My Teenage years

For some reason, when I went to secondary school, I chose to go somewhere else and away from my friends. It meant going to school by bus. It wasn't a good named school and the first days were full of dodges from getting beaten or tortured by existing boys. It was a school split into Boys and Girls sections.
Anyway I did ok and enjoyed my time there reasonably well.
I was good at sport, so I was left alone because of this. We had the usual groups of morons who thought they were tough and caused trouble.
I had a few fights at school and could handle myself pretty well.
I wasn't brilliant in the academic area, mainly because if I asked questions in class, I was called a disruptive person and was punished with standing in front of the class, standing outside the class, having to hold or wear things on my head etc.
We had one teacher Mr Jarvis who i think liked me and at the same time kept punishing me. It got to a point where he upset the pupils that we got together as he drove out one day and we crowded around his car and then turned it on its side.
Triptons school for boys was known as a lower level school and full of louts!
Things I remember:
1. Cross country runs. when the sports teacher wanted tea or a rest we had to go on a 3 mile run along the pavements, around an industrial area and then back to school. I hated it.
2. Drama was run by a young guy and the bullies tortured him for our class. However, he was the first person who gave up teaching us drama and started to teach us computer language. This was my first encounter and stoked my interest in computer technology.
3. We had a craft teacher who taught us modelling clay. When he disappeared into the storage room we would throw clay balls which put holes in the storage partition. One day he was locked in his storage cupboard and we all walked out.
4. I always played for the school football team, which I enjoyed. I always thought I had a chance to make a professional.
5. Because fashion wasn't my thing, I did get ribbed a few times for my clothes.
6. The bullies pressurised a plump boy to fight me. I suggested he didn't as I would hurt him. His name was Stephen Poynton. We used to get along ok. Anyway he tried the fight, I hit him twice and he didn't get up again for another punch. poor guy.
7. I had a couple of friends who for some reason turned against me. Top this day i don't know why. We were friends for years. Anyway one night after school I was set upon by 4 boys. There was a crowd. Anyway, I gave what I could against 4 and it ended when one boy had me in a headlock and was strangling me. At this point the bullies took over and pulverised the 4 boys. However, I did see one boy that I got stuck into with a face full of blood. The bullies didn't bother me and were nice to me anyway after this as I stuck to my guns.
We did meet up with girls from school and I had a few girlfriends from there. all very innocent then of course.

Football and work was a big thing for me.
I played for several teams like Dagenham Docks, Loughton Town, trained with Chelsea, Dagenham and Rainham Town. I was injured from a Dagenham docks match at 17. The balls weren't as light as they are now and I was a winger for the dockers. After some rain the ball was heavy, but I took a shot from the halfway line and scored, but I had torn my thigh muscle and I never recuperated from this, so was often an injury for me.

At 16 I started work at the British bank of the Middle East as an archiver. I was biding time before I was 18 to move into the docks that my dad wanted me to do.
This was my first real introduction of fashion helped by my colleague Andy. I played for the football team as well which meant I spend a fair amount of Saturdays in the South of London and North of London at Bank sports grounds.
At this age I started drinking and got absolutely ill on Bicardi and coke and since this day i have never really drunk very much.
After a couple of years and I took my banking exams, I couldn't get a promotion or move departments to learn more, so I started to move banks and get promotions that way.


To be continued.....

Upbringing and family

I have happy memories of growing up. An east end family from London. Dad was a docker and Mum was a seemstress. We had structure and discipline drummed into us.
Dad in those days was fairly often on strike as with the dockers and unions in those days. When times were hard, Dad would try and get other work like decorating and Mum would work longer hours to make ends meet, working from home.
Although never poor, as such, I do remember that fashion was never promoted, besides I was onlt interested in wearing a football kit.
I remember my first was from my cousin Tony. It was a Norwich short sleeved shirt, Green shorts and my first football boots were made of leather and had hard toes and leather studs!
Anyway, Mum and Dad kept us wanting for nothing.
Dad was quite strict but fair and Mum was always caring.
In my younger years Dad would come home some nights drunk, when he went out with his friends in the East end. This included people linked with the Krays, but Dad kept away from them as far as I know.
Mum would keep the home and the family ticking over.
On Saturdays, Dad would take us visiting the families in Wapping and Stepney. Our Nans would always send us home with something. Nanny Jones it would be sweets, paper, pens, Bagels and some jewish food from Blooms in Aldgate. Nanny Smith was a widow and would send us home with Bread pudding. Some evenings we would go and see Uncles and Aunts.
On Sundays we would get visitors showing up without warning. For supper we would have salad, Prawns in vinegar and pepper, cold meats. In those days we just dished up what we had.

My Elder sister:
Is 7 years older , so we weren't really close, being a gap plus being male and female!
What can I remember:
Playing Beatles LP's and singing and playing air guitar in the front room
I think my sister's first Love breaking up. I think his name was Vince who I think had Red hair.
Bringing home her current husband when I was 11 and he converted me to a Spurs fan.
I had her hand down red bike.
Her marriage and I was one of the Ushers.

My Younger sister:
Only 2 years younger, obviously, we were a little more closer.
I remember that we were page boy and flower girl at my uncle and aunts wedding.
She was very moody and would spend hours in her room and stomp around.
I guess we played together, but this is a bit patchy.
We shared a bedroom in our younger years until my brother and myself shared a room together.

Younger brother:
My brother is 7 years younger, but we did play together, where I looked after him.
We would play football and generally up to no good.
I remember that he was a sick person for a while getting the Croop alot. This meant he had to use a steam bowl and inhale to help open his airways. Today it's helped with an inhaler.
There were a couple of panics with him.
The Croop meant he went to hospital a couple of times. The panic was caused by us losing a brother beforehand, so Mum spoiled him a little.
The second panic was him tripping over the fire hearth and hitting his lip on the coal bucket and slitting his lip. Of course it was bad, but he got over it.
The third was at Secondary School. My Mum came home one day to find him at home in agony. He had injured himself at football at school and the teacher brought him home and left him.
The result was that he had pulled his ball joint out of the socket and ripped his muscle.
This meant months of therapy and weeks off school. He was helped as he saw the West Ham physio, as it was the schools fault.
I guess when I left home at 23, we kind of lost touch. I have tried to stay in touch, but he went eventually to New York and then San Francisco, which is my fault. I convinced him to go into banking from Fords.

Anyway, my sisters and brother do stay in touch and try to see each other as best we can. This gives testament to our happy upbringing and family values that Mum and Dad gave us.

I miss my Mum and Dad terribly. Dad was always there to listen to me and offer advice, something like when I was going to live with a girl at Heathrow. Dad hovered in the lounge door or in the kitchen. He would say ' Don't be an idiot, I have had more girls than hot dinners, and you are making a mistake' I didn't go!!

Will Trump make it?

My take is the following:
I have never seen so much animosity to a President elect with riots and protests.

I think Trump will either be assassinated or will be impeached and will not stay in office if he gets that far.

The Vice President seems to be unstable and I can't see him taking over.

Which then leave Clinton to take over and the country goes back to some normality, whatever that is.

Not ideal, but USA chose this.

The college vote will need to be changed!