The Bairn

I was inspired to write this by something similar I read this week. It is interesting how time flies.

 

A Bairn

 

When I was a little bairn

we didn’t have a lot.

Me ma and da worked all hours

providing what we had got.

We were the first in the street to have a TV,

a small screen in a big brown box,

seeing it wasn’t easy

but neighbours came in flocks.

Casting your mind back over the years

we usually had plenty to eat,

although choice was never an issue,

and puddin’ an occasional treat.

Jam and bread was a staple,

And if things were a little tight,

banana sandwich or sugar and bread

would be the proffered bite.

 

 

The Co-op was a major resource in our local area,

the Co-op man came once a month,

with a suitcase full of goodies,

Mam would choose what she needed,

counting the cost down to pennies.

June brought round dividend time,

a cause for much excitement,

new clothes were a certainty

so off to the Co-op tailor’s we’d go,

to spend the reward adeptly.

On Saturdays Dad and me would go to town,

the lads at Roker Park to see.

We’d march through the busy streets

an hour and a half before kick-off at three,

because me legs were rather short,

picking a prime spot to watch the sport.

When I was nine they bought a car,

it caused a stir in the street,

an Austin A30 in grey,

we went out once a fortnight for a treat.

We took me aunt and uncle

in the little four seater,

with me shoehorned between aunty and Mam,

the men in the front near the heater.

We’d trip inland to the countryside,

or travelled up and down the coast,

the weather was usually decent,

and I enjoyed beach the most.

 

 

I passed the 11+ in 1961,

and was bought a tape recorder as a reward,

I could listen to music, the current number one,

or replay Cliff Richard’s many records.

I listened on the radio on Sunday afternoons,

the Animals ‘House of the Rising Sun’

was at number one in the hit parade for what seemed like eons.

The Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks and many more,

accompanied us to Whitby and Seahouses

on my battery driven radio.

At home when school was ended

I used to be sent out to play

until my tea was ready.

Once eaten, I’d go out again

and played till bedtime with great energy.

We played football, cricket and tennis

under the yellow street ‘flood’ lights,

re-enacting famous games

on childish feet in style of famous names,

always returning home as bade.

During shipyard fortnight, our annual trip west,

to Blackpool for our two week holiday.

It seemed strange that we,

born and bred near the sea,

would head off on an annual jaunt,

to the opposite coast.

In those days we didn’t have a phone,

my toys were mostly mechanical

electronics as yet were unknown,

and screens were something mystical.

 

All these memories are glimpses of a life long ago,

When I was a little lad

and we didn’t have much.

©David L Atkinson October 2019