Childhood poverty

Perfect specimen and myself was talking about things we got up to in cars when we was young, When i logged off last night i must have been smiling to myself, Janet said what you smirkin at, I said i was telling vince about that hand brake turn, when we ended up going through that fence, Quick as a flash she said, It was a j turn, But it was raining, thats why we went through the fence, Little willie brogan was in the back, ?, Wow, i forgot all about him, Talk about poor, We dropped him home one night, i said were off to brid willie tommoro are you coming ?, Il ask mi ma he said.
I said have you got a key to get in, He just laughed. next day we went for him, I got out, And bugger me they didnt have a door, They had a lean to over the back with a sheet of plastic, Ive never seen anything like it, His ma was sat round the fire on what looked like one of the two chairs they had, His ma wouldnt let him come so we tore off, It all came back last night, Skint or what, More story's on willie brogan later, Boy we had some laughs,

I bet you have some tales to tell

Turns out they burned the door to keep warm. Why dont you go in the organ works, Theres loads of wood knocking about, Ma wont let us ?, too proud, Willie was about 4 years younger than us, 4ft nowt, and weighed about 4st, He was always there, whatever we were doing, The ball went in the canal, He kicked off his pit boots that was about 4 sizes too big, Pulled his jumper off. Dropped his kecks (first time i'd seen anybody with no underwear) and dived in the canal, doggy paddle to the other side threw the ball out, got out and got dressed, Without batting an eyelid, He never got fed at home ?, Only time he ate was at school, Jeez, If somebody threw a fag down he would pick it up and smoke it until the end fell off,
He never asked for anything, and was always happy, His baby sister had a big forehead, Morag they called her, She had an operation to fix it, A big deal in the early 70's,
When i think back what a shitty life he had, But he was fun to have around,
Janet keeps reminding me of things that we got up to with willie brogan,

Is he still alive Reg?

Its 40 years since we have seen him, I'd forgoten all about him, It was Janet that brought it up last night, So today i keep bursting out laughing, Near our school was the power station, Trains, canal boats cooling towers etc, The best bit was a perfect tarmac road, So anybody that had an old motorbike or a robbed car went there, Bushes and a fence on one side. Open grass on the other, Alan that lived next door to Janet, Turned up in a reliant van that he was supposed to be fixing,But no, There was fun to be had, He decides he is going to get it up on two wheels, Now the thing to do is get the passenger side up in the air, But alan thinks nah, Il end up with road rash down one side when it tips right over, So he shouts willie brogan over, Get in willie, So he doe's, Then off they blast down this brand new road, Sure enough it tips up and poor willie has alan sat on his face while sliding down the road, Poor willie, the only clothes he had now has one side missing, Next day he went to school early and sellotaped his sleeves and leg up, I bet his mother striped him, He ended up with a brown anorak that was 4 sizes too big, he wore it all summer too, Jeez he was poor, Janet said face book him,See if he is still around, I dont think he will be, There was nothing down in this life for willie brogan,

You tell a very good story Reg!

Just had alan on the phone about his daughters car, I said remember willie brogan, He started laughing, He said we was all on the beach at brid one day, And willie needed the toilet, I'm not talking about a pee he said, He took his clothes off and walked into the sea, He crouched down and grabbed his knee's, Just at the wrong moment a wave knocked him over, So his arse is in the air just at the wrong time, Alan said all the bathers looked horrified, That was willie brogan,
Never a dull moment, i dont remember that, But i must have been there, I was the only one with a car,

He certainly does tell a wonderful story D, hardly a day goes by without a post of his making me laugh. Sure he could write comedy scripts. Star of Forum of Fun in my opinion. In Tenerife on Oasis fm they used to play old broadcasts of the Bradshaws, tales of a Lancashire family I think it was. Love it. Keep up the good work Reg!

Underdog wrote:Just had alan on the phone about his daughters car, I said remember willie brogan, He started laughing, He said we was all on the beach at brid one day, And willie needed the toilet, I'm not talking about a pee he said, He took his clothes off and walked into the sea, He crouched down and grabbed his knee's, Just at the wrong moment a wave knocked him over, So his arse is in the air just at the wrong time, Alan said all the bathers looked horrified, That was willie brogan,
Never a dull moment, i dont remember that, But i must have been there, I was the only one with a car,

Gee, Thanks guys, I prefer to laugh than moan about life, Its bad enough with the crap that go's on, Cant see me lying awake tonight wondering if we should have a referendem on wether to stay in the EU, Like does anybody give a feck what we want, Why dont they just have a phone vote like x factor, Nah too bleeding simple, Plus they dont want us to have a say, Dont set me off with that shower, I hope and pray blair gets it, thats all i want, Can we have a vote ?

You know, I can only really remember about half a dozen of my school mates, yet there were 30+ in our classes. Weird innit?

Willie didnt go to my school, He went to some irish place, Cant be many people that have 8 or more friends still after 40 odd years, Or even a girlfriend/wife they have known all their lives, Must be my personality eh ?, Or i'm just unlucky,
Just one thing spoiling it at the moment, Janets life time friend that helped herself to £300k or so,
First court appearance 11th november, Janet still praying that its a mistake ?, She cant believe it, See what comes out,

Update on willie brogan, The only gossip i gleaned today was, Willie had a sister called Breda, She had massive headlamps which is all important when your just starting with the girls, Willie's father heard Domonic (Another of our gang) had been tampering with them in the shop doorway where we used to meet up, So he was going to kill him, Usualy after the pub, Sad i remember morags forehead but not Bredas headlamps, I must have been a late starter, Which is unusual, Because i'm always first in now, I sent another pal a txt, Asking about willie brogan, Reply a few
hours later (He go's fishing all the time) I was sat on the river bank when i got your txt, I have been smirking and laughing to myself all afternoon, Why are you asking about him ?, And i wonder where he is now, Do you realise its 40 year ago, Your not wired up right, You never was, Willie fecking brogan ha ha,

Bet you were quite close to WB Reg?

Perfectspecimen wrote:Bet you were quite close to WB Reg?

not too close i bet, must have stank rotten.

Most kids stank when they were younger, No time for showering and spraying gillette all over,
You were lucky if you had a bathroom, Janet didnt, 3 sisters, mother and father, Small terrace house, Janet was very close to her grandmother, She had a bathroom, So Janet was there more than at home, Her father was a right waste of space, Eldest sister joined the RAF soon as she could to get away, Janet latched on to me, and the other was married soon as poss, I bet willie took off into the army or something, He was a great kid, So somebody will have taken him under their wing, I hope, I wont pray because i would be two faced,

It gets me when I was reading the so called Baby Boomers being told they had it good. The kids today do not know what I call poverty is. Some of the slums of today would be called places years ago.

Couldn't agree more. Nowadays you're considered poor if you don't have satellite tv. I can remember when we got a colour one!. Kids coming into school with holes in their shoes and clothes. They wouldn't have any heating in their homes and father an alco. Tom me poverty is gong to bed hungry and cold not not having designer clothes etc.

No sat tv in my house, no sat nav in my car either. Old skool, thats me.

Poor us.........14 kids in our street with same size feet, so we got to wear the pumps once every 2 weeks.
I was born in my Nan's house, she delivered me. 3 bed house, Nan, Granddad, Mum, Dad, Dads 5 sisters and 8 brothers and Bro and me. No room for sleep overs there.

I remember we all had to have a bath on Sunday night, I was first cos I was the biggest. I remember the smell of the gas boiler.....we didnt get carbon monoxide poisoning in those days, draughty windows and doors.

Perfectspecimen wrote:I remember we all had to have a bath on Sunday night, I was first cos I was the biggest. I remember the smell of the gas boiler.....we didnt get carbon monoxide poisoning in those days, draughty windows and doors.

Doors, Nan used those to keep the fire alight.

Perfectspecimen wrote:I remember we all had to have a bath on Sunday night, I was first cos I was the biggest. I remember the smell of the gas boiler.....we didnt get carbon monoxide poisoning in those days, draughty windows and doors.

We didn't have draughty windows and doors as we had to wash in a tin bath in the back yard.

Perfectspecimen wrote:I remember we all had to have a bath on Sunday night, I was first cos I was the biggest. I remember the smell of the gas boiler.....we didnt get carbon monoxide poisoning in those days, draughty windows and doors.

Window frames used to rattle in the wind.
Remember those sash windows.The rings for opening them were brass and we had to brasso them along with a whole load of ornaments before we were allowed out to play. Probably worth a fortune now, and we threw them all out as more "modern" ornaments took over.
We had paraffin lamps for years with the tall glass chimneys. Mum used to get me to light her ciggy by putting it over the chimney and puffing.
Remember the big massive bars of Fairy soap we used to use with the washing board? Lonnie Donegan had one in his band!