Childhood

There was never such a thing as a dysfunctional child,
They've only come about since do-gooders have run wild.
Mums told us "in our lives we'd eat a peck of dirt,
You can't go through life with a little hurt".

We ate whatever was served for us at our school dinner.
No beef burger, no pizza, but then we were so very much thinner.
One cutting board lasted us for life,
Cut us everything with just one knife.

Our mum washed veg and meat in the sink.
At school we wrote our essay with pen and ink.
Never had a fridge much less a bloody freezer.
For all we knew E.coli was the name of some poor geezer.

We were not allowed to play at the local park.
It was, play in the street till it got too dark,
Attended all gym classes no one made a fuss;
Just put on our plimsolls, they were good enough for us.

No fancy trainers, all air-cushioned with reflectors.
No mobile phones with built in lie detectors.
TV wasn't invented yet, nor that other lot.
Listened to the radio that was all we got.

Discipline, the belt, strap, or the slipper;
Not up to your bedroom you naughty little nipper.
What kind of punishment, and why's all the fuss?
The kids got more stuff up there than they got in Toys 'r Us!

And when you had a little hurt, a kiss, a wipe, ruffle your hair;
Told "you're all right, now get back in there!"
After that treatment you soon felt better,
No days off school with 'excuse me' letter.

Things for us they were a little bit rougher,
But when I think we grew up the tougher.
We know they weren't the 'good old days',
But we were better off in many ways.

Around Town

Now I would be around about six,
Mum would take us to the pics.
Sis and I would catch a bus to town,
Of our weekly joys, this wore the crown.

The Ritz, Gaumont and the Odeon,
Plus flea pit place, long since gone.
My orders were to go to a particular one,
Depending on where a suitable film was on.

Another thing I had to do, was get in it, it there was a queue;
Mum would meet us, from her work at a factory then I knew.
Always two films would be shown,
Never like now, one on its own!

Most films, the Huggets, Mrs, Miniver, those sorts;
Some adventures, Robin Hood, Lassie, or about sports.
The other film shorter, but still a good movie;
All innocent but we thought them all growy.

There would also be a small documentary.
For our pennies we got plenty.
One other showing not to amuse,
Was a short, true life 'Pathe' news.

Time to go, our mum now with us,
Off with her to catch a no. 2 bus.
Note, we did not have crisps by the packet;
Even today, half a spud, I think it's a racket.

No ice cream, or popcorn, or other treats,
And certainly, no not ever, a packet of sweets.
The 'Pathe' and the 'Gaumont' pictured news
Would give us all the war time views.

It's surprising too, as a little kid things they hears.
As mum used to say, "small kids have big ears!"
Some memories for that long time ago
Was from grownups talk, thinking we'd not know.

Dad on leave, he, mum and I, would go
To the labour club, arrowroot and Vimto.
Sister would stay home with a baby sitter,
Clubs membership rules wouldn't admit her.

A large room, stage one end, bar at the other.
"Be seen and not heard" would say my mother.
Funny what I'd see and hear in that place;
Pretend not to understand, keep a straight face.

In the corner and old upright piano;
Wartime songs every one had a go.
Dad would after several mild beers,
Would up on stage, serenade old dears.

1942

Later in 1942, things took a better look,
We bombed them, beat them at Tobruk.
Americans won battle of Midway;
Germans at Stalingrad, there to pay.

In years middle Germans we did pommel,
At El Alamain, Monty defeated Rommel.
All over the globe it was just the same,
The axis halted, the allies began to gain.

About this time we kids in the junior school
Walked once a week to the 'Lairs' swimming pool,
Teachers telling us, can't do this, can't do that;
On school holidays we'd be in, in 10 seconds flat.

With towels 'round shoulders, towels worn and old;
Freezing, while teach lectured on doing as we were told.
Most of the boys and girls just could not swim.
Swimmers like me, left to do as took our whim.

I know we were lectured for our safety now,
But couldn't it be done when we were dressed, silly cow!
I believe we were in for about half an hour;
Whistled blew, get out! Take a cold shower.

Once dressed, roll towel and walk back to school.
A lesson I liked if it wasn't so cool.
Now at night we watched our bombers to Germany go,
Then daylight raids by Yanks, a continual flow.

All the time us kids would wonder why?
All those young men dying up in the sky.
No thought of the foe, we were not hard-hearted;
For it was they, the Germans they started.

We heard of Malta that sandstone rock,
To see it bombing was such a shock!
With us supplying the island at a great loss,
Soon a turnaround, they'd show who's boss.

Christmas Poem

This year we are going to do it,
We are not going to sleep.
This year when we're put to bed,
Our vigil we will keep.

To prove it's dear ol' Santa,
Into our room will come,
And not as those bigger kids say
"It's dear ol' dad or mum".

Santa must be invisible,
I never slept a wink.
My eyes were open all the time,
Even just a chink.

But there are our stockings filled up to the brim;
Better we get up and check them to see what he's put in!

Our eyes light up!
We smile a great big toothy grin!
On top, yes, there's an apple, and there's a tangerine.
A few nuts, some raisins and a string tailed sugared mouse.

Shh! Don't get so excited,
You'll wake the entire house!

And there at the foot of my bed my special toy,
It's what I got this year for being a really good boy.
Perhaps next year I really try that much harder.
When last I saw this tin bodied train, it held coco in it's larder.

And if I have been extremely good my year might end with a hit,
If in my Xmas plum pudding if I find a silver thruppenny bit.

Mum

I was just a kid during the Second World War;

We’d eat almost anything then ask for more.

If we could get pork, lamb, or maybe an egg;

Bones for soup, from the butcher mum did beg.

 

Lard or suet to cook in, remained in the pan.

Ate what was available, no meal by a plan.

Haricot beans, onions, or anything green;

Most things were rationed, and rarely seen.

 

We never had any of today's fast food stuff,

Except for fish and chips, that was enough,

But since those days things have got strange;

Advised don’t eat this or that, a whole range!

 

Now on T.V. the many food adverts we see;

Only eat foodstuff containing Omega Three.

Kids of my day, slim, energetic, full of health;

Parents now approach kitchens with stealth.

Mum had saved for a year, to cook up decent dishes.
Did almost as good as J.C. with the five fishes.
Homemade bread, chicken, roast spuds, brussels and thick gravy.
Afters, Christmas pudding; jelly all wobbly and wavy.

For tea, perhaps some prunes, custard if mum can,
Followed by homemade Christmas cake iced with marzipan.
Next term I'd be in the Juniors school almost next door.
To be educated? Soon to find out what school was for!

Pearl Harbour

Disaster struck at the end of 1941.
The war got worse than when the year begun.
The Japanese, those craft little Nips,
Struck Pearl Harbour, sunk Yanks ships.

Now the Yanks could stop selling us stuff,
Get on our side, where the going's rough.
The very next day, Nips land in Malaya too.
What the hell were the allies to do?

But all this way too far off for a kid like me;
Nothing mattered as long as I got my tea.
On bikes down Malaysian peninsula, the Japs did pour;
Next thing we were told they'd captured Singapore.

Hearing news, mum's face further pales.
Repulse sunk and the Prince of Wales.
How could we stop this streaming yellow hoard?
The whole Far East they have under the samurai sword.

But America was a big industrial giant;
The 'samurai swords' were rattled defiant.
The writing for them was on the wall,
Fate destined they were bound to fall.

Until the giant was fully awake,
The Japs invaded all they could take.
They took Malaya, Singapore, Java and the Philippines;
We saw some pictures on our cinemas screens.

Yanks, we had their airmen here in East Anglia.
Most never knew there was a place this far.
I remember seeing my very first coloured man.
Running home, told my mum, "Don't worry, he's American".

Soon there seemed more of them than there were of us!
They tried to mingle with little or no fuss.
Some funny remarks were began, I fear.
Yanks over-sexed, overpaid and over here!

Another saying said by our much older men,
Not many of our finest were around just then.
The old men, veterans of the First World War,
"You're late again, what were you waiting for?"

Us kids soon learnt to be on 'the bum'!
Always asked them "Got any gum chum?"
They would enquire, "Did I have an older sister?"
Innocent me asked "Why do you want to know mister?"

Most did well like it whilst over here;
Loved the country but hated our warm beer!

Chapter 12

There were no supermarkets that time of day,
Goods now relatively cheaper dare I say.
Shops were mainly owner run and so discreet.
No awful signs, glaring down the street!

The biggest of places we would shop;
Still going today, the local co-op.
Mum would give me her order, and me there send;
In those days you got quite a good dividend.

The counters seemed quite high to me;
Over the top I could hardly see.
Dry goods, peas, sugar and others too.
Measured and scooped into bags of blue.

Rationing, if any, cheese a tiny slice.
Not enough to feed a pair of mice.
Big green blocks of washing soap;
"Any bacon dear?" Not a hope!

The Marge 'made' by the government
Every day made to feel like Lent.
If any butter, got only little pats,
Made into shape with wooden bats.

Our side of the counter for all to see,
Dog food in Hessian's sacks, that suited me.
I'd nick some to eat walking home to tea.

Payment, pink slip in a brass thing did fling
By overhead steel lines worked by a spring.
The money sped to a central station,
Same routine throughout the nation.

But mum would say before you let any monies go.
For dividend quote number 289280.

On the same road about twenty owner run shops.
You could cover them all with a skip and hops.
A butcher, rationing, not much there;
A shop alongside where they'd cut your hair.

A post office where you would buy your stamp,
Most things were there, not far to tramp.
A chemist, cobbler, a shop for fish 'n chips;
We kids would ask for the batter crunchy bits.

Small hardware store, nails and a hammer.
If you hit your thumb, just watch your grammar.
A bakers shop, green grocers selling veg like peas;
Not one sign of oranges, bananas if you please.

Diagonally across from the co-op there was a hall
Where the Salvation Army to their god did call.
Those were the ladies in funny bonnets you could see,
Walking in and out collecting in the local hostilery.

If perchance you saw people in a queue,
I knew exactly what I had to do.
Home I would run, hopefully well in time,
Mum would order me back to stand in line.

If I thought stuff on offer was no good,
Even if in line, for over an hour I stood.
Young I might be but I had to use my wits,
Step out of line, return mum's threepenny bits.