choli · 19/10/2021 03:04
Genuine question. Did you all get away with that sort of crap as teenagers?
God, no! I got absolutely leathered for any sort of back chat and I admit, I was an argumentative sod.
I did do loads of work round the house. I had to clean out and lay the fire and the wood stove (no gas in the village). Chop the kindling, bring in wood and coal for the fire and stove. Drag any stray pallet / log spotted within a mile of home. Saw and split logs, then stack them for seasoning (I mostly liked that).
Help keep the house clean. 2 older sisters did the washing and drying up together one night, I did it alone the next. Apparently, that was fair division of labour. They did hoovering and dusting, when needed. Tidied room when told to, on pain of pain.
At 11 years old, we had the back garden done. In a ten days, I wheelbarrowed 5 tons of compost, 3 tons of sand and 9 tons of topsoil from the front of the house and spread it at the back. Pretty well ten hours a day. For that (1981) I was paid the princely sum of £5 to take on holiday, a camping week with school.
My sisters got the foreign trips, one had ten days in Spain, the other a bit longer in France. They got £50 each and the trips were £250 / £300. We had to pay for our own dinners, so after 2 days, no lunch for me. I got an almighty bollocking for not send a postcard, or bringing presents home, with, "You were given more than enough money!"
I was always in trouble at school, for some stupid trick or other, getting in fights and the like, but I never dared cheek my parents. I used to complain that this or that wasn't fair, but I got shouted at and sent to my room.