Well, I grew up in a small Village called Wargrave, in Berkshire, UK in the 50’s/60’s. Had a brilliant ‘Free-Range-Childhood’ where every single day was an adventure. As soon as school was over it was off to wherever until whenever 🙂
At weekends and school holidays it was out at dawn, back again when hungry, then off again until I ran out of things to do, or my mates were still allowed out.
I always worked, did odd-jobs for free for neighbours (who always ‘insisted’ on paying me anyway with goodies or money) from a very young age. By age eleven I had proper jobs at the chicken farm, pig farm, washing cars for regulars down Loddon Drive (The Rich End) among others that cropped up and used to earn more than my old Dad did in his Gardening Job. Don’t ask me where the hours came from, it still mystifies me now.
My ‘Claim-To-Fame’ is that My friend Stan and Me invented the word Yonks in the early 60’s. I know people will doubt that, but it’s a fact never-the-less. He had this old Wire-Haired-Terrier that they nicknamed ‘Honks’. (He didn’t Honk so don’t know why). He was a brilliant Guard-Dog but a useless Escape-Dog as Stan used to have to shimmy his way down the stack-pipe from his bedroom to get to see me and go on our adventures.
His Mum & Dad weren’t too keen on the pair of us playing together – Not too sure why ?? 😉
We had secret Hoots and Whistles to signal to each other after he’d been grounded and old Honk never seemed to catch on bless him.
Now as he was so old, we used to refer to ‘Honks Ago’ if we meant ‘Years ago’ and after a while our not-so-secret-code started morphing Honks Ago into ‘Yonks Ago’ ….. Now you know! ……
I would mention Stan’s full name, but I know he’s now a Very Private Chap and wouldn’t appreciate the Shout-Out!
Started my working life as an apprentice Chef, lasted less than a year as got into Plastering and preferred the banter on sites. Carried on with that vocation for the rest of my working life. Now retired, filling my days on the laptop with various schemes, the latest being this Blog and the Print-On-Demand shop. Be sure to check it OUT before you leave won’t you? … And the other pages/posts in the sidebar or footer.
Any questions or comments, there should be a comment pane below.
Cheers, …… Pete Moring.
Now for the ‘Wargrave, Berks, Past, Present and Future’ Blog and Photo-Gallery – Please Click Here!
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Take a short Tour Of Wargrave in the video below
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