Bill's Friends: Michael


Figure 1.--.

My best mate Michael (the one who's mum was Irish) didn't go to our Sunday School as he was a Catholic and went to mass at another church. I know he did have a suit for that completely different to his school uniform. (He went to a different school to me - a R.C. primary). I know that because as I said my mum would always cook a proper Sunday meal while we were at church and we'd have to sit at the table to eat it. It was funny because I'd still be in my Sunday School clothes and my older brother in his cub uniform but my younger brother would be more casually dressed as he'd been “helping” my mum. I don't know why he was never sent to Sunday School. She'd normally let me get changed and go out to play then. Some boys would have to stay in or go out with their parents to a museum on Sunday afternoon but as I say my mum wasn't particularly religious and Michael's parents always let him out too. Sometimes he came round for me while we were still eating and he'd got changed. Normally though I finished first and went round for him. He had a massive family (compared to ours) and they were always having their meal when I got there. There always seemed to be ! some relative (not kids but young men) over from Ireland telling stories and Michael was always trying to get away to come out with me but his Dad wouldn't let him as he was supposed to wait and help wash the dishes until his mum finally intervened and let him go and get changed. Anyway like I said he was wearing his mass suit when I got there. It was navy blue. What I remember finding odd was that he wore his school socks with it. They were normal grey socks with blue and gold rings but not his school tie. They looked wrong with his suit. His older brothers had suits too – but with long trousers – they were teenagers then - and he had about twenty sisters ( well five actually but it seemed like twenty when they were all talking). I always thought he looked comletely different in his suit - even more than in his school uniform. He always said he liked it as his mum always called him her “little man” when he wore it on Sunday even though he was the youngest boy in their family. It had buttons on the fly rather than a zip so it was old-fashioned then and had probably come down to him from his brothers – although it didn't look worn. I was always glad when he was out of it though as he was the only one of my mates who was up for doing something a bit daring. The other odd thing was that although he dressed much smarter than me for church he could change into jeans to go out whereas my mum had a rule of no jeans on Sunday even though I was going out to play. He also always had his hair slicked down with brylcream on Sunday which made it shine. My mum would never let the barber put anything on our hair even though I used to want it as it seemed “grown-up” and anyway my hair was always sticking up,

Irish Catholic

My best mate Michael (the one who's mum was Irish) didn't go to our Sunday School as he was a Catholic and went to mass at another church.

Catholic School

Michael didn't go to our school but a Catholic primary which had a uniform even stricter than ours - all blue and gold. I never really saw my mate Michael's uniform until one day after school when my mum was taking us to the barbers. His was a Catholic school in the area– but not one of the one's we used to play football with. I'd passed the school a couple of times – but obviously not when the kids were there – if I had I'd have been in trouble as I would have been meant to be in school myself! I didn't get into bunking off (skipping) school until I was older as I liked my primary school and must have been one of the few kids who begged his mum to be allowed to go into school rather than stay at home in bed when I was sick. I met Michael playing on the bombsite one summer when I was about 9 years old. We hit it off straight away. Although we asked what schools we were at we didn't really talk about that then as we had other things to talk about and it was the holidys. I suppose the first time I saw any of his school uniform was when I went round to his place on a Sunday and he was wearing his school socks with his mass suit.

Blue Suit

I know he did have a suit for that completely different to his school uniform. (He went to a different school to me - a R.C. primary). I know that because as I said my mum would always cook a proper Sunday meal while we were at church and we'd have to sit at the table to eat it. It was funny because I'd still be in my Sunday School clothes and my older brother in his cub uniform but my younger brother would be more casually dressed as he'd been “helping” my mum. I don't know why he was never sent to Sunday School. She'd normally let me get changed and go out to play then. Some boys would have to stay in or go out with their parents to a museum on Sunday afternoon but as I say my mum wasn't particularly religious and Michael's parents always let him out too. Sometimes he came round for me while we were still eating and he'd got changed. Normally though I finished first and went round for him. He had a massive family (compared to ours) and they were always having their meal when I got there. There always seemed to be ! some relative (not kids but young men) over from Ireland telling stories and Michael was always trying to get away to come out with me but his Dad wouldn't let him as he was supposed to wait and help wash the dishes until his mum finally intervened and let him go and get changed. Anyway like I said he was wearing his mass suit when I got there. It was navy blue. What I remember finding odd was that he wore his school socks with it. They were normal grey socks with blue and gold rings but not his school tie. They looked wrong with his suit. His older brothers had suits too – but with long trousers – they were teenagers then - and he had about twenty sisters ( well five actually but it seemed like twenty when they were all talking). I always thought he looked comletely different in his suit - even more than in his school uniform. He always said he liked it as his mum always called him her “little man” when he wore it on Sunday even though he was the youngest boy in their family. It had buttons on the fly rather than a zip so it was old-fashioned then and had probably come down to him from his brothers – although it didn't look worn.

Good Mate

I was always glad when he was out of it though as he was the only one of my mates who was up for doing something a bit daring. He was always one of the wildest in our Summer cowboy and Indian games on the bombsite, I think because his school was so strct and also his mom insisted he go to Mass and take Irish dancing lessons. . It was always to his house we retired if any of us got injured as his mum would patch us up (she didn't work) without going on at us for the state we were in so she had two sides to her.

Play Clothes

The other odd thing was that although he dressed much smarter than me for church he could change into jeans to go out whereas my mum had a rule of no jeans on Sunday even though I was going out to play.

Jeans

My best mate Michael (the one who's mum was Irish) didn't go to our Sunday School as he was a Catholic and went to mass at another church. I know he did have a suit for that completely different to his school uniform. He often did wear jeans - even on a Sunday - for play. It was not as if his Mum was any less concerned about how he looked than mine was. It maybe was because Michael had older brothers who were allowed jeans and also because he had a Dad who had some say too - not so much over Michael I know because he was the youngest boy and his Mum was like my Mum was with me a lot - but over his brothers. Because his brothers were allowed jeans they naturally came down to Michael and so when I met him on a Saturday afternoon he was often wearing them. I rarely wore my grey jeans - only when we were playing cowboys and indians and I, for some reason, wanted to be a Civil War soldier on the Confederate side following a film I'd seen. It wasn't that Michael didn't have play shorts - he did but they had been his brothers' who were 2 or 3 years older and when he did wear their old shorts when it was hot they were old-fashioned looking and other boys would sometimes comment about that which may have affected his thinking. Anyway I'll tell you of a time when I did really want to wear my jeans and my Mum wouldn't let me which sticks in my mind. This involved Michael.

Brylcream

He also always had his hair slicked down with brylcream on Sunday which made it shine. My mum would never let the barber put anything on our hair even though I used to want it as it seemed “grown-up” and anyway my hair was always sticking up,

First Communion

I didn't know Michael at the time he took first communion,I got friendly with him when I was about 9, but he did tell me about it. Catholic children took first communion when they were 7. They did go across to their church for it but the boys just wore their school uniforms - but with white ankle socks.For his sisters it was a big deal as they had to have proper communion outfits - like a miniture wedding dress as he put it. It must have cost his parents a fortune - but I think they shared them - and people used to sell them second hand.He told me that he was prepared for weeks before and that it wasn't that much of a big deal to him but it was for his mum.

Irish Dancing

What he really objected to was having to go Irish dancing on Saturday morning. His mum was Irish and made him go Irish dancing on Saturday mornings and as he had to attend mass on Saturday he complained he never got a day off like we did . He had to wear a kilt - but he'd never show it to me. He didn't wear it to the class - just changed there I suppose and I never went down there to have a laugh at him as I did other things on Saturday morning - like going food shopping with my mum - and I was a bit scared of going down the catholic club as some of the boys down there had it in for our school - only kids stuff but I could do without it.

Michael's Special Conker Tree

I still wasn't interested in conker fights but I'd started hanging around on Sunday afternoons with my mate Michael. I'd met him the Summer before when I was 9 years old and we'd become really good mates. We'd get up to all sorts of things together – sometimes money-making schemes but nothing really illegal. We used to pick the wild rhubarb that grew on the bomb sites and then set up a stall with an old door we found there and sell it. We also used to find old beer bottles that had a deposit on them and we'd clean them up and take them back to the off-license. There were loads of other things – a couple of which were a bit dodgy and one of which got us into big trouble but I'll keep that under my hat. I wanted to save my share of the money and buy something for my mum but he just spent his straight off – and he shared anything he bought like drinks with me. When we were up around the tube station pulling a stunt, as soon as he got any money he used to go and get a dab of brylcreem from the machine in the station and slick it all over his hair. He wanted me to put some on too – and I needed it really as my hair was always sticking up but my mum would go mad if we put anything on our hair. I didn't risk it but I did used to get a suck of the ice lollies he'd buy. That did get me into trouble as my mum banned ice-lollies – she thought the colouring agents in them were bad for you and she was ahead of her time there. She didn't mind ice-cream – especially from the Italian shop down the road from us. Anyway I came back one Sunday and, without realising it, I had a bright orange tongue from sharing Michael's ice-lolly and that was a dead give away. I still didn't realise why my mum was laying in to me “for no reason” until she took me down and held me in front of the bathroom mirror. It was a fair cop and I couldn't say anything. Anyway Michael was into conkers. They were allowed to play at his school – they had a bigger playground – and he was always looking for new material.




Bill










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Created: December 8, 2003
Last updated: 9:12 PM 11/22/2005