Steam Trains

Too busy to do a proper post today.
Into the city for breakfast and shopping, hanging about like a bloody middle-aged Jay to Dean's Silent Bob in Dean and Lisa's comic shop, over to Mikey's to do something secret for Bethany's Christmas (shhh!), the long drag over to Phil's to set up his new amp and play guitar and drums for a bit, back home for housework, housework and more housework, dinner and some housework …

So, apropos of bugger all and because I haven't got the time to write anything worth reading, here's a picture from the stack of old stuff I've been scanning in for mum (hint for a happy life: never tell elderly relatives you've got a scanner).

This is the lane out the back of our old house when I was a kid; Providence Place, it was called. It doubled as a footy pitch, much to the sweary and hitty annoyance of the good neighbouring folk (rugby was a "posh" boys' sport … you had to have grass to play it).
This is our gang, the Bash Street Kids.
At the back (they're girls, so they're not properly in the gang) are Janet and Wilma; sitting in our race cart is little brother Phil, Malcom and Neville; standing behind is Norman and that's old Dive standing on the cart in my sexy stripey shirt.

At the top of the lane was the chip shop and the Sunday School (see posts passim); and at the bottom of the lane, through a gap in the fence were the railway sidings where we still had old steam trains as "push and pull" shunting engines.
The long grass in the railway sidings is where we hunted for grasshoppers and slow worms (a kind of snake thing) and I indulged in the wonderful pastime of upside-down train watching.
That's where you let the engine go by, then run up close and lay down with your head between the sleepers, as close to the track as you dare, and watch the train go by, upside-down against the sky.

Hey, it was trippy and it was free. We didn't have bloody video games back then, just our pram cart and the trains.

Anyway, as I've nothing to write, I'll do a Robyn and set an assignment: Let's have some pics and stories from when you were little. No hurry, just do one when you feel like it so we can piece together our pasts and discover how we ended up like this.
Off you go then …