The parka coat.
The Parka coat was parta the school uniform. You had to buy one.
My old school had a long run of classrooms, from 1 to about 30, the boys cloakroom at one end and the girls at the other.
The boys cloakroom was, down a few steps opposite classroom number two.
The last lesson ended about 3.45pm, I was in classroom 30.
Everybody had a school uniform and the same kind of parka, in various sizes and conditions.
New Coat
Each year I said “I don’t need a new coat.”
I explained the situation.
Each year I received a new coat.
Every day, I began the sprint from classroom 30, to the cloak room opposite classroom 2.
There was usually only two or three coats left in the cloakroom at that time.
They never fitted.
Every day I was asked, when I came home from school “Is that your coat?”
I explained the situation again.
Despite always having a new coat, I never had a new coat.
The Snorkel Parka
This is the school parka fully zipped up. The Snorkel Parka.
Great for keeping warm in winter,but the one thing you learnt at school.
You could never put your hood up.
You lost your peripheral vision.
Get Ready for the Snow
At times when there was snow,some poor babies would feel the cold and zip up their hoods.
Older kids would run up from behind and thrust snowballs directly into their faces.
You could get several snowballs at once with a planned attack.
Then they would force their zipped up hoods closed, just to make sure they couldn’t breathe.
Bundle you to the ground then use the enclosed hood to rub the trapped snow round the poor kids face.
Play Time.
This happened during ‘play time.’
‘Play time’ is the time when most children ended up with PTSD.
As all children know, childhood is the best time to be a psychopath and psychopaths love play time.
Tim Willows Additional Thoughts
I only remembered this as I was thinking of shoe anxiety based around religious service.
Childhood is the best time of your life, I’ve heard people say.
It may not be that childhood was good but that adulthood is so much worse than they imagined it would be.
All Pile on
Without any snow, what do you do? Fight.
If two boys were fighting , the children would gather round them in a circle.
Often one would hit the ground first.
The game then became “All pile on”
All the other children then jumped on the kid on the ground.
Imagine 20 people the same weight or larger suddenly jumping on you.
Great fun. In some schools children died.
The best years of our lives.
What games did you play at school?
Many and varied array of ‘games’
I was dismayed when the powers that be outlawed “Conkers” due to health and safety policies.
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There was always one deliberately hitting your hand. It did hurt but you couldn’t say
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I always wanted a Parka. Apparently, it wasn’t girlie enough. Someone bought me a dusky pink duffle coat instead. I swapped it for a black and neon green Campri jacket and 20 Regal King Size.
Also, I don’t know anyone who believes their childhood years were the best of their lives.
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Some people who died when they were 20 think that.
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No they don’t. They’re dead. They don’t think anything.
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you saying the dead are stupid?
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I’m saying they’re dead. Their brain is dead. Their thinks are dead. They give no thinks.
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Are you a parrot?
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Have you been taking lessons in illogical arguing techniques from Twitter?
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How insulting 🙂 I don’t need lessons 🙂
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Ha, I’m sorry, I forgot. Continue, please.
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Hey, I live in Maine and have 2 brand new stylish parkas in my closet right now!
As for school games…Dodgeball scarred me for life.
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2 parkas. 96 shoes..
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That is the proper ratio…. yes.
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We called it murder ball in Edmonton, Alberta cause that’s what we tried to do to the other team. Psychopathic? Yeah man
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Lol, yep sound right . Adults still play….
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My dad got a parka for his stint in Greenland. After he retired, I started wearing it in the winter when I ran in the mornings. One very cold morning, I cinched the hood so I only had a three inch window of visibility. A car was parked over the sidewalk in its driveway and I hit it at a full run, rolled over the back and landed on the concrete on the other side. I hoped I’d broken something so an ambulance would come and give me a ride but no such luck…
At least no one saw it.
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That has to be cold if you need a parka. 32 f – you just need gloves. Or if anyone did see it, they decided -too cold no help today – but that’s a nice one to share 🙂 I’ve a hundred similar in different situations 🙂
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I have 8 brand new parkas of varying sizes. I forget where, exactly, I obtained them!
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It was you !!!
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What the hell is that in the pocket of the one from 8th grade/year 9?
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Have you got my Conkers?
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Yes, but this is much more gross!
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Ugh
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Plundering Pete!
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Pick a peck of plundered parkas
hide them in the hall
save them up and sell them later
spend and have a ball!
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Except for Kindergarten, where our coats were hung in the room, I always had a locker. Usually shared with another kid whose name was early in the alphabet, but due to my being tall and very skinny, nobody ever took my coat. The game I remember most, was kickball – it often led to fights, but for legitimate reasons.
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Ouch.. I’m glad I don’t see that where I work.
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Lol, hopefully all that stuff stops at school
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Ah, “play time.” Adults seem to remember it as The Time Of My Life – I remember the power plays and politics of being a girl. Ugh.
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Worse for a girl I’m sure!
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Everyone in your whole school had to wear a parka? I’m kinda jealous. That way I’d definitely have had to have one (because it wasn’t the uniform for us, my parents wouldn’t let me have one… I’ve never really recovered from that denial)
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We had to get a new one every year.. but they were usually stolen
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Well, yes, I see your point. Theoretically I’d have had one but in practice it would have been stolen… though this begs the question: if everyone had to have one, and presumably every parent sent their kid into school wearing one, who on earth was stealing them, and why?!
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Well the answer is in the story…
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Yes, but why didn’t they just take their own… Agh, I have re-read it and I get it now. Sorry for being slow! :-S
By the way, that’s my photo you’ve used there, which you’re very welcome to, I might add. I’d put my parka on in the office that day because the heating was on the fritz… and had discovered the snorkel hood was surprisingly good at not only keeping my head warm, but – rather like blinkers for horses – also at helping me to stay focused on one thing at a time…
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Lol, was it? It was from one of the free sites, I think :). Good job it wasn’t snowing, as kids could have thrown snowballs i to the hood
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Yes, good point. 😀
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