Day 73 #100DaysOfOldDays

Isn’t it strange how some childhood memories stay with you forever? I’m talking people memories and things they said or done. Things that are so clear in your mind, it’s as if they happened yesterday.

Here’s a few childhood memories I have about things people said or done that I’ll always remember. And one or two things I did that I’ll never forget! Gulp!

My brother Benny stole biscuits from Woolworths in Dundalk. They had fallen out of a burst bag so he argued that he found them, he didn’t steal them. On the way home in the car we told Mam what he did and she confiscated them and realised they were dog biscuits. We barked at him for days afterwards.

Joan and Majella were making mud pies in Joan’s garden one day and they wouldn’t let me play. I was very sad about that. However, I fondly remember the day when Joan gave me two squares of her Yorkie bar in Halton’s gateway. It was my first time to taste a Yorkie bar. That was a happy day!

I went to Knock on the bus with Joan’s mother and her granny. My mother forgot to tell them I was a bad traveller. The granny gave me an orange, which I ate; it was delicious. Then I threw it up all over her. She was very nice to me about it, she lay my head on her lap and I slept for the rest of the journey. But we spent the whole day walking around Knock smelling of orangey vomit!

Anne got knocked down by a motorbike when she was about six. She wasn’t seriously hurt. Cuts and grazes and a few stitches on her knees—if I remember correctly. We all thought she was so brave and that she could’ve died!

Mrs Barnes all but ate the head off me one day because I was walking in a puddle in my good shoes. Such a lecture I got! But she was a lovely woman. She served me good vegetable soup in the Tech years later.

Eddie brought me into his hallway to show me the robot he made. He was very proud of his creation. I was sure he’d grow up to be a scientist. I don’t think he did!

Martin accidently gave me a black eye with a camogie stick; one of those ridiculous hard-as-a-rock plastic sticks that they quit making. Martin was totally forgiven for the incident. Many similar accidents happened in those days and nobody sued anyone. (That I know of.)

A friend’s dad threw his string vest at me one day because he thought it was funny…..I didn’t think it was funny.

Mr Mittens chased me one Halloween night because I was part of a group who was rapping on his door, then running away. He caught me and I knocked his glasses off in a struggle to escape. I did escape but I think his glasses broke. I still feel guilty about that.

We were crossing the fields one day to get to the park. We saw a bull that was probably just a cow. We ran like the hammers towards the ditch. Poor Carol cut the legs of herself on barb wire in her haste to get across the ditch.  

My cousin’s cousin who is not my cousin… was called Mary. My parents were very fond of her. I was jealous and I pinched her on the arm while she slept in my bed. She woke up crying as I slinked away. I hated myself for it. Years later I bumped into Mary in a pub in Kingscourt, and I told her what I did and I apologised. She has no memory of it and we had a good laugh about it!

Mrs Lynch reported me to my mother for mitching fiddle lessons. Oh…I forgave her eventually!

Debbie’s mother used to give me my tea every time I was in their house. They had a toaster…or a grill. In our house we had to stick the long-handled fork in our bread and toast it at the open fire, so I thought Debbie’s house was cool because they had a real toaster. And they had two pianos—we had a piano accordion; just one!

When I was about seven, I got caught out in a really bad shower of hailstones. My bare legs were red and numb from the pelting they gave me. Mrs Coleman took me into her house and warmed me up, even though I hadn’t far to go home. I was extremely grateful to her for that.

I went to Mary’s house after school. (Not the same Mary I pinched) This Mary lived in town in a pub. She walked me home as for as my back gate. But then she was afraid to walk back to town by herself, so I had to walk her home. By the time I got back home AGAIN, I was so late that I got into terrible trouble. My mother wouldn’t believe me when I told her what happened!