Its weird what we decided to take control of as kids.
So many things were done for us but some practises we assumed executive powers over.
The simplest thing I recall doing myself was putting ketchup on my chips.
Salt and vinegar had already been applied in the chip shop but not the sauce. The only brand of any note at the time was Heinz Tomato Sauce and it came in shapely glass bottles. They had to be shook vigorously before opening and engaging in that strange and difficult downward bottle whack movement. Too soft and no sauce.Too hard and all the sauce!
The next activity I had direct rule over was making my own milkshakes. Again a single brand stood out, Nesquik, and it came in a large silo with a plastic lid. My favourite was chocolate and I loved to heap the sugary powder into a tall glass and slosh in tons of cold milk, which would have been whole milk in those days, cream and all.
I don't think it mattered whether you put the Nesquik in before or after the milk as long as you stirred with passion. Besides, you could always use the bubbling technique for mixing with your stripy straw!
The next area I commandeered was financial. No, I didn't place my own stocks and shares. I didn't even follow the ups and downs of my Post Office Savings Account closely. The department I took over was postal orders. Anyone of my age will know that postal orders were the currency of the Sixties and early Seventoes kid.
Its how we paid for stuff and how we kept up with those fabulous desirables at the back of comics. Its were we first developed our own signatures and where we first appreciated the beauty of the perforated stub in the world of home economics. Postal orders were the travellers' cheques of childhood and the I still have some of those wonderful paper stubs.
I bypassed essential life skills like tying my shoe-laces and telling the time. These were left to my parents. Nope, the next office in my sights was that of Chief Patch Ironer. Yep, in my early teens I discovered iron-on patches and I was hooked. Peace signs, band names, Marvel characters, Yin and Yang symbols and so on. I ironed the lot!
My jeans jackets was plastered with patches and I adored it. Alas, much to my Mum's dismay I never lingered at the board to iron my shirts or trousers! I did however graduate to wonder hem! Remember that?
There were other ministries I put into special measures and I shall discuss these in the next installment!
What childhood tasks did you do yourself readers?
My folks weren't great at diy. They woke up one morning to the sound of me chiselling my bedroom door frame to fix the catch that they'd always promised to do! I used to do electrical stuff too, I wasn't bad!
ReplyDeleteha ha, that's comical Kev. You were a junior Joiner and Electrician. I bet you were popular with your mates' parents!
DeleteThose postal orders you mentioned reminded me of something. As a kid, from time to time I used to order some vintage comics catalogs and the like from abroad. All was required was to send a SASE (a self-addressed stamped enveloped), but as I could not send an envelope with Finnish stamps on it, I had to buy at a local Post Office a small greenish-yellow coupon to include to cover the postal fare. Its nature as a sort of universal currency always thrilled me. All that small print in so many languages! And it worked! Still got those catalogues from the UK and the US.
ReplyDeleteGreat memories Arto. I seem to recall those grren coupons. Were they called iirc's or something like that? Lets get those toy catalogues blogged too!
DeleteYou got it Woodsy, they were (and still are) called IRC's or International Reply Coupons
Deletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reply_coupon
ha ha! fabulous! Don't think I ever sent any but I did send loads of SAE's like you Arto! Happy small change days!
DeleteDoing things myself started when I started picking blueberries at a local farm for pocket money in the Summertime.I would do little fun things with the money, like ride my bike to McDonalds for a burger or to the bowling lanes to bowl or play pinball.I also saved up for the local carnival that came to town in late July,assuring ticket money for rides, games and souvenirs.Some years, We took vacations at the shore in August and some money was reserved for that.Then when Summer was done,I could pick out my own school clothes with whatever money was left.If there was no money left,My parents were in charge of what I wore to school!
ReplyDeleteI do love the sound of your young life Brian. So many fun things going on. Sounds like you saved loads! As for school clothes, that wasn't a question in my childhood, I had to wear a uniform from the age of 6 to the age of 16! What did you wear then?
DeleteUntil the age of 12,no denim jeans of any kind, and no T shirts with graphics.I mostly wore corduroy(which I liked)or double knit nylon(which I hated)Then designer jeans like Jordache and Sergio Valente became popular and parents complained to the school administration to allow jeans.After that, the "dress code" became a lot more tolerable.Uniforms were worn in the private schools.I guess the uniforms were included as part of the tuition.
ReplyDeleteI loved cords when I was kid. I had every colour trousers going. My Missus still wears cord flares and has a natty pink cord jacket. can't believe you could wear jeans at school. That only happenned to me in what was called the Fifth Year, the final year of High School age 16. We could wear what we wanted. I was a hippy and wore a green velvet jacket and flared jeans! The logic behind uniforms goes something like this: clothes shouldn't define a person, learning should and no gang, football or celebrity culture should get in the way of a child's education. I think its flawed. I would have loved to wear what I wanted at school.
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