other exception being a holiday to Ettrick Valley to the family home of Ronnie Browne of Corries fame which perhaps was more of a very early autumn break.
Firstly we had the chance of one down in Peebles at a cottage on the outskirts of the town but only survived a night!
My grandfather had managed to secure us a short stay through one of the customers who used to frequent Tam Black's butcher's shop in Gorgie Road where he worked.
When the time came for us to have the holiday my mother and we three kids were given a lift down by Gaga on a Saturday evening. However, Mother found it so God-awful and depressing that I was sent to the phone box on the Sunday morning to ask our grandfather to come back down and take us home to Oxgangs.
The cottage was indeed small, dowdy and dark with crappy old furniture and questionable beds and with no radio or television alongside the inclement wet weather which forced us to stay indoors with no entertainment was a bit of a culture shock to us; it was such a surprising depressing downer that come the Sunday morning we were happy to return to sunny Oxgangs.
For me there were also two other exceptions.
Stobo 1972
One was a camping holiday to Stobo, Peebleshire aged 16 in the summer of 1972 with Oxgangs pals which I write extensively about elsewhere based on extracts from my diaries with the other exception being a holiday to Ettrick Valley to the family home of Ronnie Browne of Corries fame which perhaps was more of a very early autumn break.
Such a holiday sounded wonderful and something quite exotic and with their excellent entertainment programmes they were never going to suffer the fate of a wet weekend in a bare cottage in Peebles.
The McQueens
No doubt during the Edinburgh Trades Fortnight some Oxgangers would have gone to Blackpool either in a family group or as part of an older group of teenagers.
One rather innovative Oxgangs bunch of local young men went to Spain in 1970 when it was still decidedly un-common.
Firstly, the rather obvious answer is one of money or the lack of it for luxury spend and to an extent social class too. That said, generally I don't think most of us during the 1960s could be described as being poor even if Family Allowance meant the difference between eating or not on occasion.
Second, was to do with sensibility; for some families who were perhaps more family-orientated no doubt such a summer holiday away was something eagerly anticipated to be worked and saved toward throughout the year alongside saving for Christmas. But the head of the household will have had to have been in steady employment.
And third if you were lucky to have relatives who lived outwith Edinburgh providing free bed and board then this could make a major difference.
Hopping Holiday 1951 Photograph Bert Hardy
Summer Holidays circa 1965
The Hillman Minx loaded to go to a cottage in Arbroath. Seven of us in the car with no seat-belts. Grandad Andrew Smail; Sheila Legge; Nancy Legge; Nana Agnes Smail; David and Ian Legge; Dad, Harry, took the photograph. We've got new sports jackets,collar and tie and in our belts new sheath knives for making sticks with days ahead spent on Arbroath beach and at the berry picking. Happy days! (David Legge)
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