Childhood bravado... aka daft stuff you did as a kid
Discussion
Hopefully should be some good stories, I'll start:
Opening up fireworks, getting the grey powder out and putting it it copper tube, folded at both ends with a hole drilled for the wick. Was innocent in those days but it would probably be called a pipe bomb now - it made a hell of a bang!!
Trying to start a fire in one of those metal bins with holes at the bottom aged 12 (parents had gone shopping). The paper/rags I had put it wouldn't catch so sprayed half a can of WD40 on them - didn't work. Followed it up with the best part of a can of Glade air-freshener, leaned in to light it and the resulting fireball took off my eyelashes, eyebrows and an inch of my hairline.
Opening up fireworks, getting the grey powder out and putting it it copper tube, folded at both ends with a hole drilled for the wick. Was innocent in those days but it would probably be called a pipe bomb now - it made a hell of a bang!!
Trying to start a fire in one of those metal bins with holes at the bottom aged 12 (parents had gone shopping). The paper/rags I had put it wouldn't catch so sprayed half a can of WD40 on them - didn't work. Followed it up with the best part of a can of Glade air-freshener, leaned in to light it and the resulting fireball took off my eyelashes, eyebrows and an inch of my hairline.
I attempted to build a musket when I was about 12 or 13 and, for the gunpowder, decided it was a good idea to get a load of ring caps and scrape the powder out with a pin.
I'd started to build up a decent pile of powder on the dining room table when I got careless and scraped out one of the caps a little too enthusiastically. The resulting explosion gave me 1st degree burns across my hands and brought my mother in who promptly put an end to any gunsmithing potential I had.
I'd started to build up a decent pile of powder on the dining room table when I got careless and scraped out one of the caps a little too enthusiastically. The resulting explosion gave me 1st degree burns across my hands and brought my mother in who promptly put an end to any gunsmithing potential I had.
along with some others we took metal bars to an old caravan that the local builders on the estate were using, standing on the roof somehow i managed not to get killed when my mates finally got the walls to collapse, we even laughed about it.
the same caravan, we decided to recreate napalm (well try) and use it on the remains.
went up way more than we expected and we legged it with smoke pouring out of it and the fire brigade were there for a couple of hours.
we worried for a few days we'd get our shoulders tapped
the same caravan, we decided to recreate napalm (well try) and use it on the remains.
went up way more than we expected and we legged it with smoke pouring out of it and the fire brigade were there for a couple of hours.
we worried for a few days we'd get our shoulders tapped
Aged around 8 or 9, I wanted to see what an electric shock felt like, as we'd just been told about it at school. Never one to simply heed sensible advice,I stuck my thumb into a light socket and turned it on! Luckily resulting jolt jerked me free and I never felt the need to do it again.
Played outside in all weathers with friends (boys and girls) until it got dark.
They weren't allowed in my house and we were not in theirs.
Played football in the street or down at the rec
Played in disused quarries and on building sites..
Made own fireworks and copper pipe guns.
Occasionally set fire to stuff..
Made rickety wooden pram wheel go carts and careered down local hills in them.
Always came home hungry with mud on my threadbare patched school uniform, and scraped knees.
They weren't allowed in my house and we were not in theirs.
Played football in the street or down at the rec
Played in disused quarries and on building sites..
Made own fireworks and copper pipe guns.
Occasionally set fire to stuff..
Made rickety wooden pram wheel go carts and careered down local hills in them.
Always came home hungry with mud on my threadbare patched school uniform, and scraped knees.
I once lived near the main Paddington to West Country line. Placing pennies on the rails for trains to flatten was a regular pastime as was, a few years earlier, sitting in the sand dunes at Donna Nook watching aircraft firing at the targets a few hundred yards away on the beach - happy, carefree days.
e46m3Mark said:
Aged around 8 or 9, I wanted to see what an electric shock felt like, as we'd just been told about it at school. Never one to simply heed sensible advice,I stuck my thumb into a light socket and turned it on! Luckily resulting jolt jerked me free and I never felt the need to do it again.
Did something similar. I wondered what would happen if I put a paperclip across the bottom 2 prongs of a plug, pugged it in and turned it on. One hell of a flash / bang and the socket never worked again (this was at school)Victim rather than perp, but a brave warrior once pinned my hand to a tree trunk with a bamboo cane arrow that had a rusty 6" nail rammed in the end when we were playing cowboys and indians. I've still got the scar on my hand 50 years later. I've probably still got one on my bum as well from the tetanus jab.
Farm, over 200 fibc’s ammonium nitrate fertiliser, large tank of diesel and no shortage of last ingredient.
Won’t post anything about the detonation method we devised but removed all awkward tree stumps in one glorious summer.
Aged 14 from a recipe in a Desmond Bagley novel.
1985 and no internet required.
Won’t post anything about the detonation method we devised but removed all awkward tree stumps in one glorious summer.
Aged 14 from a recipe in a Desmond Bagley novel.
1985 and no internet required.
Sainsbury’s High Wycombe used to have a car park directly outside it’s entrance, with a large set of stairs leading down to an underpass. My friends and I all used to jump sets of stairs (John Lewis HW was a favourite) on our mountain bikes as a bit of fun ...
I was the only one to attempt (and clear) the steps at Sainsbury’s - but I nearly took my head off on the roof entrance of the underpass!
I was the only one to attempt (and clear) the steps at Sainsbury’s - but I nearly took my head off on the roof entrance of the underpass!
We had a game that revolved around a culvert pipe that acted as some sort of overflow pipe where a local river ran under the town. The pipe was wide enough for a child to crawl up (14-18 inches). The game was that the first person would take a stone marked with their initials and crawl as far up the pipe as they dared (think Bishop crawling to the satellite uplink in Aliens) and leave their stone. The next person had to retrieve the previous stone and leave their stone a bit further up the pipe. The game went on until someone lost their nerve and failed to come back with the previous persons stone. Coming back was the worst bit. You had to shuffle backwards, you couldn't see where you were going and it seemed to take forever to get back into the daylight.
Thinking back now it had all the hallmarks of a big news story, had one us got trapped hundreds of feet up a tiny pipe with the rain coming down and the water raising to fill the overflow
Thinking back now it had all the hallmarks of a big news story, had one us got trapped hundreds of feet up a tiny pipe with the rain coming down and the water raising to fill the overflow
hutchst said:
Victim rather than perp, but a brave warrior once pinned my hand to a tree trunk with a bamboo cane arrow that had a rusty 6" nail rammed in the end when we were playing cowboys and indians. I've still got the scar on my hand 50 years later. I've probably still got one on my bum as well from the tetanus jab.
Thanks a bunch - you've reminded me of something I'd long forgotten, the time I stuck a garden fork through my foot. In the top and out the bottom, pinning me to the ground. I was about five at the time, good job I was wearing my little red wellies 'cos it bled a bit. I too still have the scars, looks like a single-foot crucifixion.Reminded of a trick where you'd get someone to hold a match on each side of box, clasping the head to the strike, under the pretence of balancing a third patch between the two. Once the third match is balanced you'd pretend you could do a one finger karate chop and break the match. Instead, you'd bring the palm of your hand down and the fingers of the victim would slide, igniting the matches! Being a kid I just didn't consider the consequences as watched as one of the match heads flared whilst stuck to his thumb! It must have hurt like hell. I felt so guilty.
Also poured and drank a glass of white spirit. Hospital fed me ice cream!
Also poured and drank a glass of white spirit. Hospital fed me ice cream!
Alucidnation said:
Interesting as most light ‘sockets’ have a safety mechanism built in that preventa this from happening if there is no lamp installed.
Do they? Not in my experience. I worked on an earth leakage detecting mains socket that interrogated the load before connection so that a human (whose resistance and capacitance is known) would not be electrocuted. It was invented by an Israeli shepherd I was told. Anyway Siemens already had a patent on a similar device so that squashed that idea. At the same time he also devised an Edison screw light socket with a safety mechanism which could be applied to bayonet sockets but we found that MK (or another large company) already made one but they were hardly ever specified due to cost. This was in 1988 so a lot may have happened since, but I have never encountered one 'in the wild' as it were.Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff