Tuesday 16 October 2007

I Have Fairies In The Middle Of Me Garden......

Ok........ I think I have fairies in the middle of me garden..... cos this morning in the rain I spied this.......



It stopped me in me tracks as I hobbled down the garden early this morning to let Janet out...... I LOVE Toadstools.... so love em.... its growing out of the stump where me old apple tree use to be..... remember this post...

here

It was the most beautiful little toadstool...... just growing there all on its own...... I so attached meself with it lol....... the lonely little toadstool growing where nothing else would......

Anyways, if ya have been a blob reader of mine for a while you will probably know that me head overflows with shelves and shelves of memories all stacked high, but it sometimes takes a jog or a nudge or a vision or even a single word, to make me mind unscramble a memory...... and as I bent to take the photo of this little lonely toadstool I had this memory flash into me head.....

I was a bout 8ish or 9ish.... I was a right proper Tomboy, well we use to live on this well rough council estate But at the bottom of our close, we at least had this stream and a long long strip of wide waste land...... if you can imagine a capital letter E, the long part of the E was the wasteground and the little arms of the E was our close(street) and the closes(streets) next to ours and the next one.... all in a straight line and backing onto this wasteground with the stream and the most wonderful tall oak trees along the stream...... so to me as a kid this wasteground and stream and trees was my heaven, was my haven, was my place of retreat, was my safety ..... I would spend hours and hours in the stream and making dens in the tall tall stinging nettles and grasses that grew there..... we called it 'The Dumps' but it was not a dumping ground for rubbish, it was a dumping ground for all us kids from the council estate..... we would have fights against our close(street) and the close next to us, our close was a unit and we sometimes acted as one..... its hard to explain lol......

We would make up competitions with the kids from the other closes(streets) that backed onto the Dumps..... ya know, daft things like, who could swing across the stream on the rope swing and jump off and try and land on the bank on the other side....... which close(street) could build the bestest dam to stop the water in the stream, and who could catch the most StickleBacks(tiny steam fishes) in jamjars...... and who had the guts to swallow one alive.... yep that was me LOL..... who would squeeze through the overflow pipe that was just wide enough for a childs skinny body and crawl along and come out the other side of the main road..... yep that was me...... I did get stuck once and the firebrigade had to come and extract me LOL...... I didnt tell them me name or me parents would of skinned me alive lol

Those were the times of childhood that I hold so dear, those days - cos at weekends I would go down the dumps from the minute I got up until it got dark, and never went home for dinner, and in those days, no parent gave a dam where I was.... those are the precious times when I was free and knew that at least during those hours there would be no beatings, no punishments.... unless..... god forbid I got me shoes wet in the stream, so most of the time I would take off me shoes and socks and just run barefoot all day, and hide me shoes and socks under Kenny Marshes hedge LOL..... maybe now thats why I love not wearing shoes and only wear them when I REALLY have to......

Anyways, sorry, going off track here LOL.......... so the toadstools...... when a new kid came to live in one of the closes there would be an iniitiation thing...... where they had to 'do something' to be able to be in the group.......LOL....... I remember I wanted to change groups once and I had to sit in a chair down the dumps that had been covered in stinging nettles in just me shorts and t-shirt LOL..... well I remember when E and G Fewwings moved to number 9 - there was only 12 houses in our close(street) after a few months they wanted to join in with stuff down the dumps....... so M Bennyworth told them that they had to eat a bowl of toadstools....... JEBUS...... I remember then thinking and knowing that Toadstools are poison and could kill, but no matter how many times I spoke up they took no notice....... I remember telling the 2 boys NOT to eat the toadstools and that they could just hang with me down the dumps..... but, no, they wanted so desparately to be part of the crowd..... whereas me, it didnt make no odds....

I remember Gary started crying cos he said he didnt wanna die....... jebus, this is so very clear in me head :(....... I remember him saying that his mum and dad would miss him LOL...... jebus, even now I remember thinking how lucky he was to even think that.... and how sad if he died cos Martin had made him eat toadstools just to be part of a group........

So...... I volunteered to eat the Toadstools for him AND his brother, cos I remember thinking that no one would miss me, so it wouldnt matter, and if Eric and Gary so desparately wanted to be part of the group, then they needed it more then me......

So....... I ate the bowl of mixed toadstools dirt and all lol..... there must of been about 20..... I remember everyone standing there waiting for me to drop dead LOL....... but I didnt...... well not there and then lol....... this was one Saturday morning..... but I remember within a few hours not feeling very well and having the squirts and me eyes going strange ..... and I remember walking to Kenny Marshs house and getting me shoes and socks from under the hedge and seeing his mum cos I was to scared to go home...... I remember an ambulance coming and being taken to hospital........ I remember me stomach being pumped and spending 2 days in ICU lol....... I remember not wanting to live cos I knew I would have to face me parents when I went home...... I remember Mrs Marsh coming to the hospital to take me home..... and.... I remember the thrashing of a lifetime I got from me dad and then me mum when me dad went to work...... not a love thrashing cos they was glad I didnt die, but a thrashing with a belt for making fools of them and embarrassing them....... lol...... and I remember having the week off of school cos of being in hospital and eating the Toadstools and then a fortnight off of school cos of the thrashing, and having to tell everyone that I was still poorly from having eaten the toadstools, I even remember me teacher coming to visit and me desparately wanting to tell her why I was not at school.......

So........... I have fairies at the bottom of me garden and memories stacked on the shelves of me mind...... maybe it was those fairies that looked out for me that time.... who knows..... maybe it was just me stubborn will to survive childhood and life.....

OK, spilled way to much Twaddle for a wet Tuesday.....

x

31 comments:

OrdinaryShark said...

Me thinks, O Marm-one, that Eric and Gary Fewings of number 9 owe you. Go find 'em and tell em to pay up. Maybe they have a spare knee hanging about. I guessing Martin Bennyworth grew up to be a politician or a Union leader...
;-)

Pam said...

((((mel anyone's for a bite of their toadstool))))you are here because you are a strong lady. you have been living and living well. your parents can't ever take that away from you. you are 100x more the mother/parents, human being they will ever be, and you should be proud of all you've accomplished in your life. just take a look at your 4 wonderful lads! :) i know you always say it was what it was, but i so wish that it hadn't been like that for you. it gets me angry even though it was so long ago for you because i can never understand why some parents get like that...why anyone would abuse anyone at all.

now you have us weirdos that visit your blog for your family and we love you! lotsa love to you, matie xoxo

Pam said...

crap, i took to long to post my comment sharkie beat me to being first lol

Akelamalu said...

Don't go eating that toadstool now will you? :)

Jen said...

It seems to me that your heart has always been your guiding force. How many little girls would have been brave enough to do what you did because they cared for others?
Not many that I know. Thanks for the story.

Ol' Lady said...

I understand the parent thing, we could probably swap some interesting memories.
I do have an answer as to why you lived through every thing...only the good die young :o I'll still be talkin to ya when we are really really old (or is that now?)
Take care of yer bum knee :)

The Ferryman said...

I love you, crazy lady! :)

Bay Views said...

Do not kiss the toad. Nothing good can come from it. As to it's stool, I'd even stay further away from that.

david mcmahon said...

Came here from Akelamalu.

What a great piece of narration.

I was intrigued by your `Marmite' moniker. I grew up on Marmite but in high school I switched to Vegemite - and never looked back!

MarmiteToasty said...

~((((((((((Sharkie)))))))))~ shall I tell ya, I did come across them both again, mainly Eric when I was about 19-20ish, when I use to be in the Football Club/Social Club Pool Team... me and him had many run ins as kids so it was with great pleasure that I whipped his arse at pool LOL.... he did become one of the crowd that I use to hang with in those days.... he was the lad that had the 'chopper bike' do you remember me telling ya about it?.........hugs OXO

~((((ciara anyones for a nibble of her cups)))))~ Oh hush, it was what it was, and I wouldnt of said owt about it except for the dam toadstool and the cinema screen that was going on in me head lol..... love ya to :) xxxxx

~((((ake))))))~ I do have this fasination now with toadstools lol and we have countless books about them..... :) xxxx

~((((jen)))))~I just think I knew they had more to loose then me.... dont get me wrong, me and them lads well fell out at times as kids and sometimes I wished him ill LOL....xxxx

~((((ol' lady)))))~ I dont think I have more then a few years left LOL Im so dam knackered lmfao.... xxxxx

~(((((MrFab)))))~ me lubs you to :)... lets make babies LMFAO...xxxxx

~((((bay views)))))~ ROTFLMRSSO!!!!! thats all :)....xxxx

~(((David))))~ welcome, anyone thats a maties of ake's is more them welcome in this mad house....

As far as the marmite goes, I have it almost every morning for me breakfast and couldnt live without it lol..... YOU VEGEMITE TRAITOR.... now go stand in the corner and let us 'stone' you lol.....x

MarmiteToasty said...

ps... David..... Im trying single handledly to spread marmite all over America.... I send it to people all the time.... but as yet there is only me one matie David in California that LOVES it.... when he was stationed in Alaska for 2 years I would send him jars to spread on his feet to keep them warm LOL.... all me other maties HATE IT.... but I will never give in spreading the marmite word :)...x

Mom not Mum (Sandy) said...

Your stories are always so filled with fun and then a bit of sadness. It's the fun parts that keep us going.

Just this Sunday we were at church and Jordan came in with mud on her dress and was QUITE upset because Jared threw a poisonous mushroom at her. I asked if she was planning on dying from the poison and when she was quite sure she wasn't she ran off again - to climb trees or something I'm sure. (Let me clarify this was AFTER church while I'm socializing and all that and the kids are running wild in the carpark)

The Fool said...

My goodness. That is quite the tale in the telling. Incredible. I'm glad you're here to tell it to us. Have a great day, M-Toasty.

Marmite on.

The Fool said...

Hi M-Toasty. I was just at Neil Gaiman's site (the author). It turns out that he shares your love of Marmite. Did you know that you can make Marmite turn white by hitting it? Here's a link to an experiment on such:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuunsaiki/303084929/

;)

Unknown said...

Toadstools, gardens, and fairies! What a marvelous, whimsical, enchanted world!

MarmiteToasty said...

~(((MnM)))~ just snippets of me life past and present :).... no more no less..... it was what it was and now is what now is..... lol.....xxxx

~(((((Foolie))))))~ oh that was an easy one to survive LOL.... that was just a tester lol....

Oh the marmite thing is GREAT :) - I went on to google loads of stuff about it and over the weekend we is gonna make white marmite..... except, I am the only one in this house that loves marmite, actually I am the only person I know out of all me maties that loves marmite lol.... see, I told ya Im different from the crowd lol....fanks for that link...xxxxxx

~(((((Saintly)))))~ if only life was so enchanting right?.......xxxxxx

I AINT AROUND FOR A WHILE.... so post or dont post... come, go, stay, bugger off.... its up to you.... but I have 'stuff' to take care of in my world...... xxx

Akelamalu said...

Forgot to say we get a fairy ring in our garden every year - front and back garden. D'ya think we got fairies??? :)

katy said...

been having a read of your older posts.
you have a great sense of humour and i applaud you for having that so call over to see me i have you a treat

Anonymous said...

shrooms.....the otherother white meat

Go Figure said...

MT? I thought the boy scout handbood said to smok 'em. Ya loon. Eat most anything raw and you'll get sick...don't ya know?

Christy Woolum said...

It is so amazing the vivid memories we carry with us. It can be a toadstool, a smell, the shoes and socks, or the firetruck that take us back so quickly. Excellent post.

Kati said...

Jeesh Toasty!!!!!! I'm glad you're still around & that the toadstools didn't finish you off!!! Hope your knee is feeling better!

Eddie said...

You always put the biggest smile on my face, it would be great to have a friend like you...Eddie

Pam said...

ya never round when i need ya damn snail mail addy so i can put this package in the post...it's about 2 mos overdue lol i have 50 million address books and the one i KNOW it's in, can't be found *sigh*

MarmiteToasty said...

~(((ake)))~ oh my, I LOVE fairy rings.... when I was visiting maties 2 years ago in Wistconstance other friends came for a BBQ and some with their nippers, well there was toadstools under one of the trees and the nippers were fasinated by them, so I told them that was the fairys table and chairs and we made tiny weenie little plates and picked tiny bits of food from the BBQ table and made a fairy supper and placed them on the toadstools for the fairies :) me matie said that even now those nippers tell people about the fairy supper :)... magical... xxxxxx

~((((her indoors))))~ hey :) fanks for scrolling back and having a butchers.... sorry I aint been around, I will nip over when I get a chance and see what ya have :).... wondering how Im gonna accept $1 million quid LOL..... xxxxxx

~((((ba doozer))))~ hey you.... Im the only one in this house that LOVES mushrooms.... me lads eat them raw but dont like them cooked....xxxxxx

~((((((Starr)))))))~ one I DONT smoke lol.... oh, or did you mean like 'smoked' as in smoked salmon.... I have this great book called 'Food For Free' its about all the scrummies in the forest thats there for the picking.... but I would be slightly nervous eating stuff I was not 100% sure of now, considering me past LOL....xxxxxxx

~(((InlandEmpireGirl))))~ yeah thats how it works with me, I have so many shelves of memories good and bad, but they often need a nudge or a jog to knock them off the shelf...... I can only ever write whats in me head, no more, no less.....xxxxxxx

~((((kati))))~ :) see, even god dont want me lol..... and the knee aint gonna do anything unless I have surgery......xxxxx

~((((Eddie))))~ hey you - I face death and it makes you smile LMFAO hahahahaha only you, only you LOL..... and yes I make the most wonderful friend, not everyone thinks that though.....xxxxxx

~((((((ciara with the black book of 100s of names listed in order of price and tricks performed lol))))))~ cripes.....I DONT deserve pressies, gawds sake.......xxxxxx

Eddie said...

death comes for us all at some point in time, but the way you tell storys is great, and no matter what you talk about it seems to make me smile the way you tell it, not that i would ever want anything to happen to you..eddie

Helena said...

What a poignant story. Your memories are well appreciated here. Very beautifully written.

Pam said...

give me your bloody addy woman! i can't have this crap cluttering up me desk for another fortnight lol seriously. i guarantee you'll like what i'm sending.

MarmiteToasty said...

~(((((eddie))))~ I bet I could talk about sewage ya would wouldnt be smiling lol ...... and I can only type as me ... xxxxx

~(((((Lena)))))~ well dont know about beautifully written LMFAO.... they are just from me heart... xxxxx

~(((((Ciara anyones for a pile of crap)))))~ ya sending me crap? well that will go in me 'pass it on' pile LMFAO.... IVE BEEN BLOODY BUSY YA KNOW..... ok I will email ya me address again, christ sake get organised will ya LOL....xxxxxxx

Intense Guy said...

Goodness gracious. The more I read of your blob, the more I wonder about the things your parents did... ...and some of your bleakest outlooks on life, even as a little child - not thinking anyone cared if you were alive - is really sad. To think of your mother throwing away family pictures when she moved out - is something I can't understand - but then, my parents have been married happily for over 50 years.

*Hugs* I too had a small creek down the end of the dead end street I grew up on - and spent hours there - throwing rocks into the pool, hunting crayfish, looking at the milkyweeds - exploring the abandon farm outbuildings (mostly foundations) and usually did this alone. The "neighborhood" kids would later join me exploring and rock throwing - but no one had to be initiated - and no one ever had anything worse than a dunking in a pool of icey water in the winter happen... and even then, when they went home, hot chocolate and change of clothes was all their mom or dad ever offered them for their troubling them.

MarmiteToasty said...

~(((intense guy)))~ hey these are the things that shape us lol.... it was what it was..... not much one could do about things back then.... but I gleam so many fun memories.... I dont look at the bad bits and ponder, its past and gone..... :) you had a creek, ours was more a dirty little stream LOL but oh my, such joy of childhood spend 'down the dumps'..... was allowed to be oneself their....xxxxx