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What did you do, own up!!

A

Austin K2

master brummie
I'm sure as youngsters we all did things we should not have done, nothing major criminally, but small acts that we regret doing.
I'll start with this one.
It must have been around 1949/50 ish, I found a ration book in the street, with an address for one of the small roads behind the Salford Bridge shops. Now gone.
Because sweets were still on ration, I took the sweet coupons out of the ration book before pushing through the letter box at the address.
I've often thought of this during my adult life and would love to apologise to the folk concerned..
It's probably the reason I've not got a lot of teeth left.
 
I did lots of things yet I was quite a goody goody compared to some of the local kids. I have to state first why I did this. We had an infernal nosy interfering neighbour who built a shed across the whole side of our garden blocking the light, she put barbed wire on the fence to stop our dog jumping it as he chased her cat back in to her side, mum ripped her arm on it and her jumper and the washing, the neighbour used to come uninvited in our garden and built a rose trellis unbeknown to us in our garden, which knocked my mum out as she went to hang the washing. Well me an my mate egged on by my Nan, threw the bricks she had left in our garden, back in to her garden flattening her roses and ripped a bit of the tarpaulin off her shed, poked a squeezy bottle through the slats and filled her wellies up with water. This blew our neighbour wars up even more as the neighbour on the other side grassed us up. I had to pay for the damage from my pocket money for several weeks. I got walloped, dad and the woman had a slanging match in the street, we stopped speaking to the grasser upper the other side and my mate and my Nan (who denied everything) got off scot free. Wonder where that expression comes from?
 
I do regret being with some friends who thought it was funny to tie a thread to a doorknocker and hide then pull it. I know now how frightening it can be to go to the door and no-one's there!!
I think they called it "Knock down ginger"?
rosie.
 
I've just remembered we had peashooters and those brown peas we called pigeon peas. One neighbour couldn't understand why plants were growing!!
rosie.
 
We called it rat a tat ginger. When Mum found out I was forbidden to do it. She explained about old ladies being frightened. I also followed other kids proficient at scrumping. I refused to go nesting though. Another school mate of mine used to dowt the red lanterns around road works and he was mortified when a car went in to the hole. He also used to find an old shoe (we always found an old shoe) and would batter someone's window that was street level and run. He also stole your pumps and threw them up over telephone wires. My mates nicked light bulbs off the upper 'bus deck put them in my duffle bag then jumped off at their stop telling the conductor there was a kid upstairs nicking the light bulbs. We also used to make up a name and knock at strangers' doors asking if they lived there. Weired I know, or ask as many people as we could the time. My mate rang the operator from a phone box and asked her if she had got big boobs. They only had female operators then. Tipped over the park benches to annoy the park keeper and the litter bins. Mum stopped me doing that too. I set fire to dad's spills in his St Bruno tin and it burned the table. Still have the table and the burn. I got walloped by him and explained the dangers of fire and matches yet again. Everytime the public info film came on I got glared at. Ran way from school 3 times as the teacher was bulllying me. One was very nice about (she lived in our street) the other wasn't. So I got the permanent black spot off her. and there were loads of films and series suddenly on TV about naughty boys running away (glare glare).
Anyone found with a pea shooter at school or a water bomb or a stink bomb was caned and a letter sent home. When I left school I and others threw chairs out of the top window into bushes below. Nice feeling. That part of the school was shutting down in favour of the new Comprehensive with plastic furniture and white blackboards. Some kids, (not me) used to draw lewd outlines in the cinders in the jitty/entry. We all ran off when someone came.We used to throw stones at the kids from 2 streets down. They let me off as I was one of the littlest. They also picked on this one lad smaller than me, new to 'the entries' and threw clods of dirt and rubbed it in his hair. My mum rescued him and took him home and so I got 2 new friends Geoffrey and Diane from Yorkshire.
When the stones were thrown, my mate's 'backward' older brother got the blame even when it wasn't him. I don't know what he 'had' but that's what everybody said. One lad picked some daisie and gave them to our nicer neighbour, saying "smell these," then he pushed them up her nose, we all ran so she swiped at him with her spade and got me. That hurt.
 
rosie said:
I do regret being with some friends who thought it was funny to tie a thread to a doorknocker and hide then pull it. I know now how frightening it can be to go to the door and no-one's there!!
I think they called it "Knock down ginger"?
rosie.
Click to expand...
Nah that`s a bit tame. Tie two knockers together with very stong twine. It was funny as a kid growing up, but what would i do if some snotty little kids did that to me? I would probably give them 50p & tell them not to be so naughty ( if you believe that you believe in fairies )
 
No Stephen it's just that I have a good memory of the past, I tend to dwell there I am afraid. When I should be here.
The kids that tormented my late parents were/are monsters, angels in their parents' eyes with no discipline or morals.
I remember playing in an empty house, one of the kids opened the sash window and it smashed, the neighbour came out and chased us. I never told my parents. As an only child I used to play sort of tennis against the yard wall when I mised the wall it used to bash the coalhouse door. The neighbours used to complain.
Now they have basketballs trampolenes and bouncey castles.
We have a créche (what I call a nursery) next door. The kids are wild, screaming and destructive. One little girl just screams at the top of her voice "dya wanna pardy!" all day, one little lad imitate's the police scrambler siren with a high pitched scream. The proprietor is as fed up as we are of them.
I used to rollerskate by the corner shop, it had a nice slope, my friend next door was not so proficient, she couldn't stop and hammered in to the window so we got chased off by the shopkeeper.
Now the kids hammer their footballs in to the metal shutters of the Co Op and tip over the wheelie bins that people leave out, smash the glass bus shelters, ride their mopeds terrorising supermarket customers, steal shopping trolleys and throw them in the river, till someone calls the police.I think we were angels compared to the kids now.
 
Been trying to think of something that I did. The worst I can think of is the time a friend and I decided to paint the inside of his dad's garage - unknown to his dad of course. We used lots of old pots of paint left in the garage. Our makeover looked sooooo pretty, not one square foot was the same colour, like a magical patchwork! His dad was non too pleased. Viv.
 
Vivienne14 said:
Been trying to think of something that I did. The worst I can think of is the time a friend and I decided to paint the inside of his dad's garage - unknown to his dad of course. We used lots of old pots of paint left in the garage. Our makeover looked sooooo pretty, not one square foot was the same colour, like a magical patchwork! His dad was non too pleased. Viv.
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Viv, If that`s the worst thing you ever did, you must be a saint, a veritable `St. Teresa of the roses` I have to agree with Nico, most kids back in our day were naughty to some extent, but the kids today are positively nasty & as for giving them a clip round the earhole, you`ll probably end up in court (or hospital)
 
Nico said:
No Stephen it's just that I have a good memory of the past, I tend to dwell there I am afraid. When I should be here.
The kids that tormented my late parents were/are monsters, angels in their parents' eyes with no discipline or morals.
I remember playing in an empty house, one of the kids opened the sash window and it smashed, the neighbour came out and chased us. I never told my parents. As an only child I used to play sort of tennis against the yard wall when I mised the wall it used to bash the coalhouse door. The neighbours used to complain.
Now they have basketballs trampolenes and bouncey castles.
We have a créche (what I call a nursery) next door. The kids are wild, screaming and destructive. One little girl just screams at the top of her voice "dya wanna pardy!" all day, one little lad imitate's the police scrambler siren with a high pitched scream. The proprietor is as fed up as we are of them.
I used to rollerskate by the corner shop, it had a nice slope, my friend next door was not so proficient, she couldn't stop and hammered in to the window so we got chased off by the shopkeeper.
Now the kids hammer their footballs in to the metal shutters of the Co Op and tip over the wheelie bins that people leave out, smash the glass bus shelters, ride their mopeds terrorising supermarket customers, steal shopping trolleys and throw them in the river, till someone calls the police.I think we were angels compared to the kids now.
Click to expand...

You have my sympathy Nico. You can choose your friends but you can`t choose your neighbours. The worst i have to put up with is an occasional howling dog when the neighbours go out & leave their dog. I don`t wish to denegrate Birmingham, but i`m glad i don`t live their any more.
 
I used to love going down the road on our moke. It had two pushchair seats...quite posh!! I hope we didn't frighten too many people as they jumped out of the way!!
One day a front garden wall came down and we got the blame until someone confessed.
If our ball went over the fence the neighbour used to keep it on the high windowsill of the outside toilet. Mom used to get her washing in if it rained but never dared to retrieve any of the balls or quoits!
Our neighbours are always kicking large footballs over, once I decided not to throw them back as they never ask for them, and there was eight in one day!!
rosie.
 
Thanks for the childhood support Smudge, St Vivienne of the frogspawn I think. Our one neighbour is eccentric aggressive and his garden looks like a builders yard. But we put up with him and just don't speak as we could get somone worse. He rents out to some nice people at the moment who are very polite and quiet.The other side we have the noisy creche. I would not live here had I a choice but I would avoid rivers and it's handy being central.
I remember escaping getting a smack for wrting in pencil luckily, my name and address on the wallpaper.So Father Christmas new I lived here. Quick thinnking on my part. The last time the grandchildren came the wall wa covered in felt pen. We wiped that off but not the crayons on the wallpaper or the biro on the cushions. We wouldn't have been llowed such things unsupervised had some of them exhisted.
 
rosie said:
I do regret being with some friends who thought it was funny to tie a thread to a doorknocker and hide then pull it. I know now how frightening it can be to go to the door and no-one's there!!
I think they called it "Knock down ginger"?
rosie.
Click to expand...


rosie we used to do that..we called it knock door run...also scrumping the apple trees and just the once someone left their greenhouse open and we helped ourselves to the grapes inside which is something i do feel guilty about now but as kids we just didnt see it that way..it was just harmless and daring fun back then..

lyn
 
Some of my classmates thought it was big to see what they could steal from shops. I wouldn't entertain it. They were 14-16 then. Not that they wanted anything. They called it soppin'. What did you get etc. Ave ya been soppin?. Another classmate was hot under the collar. He worked at Burtons for a Saturday job when 2 girls stole a pullover. He was terrified he would be thought of as an accomplice.
When I was taking my CSE's a few of us met in the Hastings Tavern for a beer to settle our pre exam nerves. The girls put their coats over their uniforms the lads left their blazers outside or put a pullover on.As we only came in to sit the exams I didn't wear my uniform and got in to trouble for that at school. The publican could see we were 16. Often we would sit in the garden and an older lad would buy the drinks.
 
As a youngster I wouldn't dream of upsetting my mum and dad by getting into trouble, my dad especially as he terrified me. I grew up thinking that was the norm for parents (?). Anyway, by the time I'd reached 14 or 15, the inner rebel exploded and I was regularly in and out of pubs, but not on my home ground of course, Not sure whether I looked old enough to be in a pub, but got the impression landlords turned a blind eye. You just had to walk in confidently and order a Barley wine! Viv
 
I was drinking Gin and Orange at the age of fifteen - I was tall for my age!
Hated the taste but it was SO the thing to do then lol.
 
Yes, vodka and lime in a plastic glass at the Locarno at 16. I was wheedled out of the queue by a bouncer and frisked and accused of carrying weapons. I had my protractor and set squares, I have an exam tomorrow I said indignantly. I looked young. Grew a tash in the end. I was tall also.
 
I once stole, I mean borrowed, a water container from a Birmingham pub with 'Pernod' written on it. It was a great shape, very angular. I expect it was for water to add to your Pernod. Must have had a few too many to be stupid enough to do that! Viv.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
A scrumped apples from a tree. wish that was ALL I did! John Crump OldbadBrit. Parker, Co USA
 
Charlie said:
Cheeky bovine Lyn!
I also watched a friend pinch some sweeties from Woolworths, but I couldn't summon up the courage to join in.
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lol charlie...that brings to mind of when i was in the juniors i nicked a sweet off the teachers desk..it was a rowntrees fruit pastille...funny how things like this stick in the mind cos i cant remember what i did yesterday most of the time lol..
 
A particularly nasty teacher of mine lived around the corner from me in what was a very long but extremely quiet road.. A road we always felt safe to ride our bikes in.One morning my friend and I were hauled straight into the Heads office and accused by this teacher of stealing his doormat because he had seen us in his road the night before. Deny it as we might, we were both given the cane.About a week later, quite late at night my friend and I stole everyone’s doormat in the street and piled them up like brickwork on this teacher’s doorstep. When he opened the door next morning he couldn’t get out until he’d taken them all down.Although he did question us, he couldn’t prove it was us and that was the last we heard of it for about a week or so. He then approached us and asked for help in finding out who owned each mat.I’m not sure if the refusal offended him but at least we had the last laugh.
 
chocks2, think about this.
You did the right thing in refusing, if you had put all those mats back, there would be the proof he needed to really hammer you.
Good lad.:friendly_wink::friendly_wink:
 
Vivienne14 said:
I once stole, I mean borrowed, a water container from a Birmingham pub with 'Pernod' written on it. It was a great shape, very angular. I expect it was for water to add to your Pernod. Must have had a few too many to be stupid enough to do that! Viv.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...

I'm ashamed to say that I stole once. I took a copy of The Beezer from Beddows newsagents on the corner of Short Heath and Streetly Road. I folded it up and put it in my pocket. Don't know I got away with it, because The Beezer was bigger than the Beano and the Dandy and spilled over my karkis. I then foolishly told a school mate what I had done, and spent the next two years in purgatory worrying that he was going to drop me in it. Never pinched anything again after that.

In the same area, me and a 'mate' were throwing stones at one another across Short Heath Road. One of mine bounced off the pavement and went through
Foxes the shoe repairers window. I didn't get away with that one as he rushed into the shop to tell them who it was. I got a good leathering for that one.
 
Egged on by a 'friend', I stole a packet of seeds from Woolworths.
A couple of years later I was interviewed by the Assistant Manager for a Saturday job and was accepted. Not long after I started the Manager came off leave and OMG! he was the same Manager from the earlier time.
After a couple of days suffering with a guilty conscience I asked to see him in his office about a personal matter and confessed all. I offered to pay for the seeds but he would not accept any payment and told me to forget about it, it was a long time ago.
I worked solidly and honestly for a few years and then returned later full time for many years. I was devastated when he left.
 
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