This weekend Haley amused herself by cleaning out Ebonys Room (I would rather walk across hot coals lol) Emily had a fantastic time going through Ebony's treasures and scored some long forgotten toys and books. These funny glasses were one of her finds, she cracks me up when she wears them...I remember my Uncle Bob used to wear the real version of these and when he came to visit, my Mum would give all us kids a stern warning about laughing when he flipped up his sunnies! I actually used to love it when Uncle Bob visited, he always had a big pocket full of change. I would sit there busting my guts waiting for the moment when he handed over the loot and then shoot of to the corner shop to buy sherbet straws, sunny boys and choo choo bars...weren't they a dead give away, left you with big black teeth. On the subject of lollies, how crap are they these days...I hate all those sour gummy things and all the old favourites are a third of the size they used to be and don't taste anywhere near as good...My kids laugh when I tell then that 20 cents used to buy a big white paper bag full of lollies....now you get two measley snakes!
The other joy that has been taken away is the deposit for returning empty soft drink bottles. My bother, sister and I used to make a killing on the weekends....until Mr Brodie the shop keeper realised we were pinching the bottles from behind his shop...I remember we got a good whooping from Mum over that little fiasco...and whoopings...they are a thing of the past, you would be put in jail for that these days. I had my fair share of those over the years let me tell you....the various stages of whoopings were...for a minor infringement you got an open handed slap...piece of cake!!! For giving cheek and back chat the slap got a whole lot harder....and then there was the biggie....the ironing cord...(don't know why it was called that as it was actually the cord from the electric frypan)...One mention of the ironing cord had you shaking in your boots and hoping like hell you would be able to outrun Mum, which just for the record never happened. The welts it left on your legs lasted for hours and you would swear that from this moment on you would be good ...which just for the record never happened either lol. I remember one day it was my brother who was on the receiving end and I was beside myself with joy, as he had just drawn all over my favourite doll....after his beating I smugly commented "serve yourself right" which in turn earned me a beating for being smart. With all this talk of beatings I don't want to give the impression my mother was evil, because she truly wasn't, I deserved all I got and more and back in those days it wasn't considered bad, it was how discipline was dished out...anyway once again I have gotten right off track, can't even remember what I had intended to say now, so I will leave it till next time...bye!