What are your happiest childhood memories and your saddest

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 08:56

My happiest memory is playing nonsense games with my brother and sisters and laughing until we had stitch.. we could not look at each other without bursting into tear-inducing fits.. most of these games centred around telling tales of derring-do about missionaries in wildest Africa getting caught by pygmy tribes and undergoing unspeakable tortures that only kids could think of.. like being forced to eat ice cream until you were sick... we never worried about mere trivialities like, where Pygmies would get ice cream!



My saddest is when our dog Jenny was put down... aah! But that wasn't the saddest bit... we treated our mother abominably called her all sorts of names like "murderer" etc. as we blamed her for this awful thing.. In reality of course she was as upset as we were and returned from the vets infloods of tears. It is a testament to her that she understood our total lack of understanding and did not become bitter about it...



I'll tell you about another funny one later...

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 10:33

I see you are all suffering long-term memory loss.... which is a bugger..

Chessman


Joined: 13/05/2008
Posts: 486

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 10:53

The saddest: When I was about 10 my Aunt took my cousins and myself to Weymouth. My parents and Uncle were following later. At lunchtime in a hotel, I was told by my aunt that I wouldn't be allowed anything to eat because my parents weren't there to pay for me. I sat outside on the step in the middle of December. It wasn't the lack of food that upset me but the fact I couldn't be with them.



Happiest (one of!): My first international rugby game at Cardiff Arms Park and watching Barry John make is debut against Australia.

tarry67


Joined: 16/05/2008
Posts: 1053

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 13:56

My best memory was when I was delivered at the hospital, but my worst memory was being slapped and told "don't you dare go back in there again"

jay76


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 532

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 14:19

happiest, getting through 1st round of millwall fc trials.



saddest. not being able to get to second round trials due to mum and dad work tie's.

britvic



Joined: 05/09/2008
Posts: 3039

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 14:23

My saddest was at the age of 9, parents fighting and decided to divorce,around this time my brother started calling me "orphan annie" and that as they were divorcing I would have to go in to a home! this upset me so I asked mum why he was saying this the reply "because you were adopted, but you must never tell anyone!" stunned is the word to describe my feelings, funny how I don't remmember my life before the age of 9.



Best memorie, wearing mum'a high heel shoes, brother coming along teasing me, took shoe off hit him over the head, and he had to go through casualty with a shoe on his head, he say's that,s the most embarrising day of his life.



Seriously we are the best of friends now, and spend loads of time together.

scampy



Joined: 15/01/2008
Posts: 982

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 16:24

Groucho



Really

You don't wanna know mine



Susie x

smithy


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 5301

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 16:38

Groucho

My happiest memories were with all my brothers and sisters playing together as children (no toys) just marbles, conkers etc but making the best of what we had, each other and lots of love, and waiting for our Mummy and Daddy to come home from the Hospital with our new baby brother



My Saddest time was when our Daddy came through the front door carrying our baby brother and sat us all down to tell us that our Mummy had gone to live with the angels, she died on the day she was coming home from a brain tumor,

Smithy

britvic



Joined: 05/09/2008
Posts: 3039

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 17:19

Smithy, that is heartbreaking, I am so sorry for you and your family.

Littlenige



Joined: 24/12/2006
Posts: 3594

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 17:23

Happiest leaving my mum and das house aged 15 and a bit to live with my ex wife .



Saddest finding out she had lost our baby when I was aged almost 15.

smithy


Joined: 17/07/2008
Posts: 5301

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 17:41

Thankyou Britvic for your kind words

Just makes you think when you hear peoples moans and groans about their family, just remember thats all you have, and of course your memories.Smithy

No1Doyen


Joined: 04/07/2008
Posts: 16617

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 17:46

Saddest was breaking up with my first love at 13 years old. Every time I hear 'Walking back to Happiness' by Helen Shapiro I think of her.



Happiest was when I met my next girlfriend 2 days later!

Coachie



Joined: 29/07/2008
Posts: 2135

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 17:59

having my first bike for Xmas when I was about 7/8 yrs old and gallopping off down the road at breakneck speed ,loosing control and crashing into a farm gate which didnt do me or my bike anygood whatsoever.

Bad memory,taking bruised and bleeding self and severely mangled bike back homeand getting thick ear for being so stupid.Didnt have another bike till I was 12 but I didnt damage that one!!!!

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 21:58

Susie



Just the happy ones then...

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 22:14

My mum was always experimenting with food ... they didn't always work.



One dish she often made was Macaroni Cheese but she always put ground up Polish Dry Sausage in it to make it taste meaty.. When we were little, we hated it...



About this time we’d heard about swear words at school … but we didn’t really know what they were and we didn’t know any. So one day after dinner I was charged with asking my mum what exactly swear words were.



My mum fixed me with her serious stare for about a minute and then proceeded to explain that swear words are "uttering the worst thing you can think of to somebody".



Next door to us lived “Aunty Anne” she wasn't a real aunty it was a courtesty title and we were brought up to respect our elders.



Anyway one day she came round to my mother and said “I don’t know what’s up with your kids but they are standing at the hedge shouting ‘Macaroni Cheese’ at me”…



"Don’t worry" my mum said, "they just think they are swearing".

w26kay



Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 479

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 23:07

My parents separated quite early in my childhood. The best times were when I was with my Dad. He was always so much fun. He was my Dad and best friend too. Ah fond memories of happy days.



Unfortunately he passed away some 19 years ago. Still very sadly missed.

w26kay



Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 479

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 23:19

OH Groucho that was funny. LOL.

My Mum experimented with food too. It was ALWAYS not too good!!! She has a secret family name of Mrs Bucket, although she never ever lived up to the fabulous dining and cuisine of her namesake.



I had an Indian friend at school and she insisted I invited her and her parents around for a curry. The mind boggles. This was in the late 60's when Curry Restaurants were not on any high street in Birmingham I hasten to add.



Goodness knows where she got the curry powder from, but it was a version of curried overcooked stew complete with sprouts, parsnips (well all root vegetables really), cabbage etc.,AND dumplings. it was absolutely awful, and the veg had been pre-cooked to an inch of its life, before it went into the concoction of whatever it was. I really don't know what this poor family thought, but they didn't reciprocate.

britvic



Joined: 05/09/2008
Posts: 3039

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 23:29

My mum used to put the veg on at the same time as the meat, and leave it on as long! then a tin of peas in the oven, in the tin! Lol

God bless her soul she died in 2006.

w26kay



Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 479

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 23:34

Britvic, don't you think that was just generally because of that generation? The sprouts resembled disintegrated cabbage, potatoes that could have mashed themselves. And Bicarb in everything green! The over use of Lard. Lard OMG. Who would use Lard now?



When I tried to tell my Mum that she was boiling the vitamins and goodness out of all the veg, she just replied. I like them cooked!!!! And by god they were! LOL

w26kay



Joined: 14/10/2007
Posts: 479

Message Posted:
24/11/2008 23:44

I have been a veggie since I was 11, and it was never accepted by my Mother who used to push sausage pieces into the mashed potatoes (oh like I wouldn't notice then!)



Anyway I eat fish cheese and eggs, and after school one day I mentioned that I wanted to take egg and cress sandwiches to school. Once you said you liked something, you had it forever.... Like ....Egg & cress sandwiches for the next 5 years. When I said I wanted a change (after 5 years), she was really annoyed... I thought I had found something you liked she said, so I left home at 14 to live with my Dad. Drastic, I know, but I was beginning to squalk.

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 08:32

Britvic,



your mum must have been my school cook! It never fails to amaze me how good ingredients can be turned into the most awful mush by cooks in schools..



grey sprouts and peas

slimy cabbage

limp carrots

meat, particularly lamb's liver, to re-sole your shoes with

lumpy mashed potatoes



Only saving grace, the gravy into which all the flavour that should be in the meat was now residing....



Ah the memories they bring flooding back...

louthlass


Joined: 09/11/2008
Posts: 271

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 12:56

Having grown up through the war years, and used to rationing, and only knowing some fruit from pictures, or from dummies hanging in shop windows, I was so excited when my Mother handed me some money to go and buy some oranges and bananas.

The biggest disappointment was when I saw the bananas, they were so small. The Fyfes bananas they had hanging in the shop windows were at least 1 metre in length and had a large label on it reading FYFES. I still feel cheated!!!

1python


Joined: 03/11/2008
Posts: 32

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 13:30

discovering off of my older brother the real meaning behind the characters names of the cartoon Captain Pugwash.......i.e. master bates , seaman staines , and roger the cabin boy...and then telling all my lesser enlightened school chums exactly why our parents liked the programme more than we did ahh..such innocence

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 19:49

Python,



"master bates , seaman staines , and roger the cabin boy"



Sorry to burst your bubble but these names are a myth and never appeared in the Captain Pugwash series... they were invented some time ago but were never part of the real program.... whose character included Pirate Barnabas, Master Mate, Pirate Willy and Tom, the cabin boy.





good laugh though the mythical names were....

scampy



Joined: 15/01/2008
Posts: 982

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 21:09

Groucho



Do you really want to know



It's not nice and I am not putting it on here



Susie x

Lilli



Joined: 21/07/2008
Posts: 13081

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 21:22

oh geoff poor cariad, i was at that game also, my saddest being so poor in ireland and queing up at the vincent de paul charity for hand me downs but had a warm loving family and we laughed as even though i was the oldest i was the smallest so had to wait for my younger siblings hand me downs that came from a charity, saddest my dad died when i was 15 and he was stationed in bahrain to an army families camp that was awful, but what dosent kill you makes yo strong and it certainly made us all grow up very quickly, pleased to say ive gone through good and bad but still here to remember you all take care xxxxxx

Coachie



Joined: 29/07/2008
Posts: 2135

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 22:14

Louthlass ..Shortly after the war finished my dad was in the merchant navy for a while and I can femember him bringing some bananas home from one of his trips,wasnt I just the envy of my mates in the street when I went out with this thing in my grubby little fist,got chased back into the house cos I wouldnt let them have a bite.Never saw many oranges though just that awful thick stuff they used to give us at school...

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 22:22

I used to love the orange mixing liquid they used to supply when we were kids.. still hanker for it now...

Coachie



Joined: 29/07/2008
Posts: 2135

Message Posted:
25/11/2008 22:35

groucho...you must have had a better supplier for your school.The stuff we had was evil!!!

scampy



Joined: 15/01/2008
Posts: 982

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 13:44

Groucho



I can always remember, lifting my Gradad's cap and kissing him on top of his head if he hadn'y had a shave because I didn't like his wisker's



Also, Starting work as a glass collector at 15 and buying myself my first pair of new jeans



(I always had hand-me-downs)



Susie x

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 14:30

You had hand me downs.... Let me tell you, I had three elder sisters plus one younger and only a younger brother !... Err, didn't mean to reveal that....



No I didn't... well I don't think I did... oh it's all gone foggy... aaah!

hattikins


Joined: 17/02/2008
Posts: 2793

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 14:48

Groucho

Hand me Downs, I know the feeling mate, I had five elder brothers !

scampy



Joined: 15/01/2008
Posts: 982

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 15:14

Groucho



I had an older brother but he is smaller than me, So I guess I got cast off's



My daughters are the same the younger one bigger than the older one



Susie x

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 15:20

Hattikins,



I think girls get away with it better than boys... in fact I'd rather see a pretty girl in a man's shirt than a spandex leotard... which I find oddly unsexy to say the least..

lovingthesun


Joined: 13/11/2008
Posts: 61

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 15:24

Worst - my eldest brother used to torture me mentally by calling himself the Ra Ra man, which involved ( without warning) putting a pair of my mums tights over his head and running at me going RA RA. Honestly at the time this was terrifying.



Favourite - We all went to stay at my parents friends house one Easter and they happened to own a hand made chocolate shop. Woke up Easter Morning to a chocolate treasure hunt- YUM



Overall a very happy childhood.

Groucho



Joined: 26/04/2008
Posts: 7993

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 19:38

Go on... "a hand made chocolate shop" sounds quite dangerous...

phylray



Joined: 21/09/2007
Posts: 1727

Message Posted:
26/11/2008 21:05

Have many happy memories despite the war at the time, and later -

day my baby sister was born at home, playing on the 'lotties' (allotments)

& hanging upside down from trees, dancing and singing, the stories my mum

used to tell us at bedtime. The saddest time when I heard she had died.