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a reply to: InTheLight

Haha cool story
...and to be fair, if it had loads of tomato ketchup then it was alright (ish)

Had a heavy weekend in several ways.

One of my friends mentioned that he'd bought some blancmange, why I don't know.
Inevitably talk got round to school dinners and it was unanimously agreed that tapioca, sago and semolina were all disgusting.
However, most of us expressed a liking for pink custard and iced sponge cake, treacle pudding....in fact most of the puddings on offer were ok.
When you were last to get served though everything could be spoilt by the custard - yellow or pink - having a cold, thick skin over it.

So, that's on my radar for some time this week; iced sponge pudding and pink custard - NO SKIN.

I must stress that most of my pub conversations are not as intellectually highbrow as this.

a reply to: Freeborn
Treacle pudding was my favourite in primary school, but at comprehensive I only really had chips, mushy peas and gravy with loads of salt and vinegar...Jamie Oliver would be outraged lol

We'd rush our food quick then catch the mobile 'Tuck shop' van which parked outside the school gates and sell us single cigarettes for ten pence each...diferent worlds back then, but in some ways better because they still caned us for punishment and it was done with, no calling parents.

These days it's a pain in the arse. My mates son has been in a few fights and he gets called into the school for meetings, then repeat offences so he gets 3 day exclusions and misses education, zero tolerance for fighting even if you are defending yourself, it's lame, no wonder they have lost control and boys struggle to learn the pecking order like in the real world.

My day you had a fight, alpha status was established, you both got caned next to each other, both making sure you showed no pain, left the office muttered "wanker" about whoever did the caning, shook hands and moved on. A shared 'boys' experience teaching us to be men.

I will say looking back that some teachers definitely seemed to get some sick sexual pleasure dishing out the violence but bad apples in every cart and all that.
Oh and I loved pink custard, I'd just have a mug of it and drink it

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I'd support him only if he had a Twitter account and he made crazy video's weekly on it. But I'd prefer to see William as King, he's and introvert, quiet spoken and relatively sane like his Mother.

I've been awake for 22 hours and i've yet to feel an ounce of Zzzz.

Crap i've taken melatonin and it hasn't done # for me.

I'm super human, that must be it.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack
Ah he'd be hilarious I reckon! Pity Harry can't be king unless he goes on a killing spree, I like him, more down to earth.

So what were your school dinners like? (see above) and ddid they cane you as punishment like in the UK? I always refused the arse always on the hand, and I'd always eyeball the teacher so always got extra lashes...didn't care, I won the battle of wills then lol

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Haha! What time is it where you are?
I think I depleted my reserves of melatonin in 90's rave culture

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

lol Harry would be an unruly ruthless unmanageable King. He's a red head! Everyone knows redheads are evil, i'm related to one I know!

School dinners? didn't exist in my Universe, nor did caning. Thankfully. I did however get expelled for 3 days for fighting some douchebag in the school washroom. It wasn't my idea I'm a peacemaker not a fighter. I was defending myself. There must've been atleast a dozen kids in there that day cheering me on. lol

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

It's morning here, close to noon. I'm hoping it snows, I can't stand this heat.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Caning....more or less a daily thing.
It was a deterrent to most, meant nothing once you'd had it a few times.

I had some brutal teachers; thin edge of a steel ruler across the knuckles, kneeling on a board rubber with nose touching the wall.
One particular sports teacher really had it in for me; kicked me in the head during a rugby game and gave me a good few short hand jabs to the ribs and kidneys whilst playing five-a-side.
One occasion I retaliated and gave him a left to the jaw, he went ape# and threw the large set of keys that all P.E. teachers seem to have which hit me on the head giving me a slight cut.

Years later myself and some of my mates were at a fete like event in a village outside of town....drink was flowing and we were waiting to go in the tug o'war competition - don't ask - and I noticed this teacher running a coconut shy of all things. Me and a mate bought up all the wooden balls and waited until he had to go and collect all the balls and we started throwing the one's we had at him.
I explained to everyone near by that he used to physically 'abuse' me when I was at school.
I then asked him to come into a wooded area and we'd have a straightener away from prying eyes, man to man.
He bottled it - wanker.
Nothing but a bully.

Lots and lots of school stories, some funny, some heartbreaking....all character forming.
Far better than the sterile and brain numbing education children receive today.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

No crappy dinners and cane?!
Best caning I ever had was fighting with my mate about something, we were always evenly matched so they were proper fist fights and never established alpha between us in the years we were there. Anyway, we were sent to the headmaster for the cane and I defiantly asked "Sir can you explain why you are using physical violence towards us as punishment for us using physical violence towards each other?" my mate chuckled and we both burst out laughing.

The head exploded with rage lol, he hit us both on our arms and bodies as he got up from his desk swinging it like a man deranged but still we couldn't stop ourselves laughing. We put our hands out and man did he lash us, he lost control and we eyeballed him the whole time until he realised he'd shamed himself.
Our hands were covered with red welts but as we left his office we put our arms around each others shoulders knowing we'd won the mind game.
I'll never forget that funny day, he's in prison now, armed robbery of a post office, they got away with the money but someone grassed them up to the cops and they stupidly didn't hide the money, it was in his bedroom!

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Snow? Where tf are you at?

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Im in North America right now. I was joking about the snow, but i'm always dreaming that it will. I prefer the cold to the heat. And I think i'm starting to feel tired, finally! omg that only took 22 hours.

a reply to: Freeborn

Haha cool stories!
My PE teacher also had a yuge bunch of keys as well but his punishment was you had to lay on the floor and he'd throw medicine balls at your stomach, I actually puked once, he was a wanker as well, I used to mitch off PE a lot and go smoke in an unused classroom building which we had broken into and the school didn't know about. It had a phone so we'd phone random numbers in America making crank calls or sometimes if someone our own age answered end up in a cool chat explaining where we were and what we were up to...we got caught after the phone bill came in lol, stupid twats, we didn't think about that.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack

Haha got ya!
Glad you feeling tired fella, I drink Valarian tea with two bags and that works for me, maybe a placebo effect but I don't mind if it is, or buy some valium off the black market. Old people get it free here after blagging it off the NHS then sell it on to supplement their pensions lol

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

If I took Valium i'd be slam dancing off the wall. The big thing here is Dexedrine aka Speed. I've had that before but it keeps me awake, but it's bad for the liver which is most unfortunate.

I have found recently however that ginger tea relaxes me so i'm having a cuppa right now.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

I remember getting the cane once for fighting with a nearby school.
About twenty or thirty of us went but there was a hardcore six of us who did everything together and were usually the instigators.
We had to go see the Head of Upper school for the cane who was a bull of a man - only about 5foot 7inches but broad as an ox and arms like Garth.
First four went in and came out saying they hadn't remained bent over for the full six as it was agony.
Me and my closest mate were the last two; I said to him that this teacher wasn't going to get the best of me. I went in looked him straight in the eyes, bent over and he literally took a run at me each of the six times.
I stood up looked him straight in the face afterwards and asked him if he'd finished.
I walked out his office and told my mate that it knacked.
When he came out we met and we were both in agony - there was blood running down the back of my legs and I'd never had pain like it.
We both just left school and went home...for which we got expelled.
Both of our parents complained to the school and they tried their best to hush it all up allowing us back to school....but we had to spend most of our time in and around the greenhouses - we were left alone for the last couple of months of school but we weren't allowed to mingle much with the other schoolkids.

Had a couple of pints with my mate just the other week.
He's about the only one I'm still in touch with.
One died of a heroin overdose.
One murdered someone then hung himself in jail.
One did 12 years in a Japanese jail.
One I haven't seen or heard of for years - hope he escaped all the crap the others got involved in.

a reply to: BotheLumberJack
I'll give you a couple of phone numbers of pensioner dealers, you can get everything off them haha!

a reply to: Freeborn

Man it really was brutal back in the day wasn't it!
Caned on the arse, I refused it every time. I remember the first time I said 'I don't give a # sir I am not bending over for you I'll #ing walk home and you can expell me, I don't give a #' the head looked almost puzzled about what to do because even aged 12 he would have needed another two teachers to restrain me enough for a caning on the arse and it would have been messy, I even threatened to bite if I had to.
He backed down and I had a savage caning on both hands, and yes I cried tears but I refused to sob and eyballed him all the time.

Word got around of course and after other older pupils defied the arse the same they backed down and offered the choice of arse or hands. I won the mind battle that day and he knew it, I was hated by every teacher my whole school life but no matter, I won.
I was always shocked that some actually chose the arse saying it hurt less because wearing trousers, but to me it was never about the pain, it was about the submission of bending over and taking it, I just couldn't do it, I had to eyeball whoever was inflicting physical violence, psychological thing with me. I've remained the same all my life, probably explains why I can sometimes be a prick on ATS lol.

I'm same as you, many good school friends either dead from drugs and violence, or in prison long term.
It really was brutal back in the day though, and my son is almost in disbelief when I tell him my stories.
As brutal as it was though, it shaped me and I have had little sympathy for whining about bull# when my son was growing up, as such it has shaped him and he is no snowflake. He despairs about some of the snowflakes in his generation.

This is an interesting convo topic...I've also got loads of funny stories from those dark days though