Dibber Dobber!

A little birdie suggested I might like to write a few stories about growing up with my ever so 'innocent' sister and actually emailed me a few prompters to remind me of incidents that I either a) got the blame for or b) she sweet talked her way out of (she should be a lawyer - she'd never lose)!

Amongst the emails though was only one story where she is the obvious culprit. So the rest are just other funny memories.

El Innocento!

THE TORCH INCIDENT

One hot summers night, after returning from holidays my sister (let's call her El Innocento) decided it would be fun to play with her torch whilst lying in bed (to hell with sleep!). She shined the light on my bedroom door and of course me being the follower I am grabbed my torch also and shined it on the passageway wall to her. This was great fun - to us. Unbeknownst that the neighbour who had been feeding our cat didn't realise we were home...... so he called the police.

Being the stinking hot night it was - our parents had left the backdoor open and the screen door didnt lock. So at some stupid o'clock hour our screen door was burst open by dutiful police officers investigating a possible break-in ..... only to find my Mum and stepdad in minimal clothing and no bedding.

As we were so young I can't definately say what happened next but I can imagine the shock, embarrassment and fury from my parents. Although; I have no memory of being in trouble for this one - all I remember is having our torches taken away - perhaps 'El Innocento' was caught afterall and I dodged the lecture.

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CRUNCHIES

All my adult life I've had a revulsion to Crunchie bars and it wasn't until I got an email from our stepdad reminding me of an incident that I remembered 'why'.

.....

I think I was about 12ish when this happened - we'd gone to Speedway at Murray Bridge, SA, as a family outing one night. And as my stepbrother was over visiting we were allowed to have lots of junk food (an absolute rarity in our household).

So of course I gorged myself on Coke, chips, and a Crunchie bar (possible that there were plural Crunchies).

I suffered quite badly as a child from car sickness, so upon our attempt at returning home there would have been a whine from the back 'I don't feel so good'. Mum dutifully got in the backseat with me a put me on her lap ...... yes illegal but .... you do what you have to do as a parent sometimes.

Anyway - not too much further down the road I couldn't hold it anymore and said 'I'm going to be sick' ..... whilst proceeding to vomit in my stepdads brand NEW  Mercedes Benz. I do remember the car swiftly stopping and me being thrown out at at an equally fast pace so as to save the poor car from further damage.

I haven't eaten a Crunchie in almost 20 years now! Lesson learnt. I can't actually remember getting in actual 'trouble' for this - but I can only imagine my poor stepdad cleaning out his beloved new car of kid spew. Sorry Dad!

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SOLAR HEATING

One school holidays when I was about 14 ,our Mum and stepdad took us to Barmera, SA for a family holiday. I have lots of memories of this holiday because of how much I learned. For one I learnt that 2 children and 2 adults shouldn't be in 1 room for an extended period of time. (Probably why our parents invested in fishing reels and sent us out on our own quite frequently!)

The second thing I learnt was that Tiger Worms (I think that's what they're called) smell like utter shit when you put them on your hook to go fishing. And as such 'El Innocento' wouldn't bait her own hook - leaving me to do the lions share of baiting. (princess much?!)

The third thing; and the point of my story is that the Motel we were staying at had a pool on the grounds. El Innocento and I were extremely excited by this despite it being in the middle of June. Our 'loving' mother pointed out that it was 'solar heated' so perhaps we'd like to go swimming one day.

No sooner had we checked in than we'd chucked on our togs and ran to the pool. We put our toes in and it seemed cold despite the 'solar heated' sign. El Innocento decided to jump in anyways and did so without a care. She soon returned  to the surface and with a slightly pained grin said 'jump in it's great'. So I did...

From all accounts; the parents say our screams would have been heard for streets away!

Upon returning the room our mother probably denied knowledge of what 'solar heating' meant. A painful, but hilarious lesson learned - and I'm eager to educate my children in a similar fashion just for shits and giggles.