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?
