A Leap of Faith-Jimmy’s Revenge!

This is the long awaited (!) follow up to 'Jimmy's Green Van' published on 21, September, 2012.

Jimmy got his revenge some time later. Lots of the boys at The Stair used to wait for the Green Van to drive off and we would then leap onto the back steps of the vehicle for a free hurl. He always drove about two hundred yards along Oxgangs Avenue to his next stop. On one occasion it was only me who had quietly hopped on-well blimey he must have seen me in the mirror and known it was me.

Instead of stopping, he kept on driving along the Avenue. The van built up speed and was soon travelling at 30 mph so I couldn't leap off. I was terrified! What would I do? Very fortunately, when the van reached Greenbank, it struggled to maintain the speed up the hill and slowed down. It was now or never, because at the top of the hill it was all downhill to Morningside. With a ‘leap of faith’ I jumped off backwards taking a quick pitter-patter step, the way we did getting off a moving number 16 bus. I managed to stay upright. It was with great relief I’d absconded-I’d escaped and was free to walk all the way home back to the safety of The Stair. I had lived to fight another day and to enjoy further adventures. 

No Pedlars, Hawkers or Salesmen!

I was going to entitle this blog, Balloon or a Balloon? after an exchange of comments with Liz Blades-Hamilton in Australia, previously 6/6, The Stair. However, apart from going easy on my younger self and saving it for another day, I was also reflecting on the number of  salesmen who had featured in this little run of blogs-Jock the Fishman; Jimmy the Grocer; Mario the Ice Cream-man.

It made me think of a door plate that I saw at a few houses at Morningside when I was doing my early morning paper run for Bairds Newsagents. The sign said No pedlars, hawkers or salesmen. I didn't have a clue what the first two terms meant, but always found the sign interesting. When I read the sentence out loud  it had a certain rhythm to it-like the title of a Cher song. It also seemed quite intriguing too. Even now, there's almost a medieval feel to it.

It's made me reflect on how lucky we were in some respects to be brought up in Oxgangs at The Stair. There was a certain richness of experience in our lives which might have been missing if we'd been brought up elsewhere. We met all these wonderful characters and shared in the vibrancy and colour of communal living. If we'd stayed in the leafy suburbs of Morningside life would have been quieter and much more solitary.

So, No Pedlars, Hawkers or Salesmen certainly wasn't the kind of door-plate that appeared on any door at The Stair. Perhaps, if there had been, it might have been as below!

Or on second thought it might have been any or all of these!

For the earlier blog on Jimmy's Green Van either of the following two badges might have been appropriate!

The Y is unfortunately missing!

Jimmy's Green Van

Was it a transaction or was it a relationship?

Jimmy's Green Van from 'An Act of Kindness' (Peter Hoffmann)

Another of the great characters who visited and sold their wares at The Stair was Jimmy's Green Van.

It was a mobile grocery van which had been converted from an old single decker bus, with its side windows done away with, replaced with panels and painted green. It visited Oxgangs at least twice a week. Jimmy's Green Van was an institution.

According to local gossip it was alleged that Jimmy would visit one of the mothers at 4 Oxgangs Avenue, who shall remain nameless, for 'a cup of tea...!'. When I was a very wee boy I must have been aware that Jimmy's Green Van had been left temporarily vacated.

Inside, the van was a colourful Aladdin's Cave - a positive cornucopia of delight, particularly the confectionery section.

Photograph by George Field.

Anyway, whilst Jimmy was away servicing one of his customer's, on one occasion, I nipped over the counter at the back of the old van and helped myself to a box of Cadbury's chocolate bars which I thereafter distributed to all the kids in The Stair. Neither the kids nor Jimmy were accustomed to such largesse.

Well, poor Jimmy didn't know whether he was coming or going. Wringing his hands he informed my mother, but instead of getting some expected sympathy, I believe he instead got very short shrift, along the lines of, 'well what do you expect, leaving your van open and all these chocolate bars on display tempting a wee lad'.

And the answer to the question? Well, I guess you could say it was both a relationship and a transaction!

Look out for Jimmy's Revenge! in a future episode.

An Act of Kindness

A popular picnic was to the Braid Hills-I might struggle to find it today, but there was a very shallow open cave where we would eat our picnic-if the weather turned sour it gave us some shelter too. It served as a good base from which to play. Sometimes we would venture further to the Elfin Pond on the private Mortonhall Golf Course to collect frogs.

On one occasion a group of us were setting out for a picnic-all that Iain and I had was a bottle of water each which I'd stored in my small brown haversack. All the others had sandwiches and perhaps a few sweets. I don't know how, but Hilda Hanlon somehow must have noticed this-she leaned out her window and threw down a tanner-three-pence each-and told us to get something at Jimmy's Green Van which was parked outside the stair.

 I bought us two packets of Golden Wonder crisps.

'An Act of Kindness' (Peter Hoffmann, 2008)

Or, was it Smiths?

Great blog Peter evokes many memories I especially remember the mini Olympics you used to organise and we would run between the lamposts and you would time us happy days
Ruth Blades

Great to hear from you Ruth-thanks for the prompt-definitely a future blog item! For years I had a wee notebook with all the times as well as triple jump on the small grass area across the road.Later on we held a couple of mini-Olympics at the army track at Redford Baracks-second one not completed because we got chased off by the soldiers! Peter Hoffmann

Great to hear from you Ruth-thanks for the prompt-definitely a future blog item! For years I had a wee notebook with all the times as well as triple jump on the small grass area across the road.Later on we held a couple of mini-Olympics at the army track at Redford Baracks-second one not completed because we got chased off by the soldiers! Peter Hoffmann