It was October 29 th , a week before bonfire night and a Saturday ... The housing estate we lived on was being renovated bringing it up to modern standards befitting of seventies Britain .
Out were going sash windows replaced by white plastic double glazing . Central heating would be installed as back boilers were ripped out and gas fires replaced coal hearths .
Tree lined avenues with gardens were ripped up to be replaced by concrete flags and Tarmac.
The first phase involved emptying the houses on one side of the street , leaving the remaining residents to occupy the old dwellings as the new ones took shape .
This was an opportunity for the local kids to exchange old ways , instead of knocking on doors and asking for "any bonty wood ?" to entering evacuated houses and taking anything that would burn including old cupboards and doors (that would be eventually replaced by cheap mdf in the renovation).
Our bonty was the largest we had ever had , we teamed up with other kids in the neighbourhood and built it in Colin's garden which had the largest plot being on the corner of the street that semi circled around leaving a large triangular garden space .
We had made an inner core of a den with doors which had been nailed together forming a large square that would fit about six people .
We made look outs on four sides in case raiders came to take our wood from other parts of the estate , which happened regularly , as bragging rights about the largest bonfire dominated October and November amongst the kids on the estate and at school .
After the lookouts were situated and an entrance hidden around the back we proceeded to build the bonty in traditional fashion like an Indian teepee with the longest planks placed vertically at an acute angle and then other wood placed around those giving a firm structure that could be added to easily .
We found an old settee and two arm chairs dumped in the backings and managed to get them inside the den .. A real home from home for us kids where we could smoke fags , drink cider and snog girls.
As I said it was Saturday, the morning was bright and crisp if a little chilly ,
" shall we go and get some more doors for the bonty ' I asked my brother in between crunching my Frosties
" I think we had better , the Lockwoods bonty on Ash Tree Avenue was nearly as big as ours " he declared then slurped down the sweet sugary milk left in his bowl.
"I'll call for Pete and David , you get Sean and Clyde "
" ok , I'll see you at witchy poo's old house she left on wed and we can work our way down "
" was she the last to go ?
"I think so "
Me and my brother usually argued about everything and were the least cooperative people in the world but this venture took our enthusiasm to new heights of comradeship.
Pete and David were still in bed so I made my way to Witchy poos house alone . No one ever went near her house as her presence had a scary effect on the local kids , now and then you could see her crooked features pottering about , she had wild hair , a crooked nose and was haunched over like she was permanently looking at the floor .
My brother arrived alone too, obviously our enthusiasm was greater than our friends as Sean and Clyde were still in bed or it could be down to the fact that me and my brother were always put to bed early thus up early.
"lazy gits are still in bed "
"I know ... So are the Brewsters '
" you brought a screwdriver "
"no "
"looks like the smash it off method then ' my brother beamed
Now as to young lads cooped up in a bedroom from six at night , every night , we had a lot of unspent energy that usually got us into bother but this time no one frowned upon our constructive vandalism because we were saving the firm doing the renovation a job of removing old doors etc , well that's the way we looked at it .
We entered the house through the back door which was unlocked and ajar .. It was empty of movable furniture but strewn with paper and old magazines and it had a smell of must and cabbage about the place.
"Lets start with the doors upstairs , it might not smell as bad up there " I said in a nasally voice trying not to breathe in
"witchy poooooohh " said my brother as he sprinted upstairs .
I followed him .
He started on a bedroom door opening it as wide as it would go putting pressure on the hinges . I kicked the door low down at the height of the bottom hinge and it gave way firing three screws out of their recesses , obviously not fixed brilliantly as rehung doors tend not to be. My brother gripped the door from either side low down and lifted and twisted , the wood cracked on the door as the screws worked themselves free from the frame this time leaving a hinge stuck to the door . One down three to go upstairs and three more downstairs including the small pantry cupboard one . We continued in much the same vain kicking , slamming and twisting and I wished we'd brought a screwdriver , then I spied a flat piece of metal that would make a good lever , this made shorter work on most of the doors as I jammed it in between door and frame and we both pulled popping the hinges out with screws from rotten old frames .
My brother opened an upstairs window and declared he would slide the doors out making it easier than two- ing them down the stairs .
I said " I will stack them in the backyard " and sprinted down stairs and out of the back door .
As I left the back door I had a sort of premonition . I saw a door leave the window and hit me square on the head , so I pulled my head back at the last second and the door slid past my face almost in slow motion shaving my nose and hitting me on the right knee before bouncing clear into the garden . I cried out in agony " you bleeding idiot "
My brothers head peered out of the window " you got down there quick , I told you I was sliding them out "
you could of waited till I was in site " I said nursing my bruised leg.
Now I've never been into mysticism or magic , voodoo or gifts , so after a while my inquiring mind put itself to task over why I pulled my head back at the last minute .
I'd also had my first moment of deja vu that summer where two people were talking to me and I knew a full sentence the girl was going to say word for word ,exact expression and I couldn't stop it mid happening to relate I knew .
I could say it after it had happened and that's the clue , it just replayed or jolted in my head or went deep into my memory bank even though it had only just happened giving the impression of having happened before .
So ,searching for evidence my premonition wasn't someone whispering in my head like a guardian angel or me having mystical powers of vision led me to re look at the situation.
1 I knew my brother was throwing the doors out of the window
2 my brother was eager and could be incredibly stupid when he put his mind to it .
3 I had made a very quick exit
4 there would have been some noise from the door coming out of the window
5 maybe I didn't pull my head back and everything happened as it did and my mind in a state of alert did the bury and resurface thing causing me to have a double moment and a fresh thought .
I told mum about it later and she was very wide eyed and interested in what I was saying . My mum believed a lot of old mumbo jumbo . She once declared that the necklace she was wearing had only ever broken three times and every time someone in the family or close had died , so I asked her ";why didn't she get rid of the necklace ?"
" it's not a cause , its just a conformation ..... Before we get the news , and it's my favourite necklace "
It's spooky and mysterious to talk about it more like I thought to myself . I had a bit of a reputation as a professor plum about this time trying to explain how things worked and logical reasoning .
My mum and her friend were getting ready to go out one night and had had the obligatory bottle before leaving and asked me to explain the Big Bang theory again then proceeded to laugh all the way through my facts about expansion , time and Doppler shifts .. much to my bemusement .Never the less some girls were impressed by such tales of deja vu and I told a few of my premonition
" oooohh ! Your gifted "
"blessed "
" you've got powers "
"your psychic"
I never had the power to make any of them take their bras off though, so it was a useless gift as far as I was concerned .
A week later our bonfire had taken on epic proportions . It was surrounded by doors now and resembled a fort . We had a massive pile of doors a further twenty feet away which would probably keep the fire burning into early the morning .
Bonfire day /night came and all the kids were present at the bonfire pile early in the day . It was the most important day for expelling raiders from other bonfires and we hoped we weren't all called in for dinner at the same time . In the days before mobile phones a parent would holler his kids names at the front door and woo betide any kid that didn't drop what he was doing and sprint home .
We occupied the centre of the pile through our hidden entrance and smoked some cigarettes , which was highly dangerous given our location and circumstance .
At one point Sean ( who was the oldest by a couple of years at 15 ) brought a girl in and we had to stand guard outside for half an hour . When we were allowed back in a big bottle of strongbow was passed about and an empty one was lay on the floor , Sean and the girl seemed affected but in very high spirits .
I'd tried to snog Beth in there during the week but she was having none of it . My brother had snogged Jenny and him being nearly a year younger than me had got me peeved and boosted his cockiness some what.
Come five o clock just before nightfall we made final preparations . We filled the middle of the pile with paper and some engine oil Dave had found . A couple of tyres were rolled in and the entrance was sealed shut with a nailed half door . Sean got a ladder and the guy was put on top of the bonfire . All the talk was of what's your mum bringing and your dad
"my mums making Parkin "
"dads bought a load of fireworks" "were bringing toffee apples and toffee treacle "
"who's got potatoes for later on "
" let's go and get some bangers "
" no lets get rip raps "
"they got banned last year "
"no !! "
I think bonfire night as kids was probably more exciting than Christmas , it was a collective thing and a bit lawless . We threw bangers at each other and through letterboxes , god knows how none of us got injured . We fought with raiders trying to steal our wood after cries went up "RAIDERS , RAIDERS !! " and you stopped whatever you were doing in the house and sprinted outside to see a couple of kids running off with a plank or a chair , and we raided other bonties in revenge missions . We pushed the guy around houses in a pram and went "cob a coaling"
We made the most money on Friday night outside the pub at closing time and headed of to the chippy . Of course that's all been replaced now by Halloween and health and safety .
Many families came to the bonfire and brought goodies - parents told kids not to get to close to the fire every five minutes but no one burned ( well not badly , coupled of singed fringes and melted nylon trouser legs ) but there were lots of red faces and sooty eyes .
A couple of the dads put themselves in charge of the fireworks to the annoyance of the kids as rockets flared and Roman candles burned , Catherine wheels spun and sparklers wrote temporary hieroglyphics in the dark November night .
There's something primaeval about standing around a fire everyone aglow facing in from shadows , too hot in front and too cold behind with the breeze , the crackling of wood in the flames intermittently mesmeric .
If a piece of wood fell out of the fire the nearest kid would kick it back in or if one end was untouched by the flames , the half burning piece would be picked up and lobbed into the middle of the fire creating an upsurge of flames and sparks .
The fire was the biggest we'd ever had and at its peak we had to evacuate the garden onto the street - the pile of doors was in danger of catching fire where they lay but the wind direction was kind . Whilst on the street we heard the familiar sound of fire engine bells you always heard on bonfire weekend only this time they got closer and closer , a blue Doppler shift towards heat and flame . The engine pulled up outside the garden to much worry ( they would put the fire out) from the kids and excitement from the ladies . The crew looked over the fire and were assured by the adults it was in control , they declined offers of Parkin and treacle toffee and went on their way.
Towards ten o clock as the bonty decreased in size we went back into the garden and adults started milling away trying to drag kids with them but most were having none of it pulling up chairs and benches and inching forward every time the fire retreated . High on sugary treats and pop looking like we'd not been washed for weeks we threw potatoes into the edges of the fire to be retrieved an hour later,( black and charred with hard exteriors ) usually by poking a sharp stick into the potato , then cutting it open with your pen knife to get at the soft un burnt goodness inside sprinkled with a little salt - you always ended up with some charcoaled skin in your mouth and your hands and clothes were black as night and totally ruined.
Dragged away from the dying embers by tired parents before midnight the bonty didn't stop there .. In the morning a fawkes of tired and sore throated kids could be found milling around the embers trying to kick the unburnt pieces back into life . Fireworks were collected and the remaining powder piled into a heap and set alight with a thrown match and a puff of energy to the delight of the instigators . One kid found a potato that was impenetrable with either knife or hammer
( though it could have been a rock)
- big rusty brown nails were collected if they were straight and melted aluminium pools inspected , one kid collected spent rockets and searched every garden for them "found one in Mortons bird bath he declared as if it might be interesting .
The autumn air in early November hung heavy with fog intertwined with smoke and dew , it smelled great to a fawkes of sooty , bleary eyed kids and Christmas was only just over six weeks away .
