The naughty things we did… back then… were well, downright naughty, so anytime someone tells you that the kids of today are bad… take them back to these things… and tell them you were a kid once too!

• I used to shoot out letterboxes with fireworks, putting a three-penny bunger inside and running away.

• We had “shangais” or slingshots and aimed them at street lights and blew them up. Back then a street light was just a bulb on a pole… not hard to break.  We never got caught once.

• I once found a bubblegum machine that was broken and took all the bubblegum… but my mum found out and made me take it back to the shop.

• We undid the wingnuts on the slingback canvas deck chairs at the movies so that some poor unsuspecting soul would fall when they sat down.

• You’d leave home and you wouldn’t be expected back til dark… So we’d go out to the bush and steal apples from the orchards

• I smoked behind the sheds at boy scouts… and mum comes along and all she can see is the red glow, but still I plead “nooo, I wasn’t smoking mum”. 

• I used to leave school at lunchtime and go up to a mates place and smoke (Life hasn’t changed much now eh)…

• A little bit of shoplifting…  mainly little toys and me and my mate compare who could get the coolest little thing…

What naughty things did you do?   

The 62 year old contributer  of this piece wants to remain anonymous.  He fears retribution from 50+ years ago for his sins…