|
Lookin'
Backards
By the Boy Colin
When yer
gotta bit o spare time, an' blarst I're had pletty a that leartly,
ent that a rummin how yew allus think about when yew wuz a kid?
People orfen
say they wre the best times, but wuz they? My parents never
had much, ony kids, but at least they kep' a eye on us an' knew
what we wuz up to. Not like nowadays when kids are left to run
riot orl over the pearce, a'kickin' up a shine.
We et well,
thow kids terday would tarn thare snouts up at some o' the things
we had. Mother use ter emarke a suet pudden nearly evra day
an' we'd hev half onnit with meat an' grearvy, an' fer arters
we'd hev the rest onnit with a spunful o' triggle, Granfar kep'
a farm, though that wuz sposed ter keep him an' we were lucky
enow ter hev the ocearsuional ow rabbit.
I asked
Father ho Mother kep' the crust up on har rabbit pies and he
reckon she used humpty back rabbit, I never did know whether
he wux a'telling' on the truth.
We never
had real pork sossages, they tearsted like bread crumbs. Father
reckon thas cuase they coont mearke both ends meat!
If we dint
heve much, we had a few laughts, thow I allus got a ding o'
the lug gollopin' my grub into me so fast. Come autumn the hull
family went out blackburra pickin'.
We use to
clawk them ow brumbles down with a croom an' fill our ow barskets
wi' grit ow blackburras, then tearke 'em orf to the shop where
Frank Edwards used to weight' em and pay us for 'em.
I allus
wondered why a bloke what kep' a radio shop wanted blackburras
fer, but the money allus paid for ous witner coats, least so
Mother say.
The bloke
what lodged longa Aggie Legood, down you yard, worked fer Eldorado
Ice Cream Company and peddled a trike wi' a box on the front..
Hot summer days (Yis, we used to reg 'em then) Mother used to
get us a thripenny ice cream orf hom fer a trea, an' slice it
in ter three bits on a sorcer. That wuz livin', I'll tell yer.
Time we
were four year old we went to Sunday Skule at St Withburga's
which wuz ony about 50 yard from where we lived. Old Polly Olvier
took us fer lessons an' she used to com ter Sunday Skule a'pushin'
a grit ow sit-up-an'-beg bike wot han't got no pedals onnit.
That turned out she never could ride a bike but she liked it
for a support and' had the pedals took orf so they din' t keep
a 'knockin' aginst har shins.
Friday night
wuz bath night an' we had an ow tin bath in front o the fir
plearce. The water cum in from the washhouse acrorss the yard
where that had bin heated in the ow copper. My sisters got dun
farst an' I hatta bath in the searme water arter them. I allus
hoped there wunt too much sludge in the bottom. I din't like
winter time bathing cors I was allus afreard the logs on the
fire would crackle and I'd get bant by the sparks. Still, a
bath once a week and a good ow spunfull of cod liver oil an'
maltjkep' us a 'gorn. That musta stood us in good stead cors
we're still here to tel the tearle.
I could
run on fer house 'bout them days but I better finish now.
I kin remember
lots of things from way back, but arsk me if it wuz rearnin'
last Friday, or what I had fer dinner on Monday an' I coon't
tell yer.
Thas a
failin' we all hev when we get old, ent it? The ony blessin'
'bout gettin' old is that yew kin hide yer own Christmas presents!
<<<back
to FOND index
| 
