When I was ten, my mother caught me running along
the apex on the roof of a condemned Glasgow tenement. She instantly froze with
fear.
“Don’t shout”, my older sister said, “He might fall
off.”
I never realised she saw me and when I returned
home, she stood with her hand on her hip and looking like one of those Easter
Island statues. Still, she then smiled with relief.
I had been looking for lead on the roof to take to
the scrap merchants to get some pocket money.
On another occasion, I joined a bunch of local boys
who were banging through a basement of another condemned building. Someone said
something about treasure — Indiana Jones, eat your heart out—, sure we found
treasure:
36 pairs of women’s briefs
14 Bras
46 kitchen towels
12 table mats
It was all nonsense, but that’s what the police put
on the court summons.
Fortunately, my high school first year science
teacher came to the rescue. He knew we would never be Nobel Prise Winners, so
he taught us to make fishing rods, then hired a minibus and took us all to the
Clydebank canal to fish for goldfish. Yes, that’s right, goldfish. Apparently,
during the war, the Glasgow folks couldn’t locate fish food, so they deposited
the fish in the canal. Due to it being close to the Singer sowing machine
factory, the fish thrived in the warm waters.
Now that I had the fishing bug, Sammy, Tam, and I
would head over to Loch Libo and the Barrhead dams and fish every weekend.
Bless you Mr … You changed my life in more ways
than you ever will know.
Sometimes my parents must have regretted having me,
but all went well in the end. I lost my father soon after that due to a
respiratory illness. I’d like to think we will meet again. He died not knowing
what kind of person I became.
Kids, Who Would Have Them
https://unsplash.com/@rickjbrown
When I was ten, my mother caught me running along the apex on the roof of a condemned Glasgow tenement. She instantly froze with fear.
“Don’t shout”, my older sister said, “He might fall off.”
I never realised she saw me and when I returned home, she stood with her hand on her hip and looking like one of those Easter Island statues. Still, she then smiled with relief.
I had been looking for lead on the roof to take to the scrap merchants to get some pocket money.
On another occasion, I joined a bunch of local boys who were banging through a basement of another condemned building. Someone said something about treasure — Indiana Jones, eat your heart out—, sure we found treasure:
36 pairs of women’s briefs
14 Bras
46 kitchen towels
12 table mats
It was all nonsense, but that’s what the police put on the court summons.
Fortunately, my high school first year science teacher came to the rescue. He knew we would never be Nobel Prise Winners, so he taught us to make fishing rods, then hired a minibus and took us all to the Clydebank canal to fish for goldfish. Yes, that’s right, goldfish. Apparently, during the war, the Glasgow folks couldn’t locate fish food, so they deposited the fish in the canal. Due to it being close to the Singer sowing machine factory, the fish thrived in the warm waters.
Now that I had the fishing bug, Sammy, Tam, and I would head over to Loch Libo and the Barrhead dams and fish every weekend.
Bless you Mr … You changed my life in more ways than you ever will know.
Sometimes my parents must have regretted having me, but all went well in the end. I lost my father soon after that due to a respiratory illness. I’d like to think we will meet again. He died not knowing what kind of person I became.