Times your parents pulled it out the bag and bought it right
Discussion
CardinalFang said:
Not exactly bought, but they allowed someone to give me an absolutely brilliant gift...
Same here!I cheekily asked a family friend if I could have their Mk1 Golf. It was old, not run for quite a long time and was green (not paint). She gave it to me at 12 or 13 - can't quite remember. The deal was that I could have it if I got the thing running again. Only needed a new battery and some more fuel. Used to run that thing up and down the drive all day and night. After school, weekends etc.
I started to get more bold - short trips to the local shops (what was I thinking - no tax, insurance, MOT or V5!!!!). It was only half a mile but that rush the first time I made the journey was incredible.
I did once venture further afield to the larger town near by to go to the cinema. I think that was probably a 5 mile journey. I didn't enjoy the film much for worrying about getting home after ok (the head lights didn't work properly and it would be dusk at best by the time I got out).
An Acorn electron computer. A very rare thing indeed at the time, not many other kids even had spectrum's/commodores anyway.
sold to my parents it was like the BBC B we had at school, so I'd learn computer programming. of course I didn't.
Spent hours and hours playing "elite" !
A bright yellow BSA javelin racing bike. That had to be a birthday/christmas present. I get it just as BMX's launch !! But do you know what, I don't think I cared because BMX's were a bit rubbish. you couldn't cycle far on them, go up steep hills and so on. I spent hours on that bike, doing miles over the moors on my own as an 11 yr old !
The first lego, electric train set- the 7740- passenger set. Another massive present. Still have it now, nearly mint, boxed. worth an absolute fortune, as are the bits I collected with it.
and other great things like Mecano.
but balanced up with unwrapping school uniforms as presents, second hand tat and generally never thinking I got as much as others. selfish isn't it.
but I never wore Pums, Niks, BK's or Hi-tech as trainers- I always had adidas, nike and so on: a big deal in the early/mid 80's.
sold to my parents it was like the BBC B we had at school, so I'd learn computer programming. of course I didn't.
Spent hours and hours playing "elite" !
A bright yellow BSA javelin racing bike. That had to be a birthday/christmas present. I get it just as BMX's launch !! But do you know what, I don't think I cared because BMX's were a bit rubbish. you couldn't cycle far on them, go up steep hills and so on. I spent hours on that bike, doing miles over the moors on my own as an 11 yr old !
The first lego, electric train set- the 7740- passenger set. Another massive present. Still have it now, nearly mint, boxed. worth an absolute fortune, as are the bits I collected with it.
and other great things like Mecano.
but balanced up with unwrapping school uniforms as presents, second hand tat and generally never thinking I got as much as others. selfish isn't it.
but I never wore Pums, Niks, BK's or Hi-tech as trainers- I always had adidas, nike and so on: a big deal in the early/mid 80's.
I asked for a Striker bike (smaller Griffter) for Christmas when I was a kid.
Woke up on Christmas morning and my dad took me downstairs. Just before he opened the kitchen door he said 'I know you wanted a Striker but we haven't got you one'. My heart sank. Then he said 'so we got you this instead'.
He opened the door to reveal a 50cc Honda Monkey bike with a shiny new helmet hanging off the handlebars.
We had a few acres of fields at the back of our house and I had an amazing time on it with my mates.
Got nicked from the garage eventually but was covered on a new for old policy on the insurance so I got a brand new Yamaha PW80!
Woke up on Christmas morning and my dad took me downstairs. Just before he opened the kitchen door he said 'I know you wanted a Striker but we haven't got you one'. My heart sank. Then he said 'so we got you this instead'.
He opened the door to reveal a 50cc Honda Monkey bike with a shiny new helmet hanging off the handlebars.
We had a few acres of fields at the back of our house and I had an amazing time on it with my mates.
Got nicked from the garage eventually but was covered on a new for old policy on the insurance so I got a brand new Yamaha PW80!
As a child I was incapable of not peeking for presents in the run-up to Christmas. I knew all the places they would be hidden and was usually pretty good at covering my tracks. However one year I got busted (can't actually remember if I was caught in the act or just didn't put everything back properly), was given a b
king and told that they would all be going back.
Lo and behold, on Christmas morning I unwrapped a completely different, but still excellent, collection of toys. I was happy.
I was even more happy in the afternoon when I was also given all the toys I'd trawled through my mum's wardrobe and found! Probably not a good life lesson, but I didn't care at the time.
My parents also did a great job on my 18th birthday. They knew I wanted a watch and had seen a TAG Heuer Series 2000 that I really liked but it was well over budget. I was fine with that so had picked out a different watch that was half the price. I got the TAG.
Turns out that there had recently been a demutualisation of the Leeds Building Society where we all (my sister included) had accounts. She was over 18 at the time so got her own allocation of shares whilst I was under 18 and therefore they just added a handful of extra shares to my mum's allocation as she was the signatory on my account.
They felt bad that I'd missed out on the money so bought me the watch. The shares ultimately ended up being in one of the entities which got bailed out by the government and are now practically worthless. One of the few times that spending money on a TAG Heuer was a relatively sound investment!
king and told that they would all be going back.Lo and behold, on Christmas morning I unwrapped a completely different, but still excellent, collection of toys. I was happy.
I was even more happy in the afternoon when I was also given all the toys I'd trawled through my mum's wardrobe and found! Probably not a good life lesson, but I didn't care at the time.
My parents also did a great job on my 18th birthday. They knew I wanted a watch and had seen a TAG Heuer Series 2000 that I really liked but it was well over budget. I was fine with that so had picked out a different watch that was half the price. I got the TAG.
Turns out that there had recently been a demutualisation of the Leeds Building Society where we all (my sister included) had accounts. She was over 18 at the time so got her own allocation of shares whilst I was under 18 and therefore they just added a handful of extra shares to my mum's allocation as she was the signatory on my account.
They felt bad that I'd missed out on the money so bought me the watch. The shares ultimately ended up being in one of the entities which got bailed out by the government and are now practically worthless. One of the few times that spending money on a TAG Heuer was a relatively sound investment!
CardinalFang said:
The Moose said:
I started to get more bold.
Excellent! Doubt if I'd had the b*lls to try & drive it, but mine very sensibly never gave me the keys....Doh!I was very cautious on my drive...but looking back I still can't believe I did that!
Great to learn how to drive a manual car - and I remember that as a treat, on my birthday - either 13th or 14th, Dad allowed me to drive his 911 Turbo down the drive. Man, that was awesome!!!
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