I Was A Mischievous Child
I might have done some stupid things as a kid, but this was possibly the nastiest and most dangerous of the lot!
I'd have just turned 13 at the end of the second year at school, and spend most of the summer either playing cricket, or when it was too hot to be bothered, and it was a very hot summer that year, we'd just be in his back garden.
His next door neighbour was a bit of a misery, and didn't really like kids messing about or noise or anything. Often if we were making a bit of noise he'd accidentally spray his hose a bit high so he'd soak us. Me being me, I didn't take kindly to this and got my own back by waiting until he was at the other side of the fence and I'd lob the odd stone over the fence and wait for the sound of stone hitting head followed by "Ow!" Kevin and me would hide as this head would appear over the fence to see what had happened.
Anyway, one day in the height of summer I banged a ball off the fence and one of the knots fell out, meaning I could see into his garden through a little spy hole. What I saw was disgusting, but at the same time too good an opportunity to miss out on. There was the neighbour right on the other side of the fence, in a tiny pair of budgie smugglers (speedos) lying flat out on a sun-lounger complete with a giant cigar pointing skywards.
Between Kevin and me, we found a balloon and a very long length of string. Filled the balloon with water, tied the end and tied the string around the end. With the help of a chair, I was able to silently lift the water filled balloon over the fence and lower it down, inch by inch, until it was inches from the lit end of this cigar. The grumpy neighbour hadn't noticed a thing, until I lowered it the final few inches and the lit end of the cigar burst the balloon covering the old misery in water!
This was utterly priceless as Kevin and me ran back into his house for our lives, just as he managed to leap the fence in one go after us, following us into the house. Luckily Kevin's mam was home and saved us from certain death, but my parents were called and my dad came around. After apologising like our lives depended on it, which to be fair they did, I was matched home by my ear. Luckily Kevin lived next door, so it wasn't too far.
For anyone who's ever read any of my other posts, you can imagine exactly how the conversation went back at home, and take a fairly good guess at how badly it ended for my backside - but it was worth it. I still look back on this moment and laugh at how stupid I was, but how much fun it was too.
I'd have just turned 13 at the end of the second year at school, and spend most of the summer either playing cricket, or when it was too hot to be bothered, and it was a very hot summer that year, we'd just be in his back garden.
His next door neighbour was a bit of a misery, and didn't really like kids messing about or noise or anything. Often if we were making a bit of noise he'd accidentally spray his hose a bit high so he'd soak us. Me being me, I didn't take kindly to this and got my own back by waiting until he was at the other side of the fence and I'd lob the odd stone over the fence and wait for the sound of stone hitting head followed by "Ow!" Kevin and me would hide as this head would appear over the fence to see what had happened.
Anyway, one day in the height of summer I banged a ball off the fence and one of the knots fell out, meaning I could see into his garden through a little spy hole. What I saw was disgusting, but at the same time too good an opportunity to miss out on. There was the neighbour right on the other side of the fence, in a tiny pair of budgie smugglers (speedos) lying flat out on a sun-lounger complete with a giant cigar pointing skywards.
Between Kevin and me, we found a balloon and a very long length of string. Filled the balloon with water, tied the end and tied the string around the end. With the help of a chair, I was able to silently lift the water filled balloon over the fence and lower it down, inch by inch, until it was inches from the lit end of this cigar. The grumpy neighbour hadn't noticed a thing, until I lowered it the final few inches and the lit end of the cigar burst the balloon covering the old misery in water!
This was utterly priceless as Kevin and me ran back into his house for our lives, just as he managed to leap the fence in one go after us, following us into the house. Luckily Kevin's mam was home and saved us from certain death, but my parents were called and my dad came around. After apologising like our lives depended on it, which to be fair they did, I was matched home by my ear. Luckily Kevin lived next door, so it wasn't too far.
For anyone who's ever read any of my other posts, you can imagine exactly how the conversation went back at home, and take a fairly good guess at how badly it ended for my backside - but it was worth it. I still look back on this moment and laugh at how stupid I was, but how much fun it was too.
51-55, M
