Looking at the item about the copper thieves it got me thinking about those stupid things we all do as a kid.
I was waiting in my mums car, 36 years ago or so,as about an 8 year old waiting for my mum who was in the launderette - curiosity got the better of me and I pushed the cigarette lighter in , when it came out I placed it on my thumb - ouch it hurt, never to be done again.
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As I briefly mentioned yesterday I set fire to our neighbour's shed. My brothers and I had built a fire next to the fence which caught light and set the shed on fire. Quite enjoyed the arrival of the fire brigade but the next few days weren't good
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>> Looking at the item about the copper thieves it got me thinking about those stupid
>> things we all do as a kid.
>> I was waiting in my mums car, 36 years ago or so,as about an 8
>> year old waiting for my mum who was in the launderette - curiosity got the
>> better of me and I pushed the cigarette lighter in , when it came out
>> I placed it on my thumb - ouch it hurt, never to be done again.
My lad did exactly the same thing at 14.
He wasn't amused by the ET jokes either!!!
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Pushing a metal poker into the glowing red element of an electric fire, to see what would happen. Fortunately, it was resting on a metal guard that must have been earthed.
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I can remember when I was quite young, sitting on the floor in front of the Magicoal fire,
The coal effect was on but none of the radiant elements were switched on,
I've always had an inquisitive mind, so, I touched an element with my finger,
WHOA!! - I ended up on top of the dining room table :D
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did pretty much the same thing - No matches to light the stove so got a light with a bit of paper from the electic fire. Shouldn't have used foil backed paper from a cigarette packet.
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One of our friends "found" a number of cylindical objects in the back of a jeep, parked in a hotel in Ipoh, Malaya. We couldn't figure out what they were. I brought our hammer, and we split them open. Treasure! Soft lead pellets. Gunpowder. Popped and fizzed when struck. So, we decided to make a proper job and assemble a big firework, by emptying them all. Just as the production line got into swing the old man sauntered across, as I raised the hammer to split open more cartridges. STOP! STOP! give me the hammer. Shotgun cartridges, left openly during the emergency. A silly boy officer decided to go to the bar and forgot his shotgun and ammo was left in open view.
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Most of mine involved fire. Had quite a fascination with it between the ages of about 13 and 16.
Me and like a group of like-minded chums would very often start camp fires in the copse behind the school during our lunch break. This would often involve lobbing whatever aerosol cans, lighter fluid, or anything else flammable or explosive that we had to hand on the flames "to see what happened". We quickly discovered that full cans of WD-40 had an extremely impressive effect :-)
Many a time we would sit in class after lunch to see fire engines screaming up the road in the direction of the copse to put our efforts out. Yet our intentions were never malicious. In all honesty, we just never really thought about it.
My pyromania cured itself when I "grew up", although does occasionally resurface, albeit in far more moderate form, when I've had a few beers....
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I once gave my bedtime glass of hot milk to the cat and pretended to my mum I'd drunk it. God, I was such a little tear away when I was 18.
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Sneaking into RAF Turnhouse and lying on our backs in the long grass at the end of the runway if there were Lightnings in. They'd just have taken off or would skim right over us to land. What a great noise !
What a telling off....
:-)
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>Most of mine involved fire.
Mine involved explosives and pyrotechnics.
Silliest thing I did was the first time I attempted to make dynamite. Thinking about it now, I can't believe how stupid and incredibly lucky I was.
The reaction to create nitroglycerin generates lots of heat and my cooling system couldn't cope so the nitro became unstable and began to decompose. Instead of leaving it to either stabilise or blow my dad's garden shed to splinters I picked up a 1ltr beaker containing decomposing nitro and a mix of hot concentrated nitric and sulphuric acid and carried it to the bottom of the garden.
Dumb or what?!
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Snap!
Although my attempt at nitroglycerin was much smaller in scale - I had made a spoonful at most..... cooled by the water in the sink of a chemistry lab at college.
Then, too late, I thought what can I do with this stuff now? **
I had to carry the liquid in a small beaker about 100 yards to the edge of the empty playing fields. As I got to the edge of the thankfully empty field, my nere failed me, and I threw the beaker away from me - this triggered the decomposition, with clouds of brown smoke spewing out of the end of the beaker - way out of proportion to what I had expected.
Had the decomposition began while I was holding the beaker, I imagine I would have lost my hand.
** Not my finest hour!
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>> Had the decomposition began while I was holding the beaker, I imagine I would have lost my hand.
This is more or less what happened to a chemical genius I knew at school. Trying to make nitroglycerin in the utility room at home from chemicals stolen from the school lab stores, he lost several fingers and suffered 2nd degree burns to the side of his face when the stuff started to decompose. This was sufficient to persuade us not to go any further with our own attempts.
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>> Trying to make nitroglycerin
My father did that when he was about 12. When the reaction started in the beaker he rushed outside with it and put it in a flower bed. The stuff consising I believe largely of nitric acid boiled over the sides of the beaker and left a black, burned ring in the soil. When everything calmed down he took the beaker away.
He escaped uninjured, but his father - who had a disciplinarian side and was a very keen gardener - was very puzzled by the black ring of burnt soil. My father felt it was safer to say nothing at all and just leave the old man puzzled.
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Climbing ! I remember, about 12, climbing up the side of our house using various window ledges and the soil pipe. Then squeezing in through the small transom window of the nettie.
Fifteen plus feet up and no crampons or rope ! Concrete path underneath. Me ole mum was out and it was just a challenge to myself. Police arrived one time in their J type van and I made the excuse that I was locked out.
Then we found that a neighbour's shed was easy to get on via the fence so we climbed up and jumped onto the lawn, landing like parachutists......until I landed on neighbour's new kitten and killed it !
Roman candles made an excellent three shot handgun. Never hit anyone or got hit but it wasn't for lack of trying. Imagine a fizzing ball of fire going down your shirtfront !
Across the field, a mate and me crouched in an open topped concrete cess about 2 feet from the rail as a London to Manchester express stormed by. Never had any thought about the implications of superheated steam getting in there with us ! Living in a junction we were always trespassing on the lines.
Ted
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Kid don't change, but the world does.
My eldest, with his reprobate 'mates' thought it would be fun to set fire to one of those big round hay bales and roll it down the field. They were caught red handed by the -rightfully - irate farmer and marched to the police station. Compensation paid to mr farmer has thankfully avoided a criminal record for all concerned.
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>> My eldest, with his reprobate 'mates' thought it would be fun to set fire to
>> one of those big round hay bales and roll it down the field.
My default reaction to reading that is to smile.
Notwithstanding that I know it is wrong, would never do it myself, and understand the repercussions of doing so, a tiny part of me, however reluctantly, thinks "cool".
It's not good, is it?
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...It's not good, is it?...
I suppose it's not too bad if you are confident the rolling bale will come to rest in the field and burn itself out harmlessly.
But we are talking about, I think, around half a ton of burning hay which would take some putting out.
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.........and belongs to someone else.
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And even if not alight takes some stopping.
Farmers have been killed and injured by runaways.
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>>Mine involved explosives and pyrotechnics.
Someone found a book in the school library that described a method of constructing a paste, (that would evaporate into crystals) that could be 'painted' onto a door handle that would 'crackle' when hand pressure was applied. It would also produce a re-assuring 'bang' if applied to a door jamb when the door was slammed.
The book subsequently disappeared. I suspect the formula produced something akin to saltpetre.
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Nitrogen Tri-iodide probably. You can make small quantities from common household ingredients.
Stable when wet but will detonate if a fly lands on it when dry!
Last edited by: Kevin on Thu 15 Dec 11 at 23:38
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One of my earliest memories was at a very young age, being in the same room as my dad - he was doing some work on a curtain rail, standing on a wooden ladder - I grabbed the electric element of the fire. I think we both flew the air, sort of pirouetted and landed in different parts of the room. I still have the scar on my left hand where it happened and I studied it when there was disclosure of similar incidents further up the thread. I remember the thing with crystal clarity - must have been very, very young.
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Every one of my scars is a everlasting story in stupidity.
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I lived on the 4th floor of block of council flats as a nipper, and each floor had a rubbish shute where all the tenants of that floor would throw their rubbish, which would eventually end up in a huge bin at the bottom of the flats
(how hygienic is that!)
Great fun was to be had by some ne'er do wells, by setting fire to said bin and seeing the fire engines doing their stuff.
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>> I lived on the 4th floor of block of council flats as a nipper, and
>> each floor had a rubbish shute where all the tenants of that floor would throw
>> their rubbish, which would eventually end up in a huge bin at the bottom of
>> the flats
>> (how hygienic is that!)
Block of flats still extant on approaches to Euston (Kilburnish?) with same arrangement.
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>>Block of flats still extant on approaches to Euston (Kilburnish?) with same arrangement<<
ISTR some people (quite innocently) put the hot ashes from their fires down the chute (spelt correctly this time)
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as a kid we used to cycle upto the local srap yard and climb over the (stupidly low) fence to get in
We would go round clambering on all the cars etc, and before we leave we would fill our pockets up with car light bulbs and cycle home (on the road) smashing them on floor to try and puncture our freinds tyres
There used to be a old grammer/boys school in my town, that was left abandoned - in the gardens there used to be apple trees, the apples making good missiles to through the glass windows
I have of course grown up since then
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Lock oneself and friend in a brick shed then set fire to the door.
Door locked to keep parents out - they weren't supposed to find out we were playing with big brothers meths burning Mamod steam engine - but they did, when we put a brick through the window on the way out :-)
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Jumping on the back of lorries as a kid in R/Dam and taking a ride out of town for free.Driver noticed us and increased speed whilst jumping off,never run so fast in my live.Making our own float from timber and paddling on the river Maas.We used to swim in the river,came home once covered in oil,sister scrubbed me down to get writ of the oil.Market day nicking apples stallholder used to chase us.>:) Many more silly things not to mention.
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just a few!
We taught ourselves to undo the simple combination locks that were used on push bikes.
Off to the bike racks at the local swimming pool. Off with the locks and swop em around.
With a box of matches and some newspaper - off on a mission
Find some nice squishy dogs mess and wrap it in a small amount of newspaper.
Place on a doorstep, light paper, knock on door.
Give marks out of ten for the Tango on the doorstep.
Converted Sparklets CO2 cylinders to bombs using gunpowder from bangers.
Applications were various.
Tie thin string to knocker of a front door of a terraced house and link to the knocker opposite.
Repeat process as quick of possible along the road before the infrequent vehicle does the end of the process.
Avoid giggling as several folks all stand on the doorstep looking at each other.
Glue a coin on the pavement under the light of a street light.
One that went wrong
I was staying on a farm in France.
There was a big wide rake thing that was towed across fields to turn hay ?
It was propped up with the shafts in the air.
I played with the lever ( like those old external car handbrakes) I managed to release it.
I was smacked on the chin and put a hole in my face under my bottom lip.
Too scared to admit it I spent the rest of the time trying to hide the extent of my injury.
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How's about stink-bombs then!! we used to drop them in various shops on the way home from school,
Did it in a butchers shop once, he didn't alf go mad :D
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Edinburgh is pretty hilly. We used to go everywhere including to and from school ( 5 miles each way ) on our bikes in all weathers. My route took me up the "Mound" a short but steep climb connecting Princes St. to the Old Town for those who don't know it. Used to grab onto the back of a flatbed truck or similar to get a tow up there. Friend of mine was even more enterprising, he made a grappling hook from a thick garden cane and some old bit of bent metal and used it to hook onto any commercial vehicle making the climbs to get a pull up on his bike.
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Brother and me used to sleep in the same bed.One night I put my fingers to my brothers face after have a scratch.He gave me a black eye and i deserved it.>;)
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Like Dutchie, aged 10 / 11 we used to make rafts (early 1960s) from materials gathered from an industrial dump in Eastney near to the Hayling ferry in Pompey. The dump was later found to contain all sorts of nasty contaminants when housing was being built there.
One was a large sea-going version intended to make the crossing from Eastney to Hayling Island. Fortunately a local bobby caught us before the voyage as the outgoing tidal flow through Langstone Harbour mouth is 4 plus knots and had the raft even held together that long we would have ended up well out into the Solent. We had to completely dismantle the raft before being taken to our respective parents and being banned from the area for the rest of the summer hols.
Our alternative amusement was to climb through the fencing surrounding Southsea Castle (then derelict) and explore the tunnels and passageways inside, often flooded and in a state of collapse. How we survived our childhood I don't know.
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My brother and I were given an ancient car by our neighbour (forget what it was, Talbot Plimsoll or something) and thrashed it round the fields at home. Clutch burnt out eventually but we decided that it might be possible to weld the plates together.
This actually worked quite well, until about 20 minutes later when the clutch ejected itself through the bonnet at high speed. Had we been standing near the engine...
We also built a treehouse way up in an old oak - best part of 20 feet off the ground - and devised a quick way out using a horse's headcollar and an old rope. This worked really well, until the rope snapped and dropped me flat on my back - fortunately only five feet above the ground at the time!
Usual stuff involving fire / petrol / aerosol cans etc. We even had an old rowing boat and a big pond - actually, I wonder now how we ever managed to make it out of our childhood.
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Fri 16 Dec 11 at 17:59
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Setting fire and blowing up Airfix models.....:-(
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Yup, I remember that first time you found out that
a: dripping airfix plastic burns your hands
b: ruins the carpet.
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>> Setting fire and blowing up Airfix models.....:-(
Oh yes, absolutely ! Banger shoved inside an Airfix plane, curtain ring Sellotaped on top, hook ring onto clothes line which sloped down to the bottom of the garden, light banger, shoot at aircraft with an air rifle as it slid down the clothes line in flames and exploded when the banger went off. Ace !
( burned clothes line...not good...ouch ! )
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Yes! used to build Airfix aircraft with penny bangers, often with a double helping of powder, built into the fuselages ready for a suitable time and place for destruction.
We also discovered Jetex engines, little rocket engines powered by fuel pellets. These would be used to power all sorts of unsuitable things that often caught fire even during test runs in a bedroom. I doubt a 10 year old would be allowed to buy anything like this now. The fusewires used to light the engines were also interesting things to make use of.
Last edited by: four wheels good... on Fri 16 Dec 11 at 18:20
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2 other stupid things -must have been 1972, therefore 7 years old as The Olympic games were on.
I wanted a tubular heater on, so I climbed on the chair, then onto the nicely polished table table and reach up to pull the cord , slipped on the shininess and fell through a window - ouch
another silly thing was at 13, my parents moved into a new house , on a building site - it was quite a nice loop to cycle around and thought it was a good idea, using my sisters bike to go as fast as i could and slam the brakes on - great until it skidded so badly, I went over and created a 5" gash on my elbow , full of sand, dust, grit etc ouch , as someone else said scars prove our stupidity
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wait till grandad nodded off in front of the fire, then tightly wrap the red-ends two live matches tightly in a foil milk bottle top. place carefully on a hot coal. and leg-it before it went off!
Grandad used to come to the back door raging "wait till i get mi ands on you yer grubby little pfd!"
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 26 Dec 11 at 01:03
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My uncle used to roll his own cigarettes, and he'd pre-roll his days intake the night before and put them in his cigarette case. Myself and my cousin rolled one and packed it with match heads before slipping it into the case one night.
He never saw the funny side, and shortly afterwards neither did we.
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I got hold of an air pistol (Webley, 0.177, BB, 20-shot repeater). It was probably no more powerful than what they call BB guns today.
My neighbour reckoned it was useless and not a real air gun at all, being so weak. He went on about not even feeling it if you were shot with it............
I pointed it at my foot and asked him if he reckoned I wouldn't feel it. He said of course I wouldn't, so I moved aim to his foot and pulled the trigger.
He didn't half yell, went hopping off and told his mum, who told mine, gun went. He had a massive bruise.
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Was never allowed an air gun, but from what the big boys said, the way to increase the power was to put a little oil behind the pellet. Spud guns were my weapon of choice.
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Sekiden gun ( spelling? ) Anyway, they fired little gold coloured pellets. Gun itself looked like a Mauser.
The pellets, at close range anyway would pass straight throught two or three sheets of broadsheet newspaper. This turned out to be a bad thing when Dad was hidden behind his Sunday read...
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>> Sekiden gun ( spelling? ) Anyway, they fired little gold coloured pellets. Gun itself looked
>> like a Mauser.
>>
They were all the rage when I was at school, in fact the school banned them as most of the kids came in each day packing one and the playground became a batlefield each break. They even got a little publicity in the press if I remember after a few eye incidents.
One of the best toys I ever had.
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We had spud guns, to use an annoying Americanism, how they smarted....:-) (I had to hide mine in the attic)
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Can't comment tonight as I'm currently wetting myself. I had forgotten about the sekiden gun.
I thought you lot were a bunch of puritans...............what a mess. Wotspur has a lot to answer for. Will be back tomorrow if my trousers dry!!....................
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Does anyone remember an event that could have ended up in tragedy ?
Two in my life are still vivid in my mind. Aged about 3 and on holiday at my aunts in Leigh -on-Sea, we were picnicking on the beach. I wandered off a few yards and fell off the edge of a small concrete slipway. I can still remember a wave going over my head and a man plucking me from the water.
The other occasion was a few years later. I was playing in front of the fire with my Dinky toys, no telly then, I was lying on my back admiring the army scout car when the driver fell out and lodged in my windpipe. We had a young couple lodging with us and I recall the husband inverting me and thumping my back until I spat the unfortunate soldier out. If I'd been on my own it might have been different !
Ted
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When I was about 6 or 7, we were staying at my brothers caravan in Leysdown on Sea, near Whitstable in Kent,
We'd been on the beach but the tide started to come in fast and the area was full muddy quicksand with designated pathways (as I remember it)
There was a channel that the growd ups had to cross and I tried to cross it but I got stuck in the mud and as fast as I was sinking, the tide was coming in and my blimming older sister just left me there!
Luckily, a growd came to my rescue but, I've never really got over that terrifying experience to this day,
A few years ago, me and a mate were over Bodmin Moor in a boggy area and he decides to try and cross the bog,
Sod that for a game of soldiers I thought, so I walked around it, he crossed it, but very, very nearly had his chips!!
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>>Does anyone remember an event that could have ended up in tragedy ?
>>
Just a bit later in life.
I was swimming off a long sandy flat beach at an Italian resort but realised that my attempts to swim directly back were failing badly.
As slight panic was starting to set in I recalled reading about undertow etc .
I finished up swiming parallel to the beach for a considerable distance before I landed.
A long stroll back to future in-laws and future wife who were also starting to panic as I had in their eyes disappeared.
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Exact same thing happened to me on a resort at menorca. its a strange scary feeling swimming and getting nowhere.
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Made mortars from filling a tin can (usually syrup) with about 1 cm of water in the bottom and hammering the lid on really tight. Then place upright on fire , retire to a safe distance and wait.
Superheated steam, a large bang and lid rose above treetop level.
A credit to the strength of the seams of the can that they did not collapse under the pressure.
Emptied several tens of 2p bangers - teh big fat ones - of gunpowder, filled a BIG cardboard tube with them, tamped it down, sealed both ends well with tapes, inserted a length of blue touchpaper.
Set light and ran.
The resulting explosion deafened my brother and I for a few minutes . We lived in the country, our parents were out and nearest neighbour lived 1 mile away. So no-one learned of it.
Pity about the small hole in the lawn.. it was blamed on a fox after we "repaired" it.
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>> Made mortars from filling a tin can (usually syrup) with about 1 cm of water
>> in the bottom and hammering the lid on really tight. Then place upright on fire
>> , retire to a safe distance and wait.
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>> More memories....
Take tin can, coffee or similar, tap lid on firmly, punch small hole in top and bottom, fill with gas from gas oven (had a sort of nozzle on a tube for lighting the burners in the back of the oven in those days), apply flame to hole in top of lid, stand well back...........
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A group of us went camping in the lake district. Some of us decided to swim to an island a couple of hundred yards across the lake. Coming back, one of the girls was obviously tiring so I hung around near her. She wanted to stop and tread water for a while to catch her breath. I'd already done that, to feel for the bottom and nearly panicked as I felt the weeds gently appear to wrap themselves around my legs. I managed to convince her to keep going.
We all agreed to give up lake swimming on that holiday!
Later, some went swimming in the sea, at night, in a tidal estuary. I was accused of being an old fuddy-duddy when I ranted about the stupidity of that.
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...I'd already done that, to feel for the bottom and nearly panicked as I felt the weeds gently appear to wrap themselves around my legs...
A lifeboatman told me some river drownings are due to the person becoming entangled in weeds.
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>>Coming back, one of the girls was obviously tiring so I hung around near her.
>> She wanted to stop and tread water for a while to catch her breath. ??
>>
I can float motionless in still fresh water and breath OK.
I was taught this many years ago at a Sub Aqua session
I suspect most can also do this. How ? You need be on your back, stretch your arms above your head and relax. Your legs will float upwards and just your face will be just about out of the water.
To quote the famous words " Not a lot of people know that"
I have not tried it lately so I hope it still works for me.
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...You need be on your back, stretch your arms above your head and relax...
Given the likely circumstances of someone wanting to float, 'relax' is probably a very hard thing to do.
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>>I suspect most can also do this. How ? You need be on your back, stretch your arms above your head and relax. Your legs will float upwards and just your face will be just about out of the water<<
That's what saved my life off the coast of Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, I was out there on my own for 3 months (of bliss) and decided to go for an early (9am is early out there!) swim as I was getting fed up with Chlorine, I tried to swim back to the beach but the Atlantic had different ideas :(
I panicked (of course) no one else was about, I ran out of energy and thought 'this is it'
but I decided I didn't wanna die, so I layed on my back and did a gentle backstroke towards the beach,but at an angle to defeat the strong current, and here I am :)
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>> >>Does anyone remember an event that could have ended up in tragedy ?
>> >>
I think it was late 1950s our little gang found a small bomb, could have been a mortar, on the beach opposite the Marines barracks in Eastney. Of course for little boys this was a great find for a while and it was thrown around and poked, as one does. After a while though the novelty wore off as it didn't really do anything so was thrown back into the sea.
It could, of course, have been a dud - or not!
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...Does anyone remember an event that could have ended up in tragedy ?...
When I was about 12, I turned on a cold tap in the downstairs toilet of the farmhouse.
The tap was live, as in mains electric live.
I was unable to let go off it, but managed to scream convincingly.
My brother wrapped a hand towel around my neck - to insulate himself - and yanked me off.
Turned out a nail in a floorboard upstairs had worked itself through an electric cable and then touched a water pipe.
The house was hundreds of years old, so water and electrics were all improvements added over the years.
Nothing was square, and all the floorboards creaked.
A year or two earlier, someone had banged a few extra nails into the board in a bid to make it more stable.
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to let go off it (!!!!!!!!!)
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...to let go off it (!!!!!!!!!)...
Well, 'off it' was where I was trying to get.
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I'll let you off then :-) I had to post something before you edited it !
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...I had to post something before you edited it !...
You succeeded - I pressed the edit button only to be met with the 'already replied to' message.
I don't understand electricity, perhaps a pair of your £300 boots would have helped.
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>> The tap was live, as in mains electric live.
Which is why the piping should be cross bonded with the electrical earth sending the stray electrons to ground an tripping a fuse. Mind you, an old fashioned 15amp wire fuse might just get warm with a slight 'leak'.
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I needed some lace to make something after watching an episode of Blue Peter - so I chopped a chunk of the bottom of my grandmother's curtains!
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silly things you did as a kid - CGNorwich
