Thursday 5 December 2013

Why the Mohican chased us - The Caravan Holiday part two

My cousin Eve is two years older than me and when we were teenagers she seemed to me to be very daring, quite the rebel.
On our Caravan holiday we were told that the site was five minutes from the sea. It took us at least 20 minutes of brisk walking so we think the person who told Aunty this big lie must have had a car.

I don't remember it raining at all on this holiday but I think it must have done because this was Porthcawl and it was Miners fortnight and it always rains then.
For those of you who don't live in the UK - Miners fortnight was so called because all the coal mines shut down for the last week in July and the first week in August and most of the families would have been saving for the previous 12 months so that they could go to the seaside. Sometimes whole streets would pack their bags and go to a caravan site for a week. So the valleys were empty and Porthcawl was full.

Where was I?

OH yes. Every day Aunty would send Uncle to the shop where he would buy two sliced loaves and half a pound of butter. He would then be told to "keep an eye on that lot" while Aunty and Aunty Mu and Aunty V spread the butter and then opened several jars of fish paste - these had been in the boxes of food that we had been packed around on the journey down. These sandwiches plus a packet of crisps each and several bottles of fruit squash would be distributed amongst half a dozen bags.
The Baby was strapped into the pushchair, everyone was warned not to forget their towels and the deck chairs and like a camel train we would set off for a day on the beach.

It was only the second day of the holiday when we saw him. Remember that this was 1960/1 and there weren't many people with a mohican hair cut in those days. Eve was never a quiet person and she seemed even louder that day "OOOOOH look at him! Look Mam, he's had his head shaved!"
The boy turned his head and stared at her. We all did that thing where you immediately look down at your feet and scurry really quickly. We had to shove Eve with the deck chairs and the bags because we didn't have a spare hand. The Baby leaned precariously out of the pushchair and said OOOOH very loudly and then laughed.

It must have been this that spurred Eve on because she turned and looked straight at this chap and shouted "hey up, where's Hawk-eye?". His head came up and he began to run at us. Aunty screamed "Bill! Bill! Tell him!" as she accelerated away with the baby bouncing in the push chair. Eve, May Charlie and I all shrieked and ran like the wind, passing the Aunties and poor Uncle Bill who was keeping between us and the very irate mohican.
We reached the beach in moments and felt much safer because there were several burly miners with their families already there. we found our spot on the sand - not easy with Aunty because she obviously had a special colour of sand in mind - and spread the blanket and put down the chairs and the bags. The mohican glowered at us and then stomped off across the beach. We all turned and looked at Eve.

"What?" she asked innocently "What did I do now?" we chased her down the beach and into the water.

We spent the rest of the holiday keeping a look out for the mohican and his pals and making sure we avoided them at all times.

8 comments:

Colin C said...

Well I have to say that I do prefer my real name, Bluefunnel, but Charlie will do. Having read the whole string, back to mums compulsive "Check everythings off Hilmer", to poor baby brother being pushed down to the beach at breakneck speed being chased by Chingatscook, (It's near enough)I do think it scarred Paul for life!!! LOL Keep it up, love remembering all the stories.

alexa said...

You tell a great story and I love your line about Aunty's choice of colour of sand!

Barbara Eads said...

Oh to be a kid again---those care-free days!

Anonymous said...

Oh what a great story. I had to chuckle about your Aunty wanting a particular colour of sand. Think we all have someone like that in our families. :)

Alison said...

Hee Hee! ....great story
Alyson xx

Sian said...

Brilliant! I don't think we would have had too many Mohicans round here in those days either..I can remember the days of the scandalous punks here in the 70's. Oh, the outrage. it's a great story..I love the little detail of the fish paste: you always need fish paste in a story about the seaside!

Becky said...

This did bring a smile to my face - I live reding your recollections you tell them so beautifully.

Miriam said...

And the 'someone like that in our family' is me!
Another great family holiday story.