Although I have another few days left, the children broke up today. Amongst the presents I received, there was one rather unusual one.In an unguarded moment, I once let slip a childhood story to a girl in my class. It was soon shared around the class. Too late for me - the cat was out of the bag.
One summer from my youth, the film BMX bandits came out. It starred a very young and frizzy haired Nicole Kidman. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's about some Australian kids who defeat some adult wrong-doers using not much more than their courage, wile and BMXs. In hindsight, it was a truly rubbish film. Absolute tut. But at the time, it captured the zeitgeist. There is one iconic scene where the main characters, whilst running away from some baddies, go down a water chute at a swimming pool WITH their BMX's. Truly the stuff of childhood dreams.
Anyway, my friends and I spent the summer racing around on our bikes and practising our rather lame tricks. I didn't even have a BMX - I had a racer. But it didn't matter - in my heart I was a BMX bandit through and through.
The main characters in BMX bandits had nicknames - if I remember rightly, one was called Goose and another PJ. My friends quickly acquired nicknames.......cherry picker, wheelz etc. As one of the younger ones, my nickname was left until last.
Someone piped up, "I know, you can be skidmarks". I still remember it being said. Someone giggled but it didn't register.
In my naivety, I was thrilled because I honestly believed the name Skidmarks was a reflection of the skills I displayed as I hit the front brake and caused rubber to burn.
Imagine my shock, a few years later, when I found out that the real meaning of the word skidmarks.
