Product of the Estate Part 3

Whilst writing the last entry an unbidden memory came to me - Jason...

Jason was a couple of years older than me and my memories of him are pretty hazy. He looked a bit like Plug from the Bash Street Kids (of Beano fame). To 8-9-year-old Mat, he always seemed to be a bit childish and looking back I guess you'd class him as a bit educationally challenged.

The older kids tolerated Jason, and looking back, it’s clear he was trying hard to be liked by 'buying favour' with sweets etc. As a child, I was naive and it is only now, reflecting on this, that I can see it for what it is... a 'dumb kid' being taken advantage of by older kids and sometimes bullied.

The story that comes to mind about Jason was the time he bought a golf club and some golf balls to the park. We had no idea where he got these from and we didn't ask. The club looked like a low number iron of some kind and he certainly seemed to know how to use it. All was going well until one of the older kids had a go and Jason managed to not get out of the way after the older kid had raised the club on its backswing. The club was duly brought down with force right into Jason's head. There was a sickening thud and then loads of blood.

My memory is a little hazy at this point but I do remember someone running to the nearest person's home and calling an ambulance. We saw Jason after this so I guess there was no lasting damage done.

It was around this time that for some reason unknown to me, my dad decided that my brother and I should learn to fish, so he bought two fishing rods, all the equipment - lines, reels, floats, weights and hooks and we set off to a shop on the next estate to buy some bait... Maggots. I had no idea what maggots were and I was a mixture of fascinated and repulsed by them. It turns out that the shop from which we bought them, before it went out of business, was just around the corner from my current abode!

The first place we went fishing was in the brook that ran along the estate. In this brook there were a few species of fish that we hoped were desperate to be caught:

• Rainbow trout
• Chub
• Dace
• Perch
• Minnow
• Bullhead (an incredibly ugly fish that was small and you didn't want to catch it)

Alas, the only fish that was desperate to be caught was the damn Bullheads! These pesky fish were small, wriggly and a nightmare to unhook. 

I only ever caught one trout and I have a vague recollection that my dad was slightly perturbed that I threw it back. (I'm sure he was joking) The main fish we caught were chub, a lovely silver fish that looked almost iridescent if the sun caught them at the right angle.

Not me fishing in the brook

There were a few areas of the brook that we used to fish in:

Sandy Bay - This area had a deep, slow flowing section with trees that grew over the brook over the far bank, providing shade so you really couldn't see what was down there! This section opened up into a  very fast-flowing, shallow section that dog-legged round with an undercut. This section was perfect for kids with nets to catch minnows.

Stony Bay - This area had a steep, stony bank overlooking a pretty deep, straight section of the brook that was relatively fast-flowing. We used to free-line here which meant just a hook and bait on the line and you'd cast upstream and watch the bait slowly fall into the depths, upon which it would be taken and you'd reel in a pretty big chub!

Eventually, my brother and I graduated from needing to go fishing with my dad and went off on our own with very strict instructions to only fish in the brook! Do not go to the Trent! Of course we followed this instruction to the letter. Hey Dad — if you're reading this, Mum wants you to get some more milk out of the garage!

(Now he's gone - we used to occasionally break this rule. Fortunately nothing untoward happened - We did, however manage to catch other fish like barbel, gudgeon, perch and pike)

Speaking of things my parents probably shouldn’t know — confession time

I had a silver Raleigh Grifter which my parents bought me for either a birthday or Christmas present and being a young lad and, having watched BMX Bandits (1983 - so I would have been seven or eight years-old); I had always wanted a BMX - or Raleigh Burner. The Grifter was about as heavy as a planet and took considerable effort to pedal it. It had 3 gears, selected by twisting one of the handlebar grips and engaged by a Sturmey-Archer rear hub. I'm kind of hoping that all these links and technical details will somewhat soften the blow to my parents of what I'm about to reveal...

For a dare - I rode that bike down the length of the brook - all the way to the Trent... There, I said it! I'm not proud - although with the weight of the bike and the lack of gear-flexibility, it was a pretty impressive achievement.

Anyway - There will likely be a future post about cycling and those escapades so I'll leave it there!