Anyone who knew my dad Donald as an adult would know he had a mischievous sense of humour, but that he was also quite strict – especially when we were children. However… when he was a child himself he was far from being an angel! He was never malicious or unkind, never a bully – just the opposite, he would stand up for others and for what he believed in…. but he was quite naughty.
I mentioned to a WordPress friend the other night that he had once put a spoon through the mangle .. it ended up with a flat tip, and his mother, Maudie was furious, of course! But there was a reason behind it; he and his sister-Joan used to quarrel over the spoon as to whose it was, so Donald decided to change its shape to prove it was his! Joan who is now ninety-four, still laughs when she tells the tale!
I also told my friend about the pear-tree, espaliered against a wall in Donald’s grandparents house. He was told he must not pick any of the fruit, and his granddad Tom would have given him a fierce telling-off if he had…but the pears were so big and juicy, so ripe and lovely… Donald crept behind the tree and took a bite out of the back of each pear!
Then there was the time he wanted to see what a raw egg tasted like; he pinched two from the larder and took them up to his room, cracked and ate them… I don’t know what they tasted like or whether he liked them, that wasn’t in the story! having eaten the eggs he had a problem as to what to do with the shells… easy, flush them down the toilet! He was puzzled later when Maudie accosted him about the eggs, told him off severely about it… but how did she know? Of course, the egg shells floated, and there was only one person in the family who would put egg shells down the loo!
Donald was a country boy and he often went out with game-keepers and groundsmen; one old fellow used to catch moles and Donald decided he wanted a moleskin waistcoat so the old man gave him all the dead creatures (ugh!) Donald took their skins and pinned them out on board to dry… and put it under his bed! it wasn’t long before Maudie found them when cleaning the room – she was not best pleased and into the bin they went! As an old man, Donald was still aggrieved at this, but as a parent he could also see the funny side!
Lois Elsden 