28/06/21
Well today started as most but was an early one as Helen had an appointment for a scan which she gets every so often to keep an eye on things so here is hoping it is. Went for bite to eat had a bacon roll and a cuppa tea it was bloody great , then just a bit of shopping and then back home as have a few things to do in the garden. I would like to put in a story here of a memory I have it is not really an story from days of growing up but it is about schools i went to and a set of stairs where we used to hang out it is something that well kind of upset me and did bring a tear to my eyes.
A long walk home ( A memory)
A few years ago when Helen was still working for the city council she had to hand her car into garage near to Mcalpine rd near scheme called St Marys, it was a day i had off so i asked if she would drop me off there and i would walk back to Broughty Ferry a very long walk as i decided i would walk past my old schools the route i used to walk home at the end of a school day then down Kirkton to my old house and past lots of old friends houses then from there up by the Emmoks past where i used to go and pick berries for money place called Bentleys berries then through Tealing and well from there back home. It was a very nice day which helped as well. So i started my walk and headed to my old school Lawside Academy but as i got to it i discovered they had knocked i down all that was left was an empty space, now i am not going to say i was a fan of school but it is where i spent the most of my days and where i met a lot of friends some who i am still in touch with today and also just some fun days mmm maybe some not so fun, it was where i went to a farewell disco and really first got on with some people who were at times i maybe had arguments with or they could be bit bully if you did not stand up to them but when i think back it was fine and as i have said some good days.
Lawside Academy
As i stood there looking at the empty space i did i must admit feel a bit sad at the thought of it being pulled down all these memories seemed to be wiped away but I suppose it was an old school, i stood for while and thought about few things and few people some who are no longer with us and one who i recently just met again through work, so it was head down and time to go down to my first school St Columbus and i walked the way i would walk home from Lawside passing places i knew well and stopping just to have a good look around still saying to myself i can’t believe they knocked down Lawside, and as i walked to my first school heading down school road i reached another empty space, yes it was gone as well just a big empty space it was then i felt quite emotional. This is where i first went this was a school where it took me a while to fit in but friends that i know longer see memories that i struggle to remember but every now and then one pops up mainly of playing football in the main playground and they had to stone buildings where you can sit in and cheer and sing on both teams 😂 also things like school sports day and there football team where one of my mates played for he had long hair at that time but is as baldy as a coot now. Again standing there looking at this space i could honestly say a tear came to my eyes, just remember when i first started mum taking me there and me not wanting to go in but mum made sure i did not leaving until she saw me go in 😂 think she knew i would be good at plunking …… i was 😂
Me Lawside photo purple shirt
So feeling bit blah off i went to retrace my steps to my old house and i have to say this was good i walked past friends houses whom are no longer there but was good feeling just being back, i walked down Haldane pass in an old friends house from the 70s who sadly is no longer with us Jacko good guy but took his own life and to this day i don’t really know what happened but it was a shock when heard this news, i recently met his daughter and she is a credit to him a nurse and i was able to copy some photos of him to give to her which she really liked. So onto our old house and walk down Balgowan Ave it was good to see the old house which now has no tree in the garden and well garden looks lot better now 😂 was bit of mess when we had it but i stood a minute and still could imagine us all there playing outside football and game of headers which i will go into more as blogs go on. I walked down to nursery steps a place where as a group was where we hung out and yes the nursery has been knocked down but stairs are still there.
The nursery steps and old house
So i took the opportunity to sit and have a wee break here looking at the wall to see if our names were still there but could not see them if i had a felt pen i may have put them back bloody vandal, sitting there looking across at houses pointing at each one remembering names, The Thomson’s the Browns, Rices, Cradocks and Mckays especially Norma who i may have got my first kiss off ha ha i think as memory is not the best but she was a good looking lass (Dina tell the wife 😂) and i did like her a lot ahhh shucks. So feeling bit happier and bit silly at the way i reacted to seeing my schools no longer there. I walked from there up to Bentlys Berries which are there no longer but it was great walking up there up long steepish hill past where fields used to be and something else i shall mention ooo happy berry days and making a bit dosh. Again i stood in field where the berries used to be and just smiled at the berry fights we had and getting there on the farmers bogie ha ha nothing to do with your nose. I headed home after this took most of the day but when i got through Tealing and got home i thought well although it was bit emotional day i also thought well it was what i needed just reliving some of my younger school days some of my days playing beside our house and days of hanging about and having a carry on. I shall of course say more about these days as i go on but i wanted to put this up as it is something that has stayed with me ever since i did this walk. Thank you.
Kirkton friends
02/07/21
So three days work finished and all went well apart from the unit being very warm so by the end of the third day i was glad to get home and have a good sleep but must say still feel bit weary this morning but i get my jab today to help sort my arm so hoping this will be the start of it getting better, also taking Helen to her treatment today as well at 13-00 so will plan a walk around this and hopefully weather permitting will get out on bike tomorrow although forecast does not sound to good. Anyway back to my walk story just a wee note here, this walk made me think that i know things move on and of course things have improved so much since my day kids have so much more opportunity which of course is great i means i wonder what school would have been like if we had mobile phones or iPads or even chance to learn more, but still was hard to see all these places i stayed or went to all gone i felt like part of my life had been wiped out which I suppose is silly but it was sad to see. Anyway back to my story of growing up in the 70s and beyond.
Times were fun especially some of the games we used to play and there is a book out called skeem Life by the great Gary Robertson or as he is known the Dundee Poet and it describes what it was like growing up in these days and some of the games some which when I think back were dangerous but hey you had no fear then. I shall go into more detail about these as i go through the next two days but i just had a phone call from doctors with a change of appointment to 11-35 so will leave it here for now. So jab has been given ad arm at the moment is sore but she did say it would be and to relax it for a couple of days but also said that it should work a treat so fingers crossed 🤞. Helen drove to her appointment and that went well to, we had a trip to costa for cake and a Carmel latte and Helen had tea, after that bit of shopping then up the road to try and keep this arm relaxed mmm to help i am sitting watching football with just a wee dram 🥃. Managed some photos today
These were all taken at Ninewells the last pictures is the Maggies centre which Helen has used during her treatment and who i have been raising money for. I was hopping to pout a bit more about growing up but was back late so hopefully tomorrow as well i cant go out on bike that will have to wait until Tuesday and if predicted weather happens might not even get a walk in. So tonight will consist of tennis, cycling and football mmm and oh yeah a couple of beers.
03/06/21
Good morning a bit of an early start as i could not get back to sleep so I’d like to go into some of the games we used to play. We had Johnny and the gun, knifey, war games, headers, Kriby and of course football and lots more. Johnny and the gun was easy but it was the way we played these days it consisted of three people one in the middle would hold two peoples hands one on the left and one on the right and we stood in the middle of three lampposts and the idea was the two people would race to their lamppost and back to the person in the middle first person to touch him/her would win but you never ran until the person in the middle shouted JOHHNY AND THE GUN AND THE GUN WAS LOADED JOHNNY AND THE GUN AND THE GUN WENT BANG ha ha yup then you darted as fast as you can 😂 next was knifey and if ever a game should have been band it was this but i liked it, two people one with a knife you would stand facing each other but a good distance apart with your legs shut, the person who had the knife would throw it at your feet but try to make it land sharp bit into the ground and wherever it landed you moved your foot to it then picked up the knife and then threw it back to him and well i think you get the idea, the knife could be well a real one or some of your mums best cutlery ha ha many a time mum must have thought where a re all the knives 😂 . Yes that was a game. War games was simple it consisted of us all pretending to be soldiers and being at war and as we had a big garden it was perfect for this game, two sides shooting each other with our sticks and making the noise brrrrrrrrrrrrb machine gun bang bang or dv dv Gun, and BOOM, KTASH bombs or grenades and dynamite 😂 bloody funny now. Headers were just making two goals up and heading a ball at each other trying to score think the first one to ten was the winner this was played on a dual carriageway as well, and the kriby which consisted of having a ball and two people on each side of the road and you would throw or toss the ball and try to make it bounce back to you by hitting the edge of the kerb and that would be a point and first to 21 points would win this was an art it wasn’t easy trying to do this but if you hit the kerb you got a shot from half of the distance i really enjoyed that game, and of course football and yes as i have said on dual carriageway mmmm its a wonder were all still here the amount of balls that were burst going under moving cars or certain neighbours who would stick a knife in the ball if it went in there garden.
The link will take you to. YouTube and give you an idea of the game called knifey i am trying to find some old pictures of other games just to give an idea of what we used to get up to but please look at the video.
Kriby
There are lots more games and yes i shall mention them as i go on but i think you can see what i mean about life being bit easier these days, they may not sound exciting to kids nowadays but we were never in the house we were always out playing and having great fun i really do wish i had more photos from those days. Well onto breakfast now and to have a little think about these days, I have to say it is quite emotional as when your young you never think of getting to this age all you want to do is have fun.
So rest of the day was spent in Arbroath but really it wasnt best day really misty but was still mild, we sat and had a cuppa at the docks and after it I had a walk second walk of the day as I walked around panmuirfield earlier.
Now onto tonight and will watch the game and I think I shall have a nice bottle of red wine mmm but my 12yr old Tomatin whisky arrived today as well.... Oh these choices 😂 but I think the red will win tonight.
04/06/21
So the red wine won last night but it was a nice one 19 crimes the banished. Weather today is not so good very overcast and some rain so no plan at moment, well apart from digging out some old photos for next weeks blog to continue with the story of growing up. Arm today does feel bit better and seem to be able to do a bit more with it but will still take my time when using it. As i have mentioned in the days of Kirkton during the 70s gangs were in every scheme and i ask or talk about Gary Robertson again who has written a book called Gangs of Dundee and again it is worth a read, he also says the Kirkton Huns were one of the biggest and probably toughest of the time, i was not part of these gangs but i do know a lot of them and still see few to this day. We had our own wee squad and as i have said we hung about at nursery steps there used to be at times ten to fifteen of us and really we had few scrapes with certain people but mainly it was just about being and acting bit crazy and when i think back we did do some daft things some which i may go into later. But as for gangs well i would say we were in quite a big one called the shed boys and we all followed one team and yes that team was Dundee United and yes we did get into a lot of scrapes at times after games walking down the hill town or drinking in pubs again i will mention this later but really football in these days is not the same we see today.
But first lets see what today brings probably the usual bit shopping and quiet kind of day as i am back at work tomorrow. Well it did brighten up for a while but as i said earlier it was a day of not doing much which has been good as my arm feels bit better so hoping the rest and the jab is finally working. Took couple of photos in garden which i shall finish this part of my blog with and part 16 will hopefully continue with bits of life growing up, i have tried to find certain photos but at moment not much luck but did find lots of holiday photos which is great. Anyway another week ends busy one next week but i shall do what i can. Oh my liquid gold came as well
Liquid gold
Yes 12 year old Tomatin now that’s going to go down very nicely indeed.
From the garden
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