David's thread "Something I Will Share With You" reminded me of the naughtiest things that I remember doing and made me wonder about others. I was actually a little goody goody but I do remember two incidents for which I received a really good hiding. We lived in a cottage in what was in centuries past a small market square. There was a butcher, greengrocer, grocer/sweet shop, baker and an off license. From a very young age my younger sister and I had to get the bread from the bakers. It was still hot and tasted delicious if you pulled the ends out. On the way home we often did, denying when we arrived that we had touched it. My Mum accused the bakers of either selling us inferior bread or having mice in the shop, created a dreadful scene and refused to shop there again. Some while later my Dad sent us there and we enjoyed our long missed treat only to find out that our Mum was watching us from the queue in the Butchers. We got the hiding of our lives, had to go and grovel to the baker and do odd jobs for him for what seemed an eternity. The other was when my younger brother and I were teasing the milkman's horse by running underneath and generally hassling it. It suddenly took off and bolted chasing us both down the street with bottles of milk falling off the cart on either side. We ran indoors terrified but exhilarated and I can still remember seeing its teeth through the letterbox (no front garden). We thought it hysterically funny until the Milkman knocked!!! I presume my parents had to pay for the lost milk which would not have been easy for them. We got very sore bottoms and I was terrified of horses for years! So what did you do?
My naughtiest act occurred every Sunday when I was sent to church as a young lad. I was given 6 pence for the collection plate but even at a young age I new that they had plenty of money so I decided to help out the corner shop by buying 5 pence worth of lollies and give the collection plate 1 pence donation. Everything was going great until the minister dobbed me in for eating lollies in the church during services. As I was never given any pocket money, it didn't take long for my aunt to work out where I was getting the money from. So ended my attempt to help small business at a very young age. oster_oops:
I have just completed one of my "naughty" acts this week but it will not bear fruition for another six months or so. Monday was my last day of working for the U.S. Post Office, I am now official retired. The facility I worked at is situated on approximately 4 acres of grounds. A small post office surrounded by lawns, and many trees. Over the last few weeks I have been busily scattering marijuana seeds throughout these grounds. The results of my efforts will become evident in the middle of the summer.
:doh::crazy: Well I hope nobody there reads this site ... then they'll all know it's you David !!!!!!!! Congratulations on your Retirement .... may you have many fruitful research days now ! ( how lovely not to have to get up in the morning !! ) Annie
Such disgraceful people on this forum And congratulations David. But ideal hands and all that so stay out of trouble Gosh, I got upto so mucg mischief when I was young. But one particular incident lead to a more trouble than usual. One of the problems with allowing children to read war stories is that it puts ideas into their head. As a kid I used to read a fair bit about the Vietnam war too, and I had been reading about napalm. Now, from what I had read it was a mixture of petrol and a jellifying-agent. So off I got to the garage, where some petrol was kept for cleaning paint brushes etc, with a tub of hair gel in hand. I got a metal bowl, emptied out the hair gel, and added a dash of petrol. Wasn't really very impressed with the flame coming from the little plodge that I used to test it on the concrete floor (BTW burning hair gel really smells bad). So I added a very large splash, mixed thouroughly, poured a little splodge on the floor and set it alight. Nice satisfactory flame. Now it got dangerous. I had used a match to light the spoldge. I thought I'd blown it out when I chucked it on the work bench. (A) No I hadn't, and (B) of all the places it could have landed it had to be the bowl with my home made napalm. WOOSH!!!! And panic striken 12 year old. I know, I thought, I'd grab the bowl and chuck outside to burn on the patio. Just forgot one thing - metal bowls get verey very hot. I screeched and the bowl shot out of my hand and splashed all over the wall. And in true napalm fashion it stuck to the wall and burned away happily. Fortunately only for a minute, and all it did was leave a scorch mark on the brick wall, and a couple of the roof beams. All was well for a couple of days until dad went into the garage, saw the marks (though I'd tried scrubbing them) and I got a right proper hiding! Now I leave napalm well alone - am sticking with semtex from now on.
To this day I still bear the scars from a bomb I made as a child that went off prematurely. Made with dry ice, water and a glass bottle it was a real school boy "Watch this chaps!" As I got older but no wiser I graduated to many "Hold my beer and watch this" episodes. Maybe I will tell you about some of those later.
Nothing immediately springs to mind but my best mate and I made slingshots out of small branches and tied together rubber-bands. I've still got mine...complete with markings for cats hit... We used to use green, unripe (hard) nuts from palm trees that we both had in our gardens. They were reasonably symetrical, flew well, and hit hard. While cats were target number one, anything flying over was aimed for as well but never hit. We'd discovered that one of my mate's neighbours had a pool - his house was about two doors up but on a diagonal and behind. For some reason, we decided to lob some lemons from my mate's garden into the pool. This was going well until they started coming back. So, we stopped for a bit but raided the pile of empty beer bottles stacked behind the shed of the block of units next door. It was while sourcing the next batch of targets that the lemons started coming back over and we heard someone coming. Bolting back over the fence, we casually walked passed the kitchen window, across the road to the park and then proceeded to give the appearance we'd been there for hours. I was quite a good shot with my slingshot...
Kyt why don't children ever believe their parents when they say that playing with matches / fire is dangerous? Andy Slingshot = catapult? Lemons in the garden - how exotic! Not sure how Kitty is going to react at you aiming at cats!!!!
We used to go back and forth across the street with thread and wrap it around the knockers ...... then as we didn't have many cars going up and down our street - somebody was designated to ride their bike and the rest would all hid behind the bushes ... as the bike went by and broke the thread - the knocker would knock and people would come to the door .... then they'd get mad ... 10-12 people all standing at their front doors debating about what they were going to do to us !!!! :cc_rip: And we'd be all hiding - laughin' our heads off !!
Trying to start bonfires with two sticks, aided and abetted by my Great-Uncle who knew I didn't stand a cat in hells chance of getting a flame so he loaned me his lighter. Also the same man who taught me, an 8 year old girl, how to sharpen and use a full size scythe. And a petrol driven rotavator. Aaaah those were the days. Fast forward about 5 years and theres me and a gang of about 30 kids/teenagers playing cricket in the middle of the road and deliberately aiming for a local councillors car. Never has a road emptied as fast as when we hit it. Fast forward another 10 years and Miss Moderator Kitty has taken up trespassing. And occasional light 'rescue' of artefacts that are degrading in derelict sites.
Nope, thats going into bins, and bottle diving is digging up old tips in search of antique bottles. I sware there are even brick collectors out there. I go Urbexing, which is Urban Exploration. Basically you find your way into a site/building/mine/culvert/drain without B&E, explore, take photos, and leave without causing any damage at all. Last one I visited was a local POW camp before it's to be bulldozed.
Yep, catapult, CT. I won't mention the lemons, oranges, loganberries, blackberries, peaches, plums and nectarines we've got at the moment then...:becky: That is brilliant, Annie. ...and to think Kitty thinks cricket is boring...
