Genre: Historical
Word Count: 100
DELINQUENTS, 1969
The bus station waiting room was the in-place to hang out on Saturday afternoons, according to Anita. Two years my senior and a cross-between Raquel Welch and a rouged porcelain doll, she was the epitome of cool.
Then there was me; her shadow, stepped into a stranger’s skin for a joyride to another planet where the inhabitants communicated in unintelligible grunts and monosyllables.
Ex-borstal boys with No.2 haircuts, braces and bovver boots, roamed this planet pumped up with testosterone, looking to pick an effing fight with some poor geezer or rob the payphone for loose change.
Sensible folk queued outside.
<><><>
Friday Fictioneers: 100 word stories
Photo Prompt: image copyright © J Hardy Carroll
Some of the words I didn’t understand, but I certainly envisioned it all, having lived through it here. A good writer can use words her reader doesn’t recognize and still the story will shine. You, my friend, are a good writer.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some more 60’s Brit slang to confuse my friends over the pond, as I didn’t confuse them enough with my novel Desiccation that is set in 1967! I’m glad you enjoyed the story, despite 🙂 Thanks for your kind praise, dear Bill. Much appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oozes with character. And something else – but then it’s a pay phone
LikeLike
I haven’t worn bovver boots since the 60’s in London! Thanks for transporting me back – being sensible was no fun!
Click to read my FriFic
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wore my bovver boots later, when I wanted to kick the world D: In 1969, I’d just emerged from flower power and moved into the world of mini skirts, skimpy sweaters, bomber jackets and knee high boots. It wasn’t really me. And yes, being sensible was no fun! In those days, I found it hard to resist dares, which got me into all sorts of trouble.
LikeLike
Now I’m going to have that “tune” in my head for a while… Dang you!
This was great, Sarah – bunch of bums… they have them in every generation…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, every generation. And they think they’re so tough and cool. The funny thing about it, some of them become ultra respectable further down the line, if not overnight saints, and tell their kids off about things they did themselves when they were young.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t I know it! Mick was quite the hooligan in his day… his son has had his moments (so I’m ever hopeful…)
LikeLike
Dear Sarah,
I delight in learning British slang. Oh the things we do when we’re young. I remember my days of long ironed hair, bell bottom jeans that dragged the ground and wire rimmed glasses. (wait, I still wear wire rimmed glasses. 😉 )
I love the tone of this story and its ever so slight brush with the prompt. Well done. Thanks for including the video.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle,
I’ve got big feet, which used to tangle with my bell bottoms and trip me up. Were your wire rimmed glasses like those ones that John Lennon used to wear? They were kind-of cute. I remember having some tiny diamond-shaped dark-glasses during my hippy spell! I looked really weird in them, I’m sure.
The things we do… and many more to come, I’m sure.
All best wishes,
Sarah
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Sarah,
I wore moccasins or sandals. Not much has changed there either. As for the wire rims, they were then and are now, the John Lennon variety. Loved them then, Love them now. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
1969 sounds like it was a joy! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed, not! D:
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sensible folks are dull. Not heard these words No. 2 cut for yoinks….. x Great stuff
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, sensible is very dull. Come to think of it, most guys now either go for No.1 cuts, or something longer than a No. 2. It would be interesting to ask a barber if anybody has a No. 2 cut anymore. Something to research. xxxx
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it is in the same category as waltzing up to the bar and asking for a snakebite, starlight or black’n tan.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That can get awkward fast. Especially with all the testosterone floating around.
Great story. Come see mine here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Alice. Yes, things can get awkward fast, especially if the bearers of testosterone have an audience of girls to show off to! Oh, hormones do have a lot to answer for. They can make people behave quite irrationally at times, doing many things that are classed as acting in haste, followed by the painful repenting at leisure. Life’s testing ground, and all that.
LikeLike
What gets to me is when they turn all that into an entire subculture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An interesting slice of British culture! I turned 16 in 1969 but here on the prairies of western Canada the story was rather different. Our Bus Depots (for Greyhound & STC busses) were for ordinary folk like us and also frequented a lot by the native people coming and going from their reserves and northern towns. You could take a bus to any small town in the province.
Back then high schools only needed parking lots for the teachers. Now every family has at least one car and schools have huge parking lots for students’ cars. One victim of progress has been our bus service; the provincial govt has shut down the Saskatchewan Transportation Company as totally unprofitable.
Some British imports I remember (besides the Beatles): Petula Clark; Lulu; Eric Burdon; ‘The Avengers’; and the movie, To Sir, With Love.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Christine 🙂 Your bus depots back then sound as if they were exceedingly civilised compared to ours in the UK, although it probably varied from town to town for us.
Our bus services now have suffered, too. There is a request stop in my road, but there are only a handful of buses a day, which isn’t good for the old folk without cars, as it’s very hilly for lugging shopping up the road. It’s also too steep for cyclists, except for the very fit.
LikeLike
I was all of seven years old in 1969, almost eight, so I missed all of that. I only remember clean-cut, nice kids turning into freaks of nature. Scary. I DO, however, also remember the music and the fashions people wore that were classy. My era was the disco/new-wave era — where we all went 60’s retro! Fun stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Kent, you are such a spring chicken! Yes, I’ve seen many clean-cut kids turning into freaks of nature at adolescence, but it’s often only a temporary aberration as they adjust to the surge of hormones. I’m not sure that their is a particular fashion just now, apart from carrying a bottle of water in one hand and a mobile in another…
LikeLike
I just enjoyed the 1950’s. Still do.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember, as a little girl, dressing up in my mother’s 50’s skirts with all the petticoats and imagining how I’d look at 16! They were really pretty these skirts. One was dark green patterned with red cherries, and the other was silvery-grey with white cockerels embroidered on it. She also wore gingham a lot — mauve and white checks. Ah, this brings back memories. I have this thing for remembering what people wore on particular occasions, which, in turn, is linked to the music then.
LikeLike
Neat!
LikeLike
Great build up of atmosphere and time Sarah, bus stations can be ‘interesting’ places to hang out at night!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Andrea 🙂 Yes, of course, I seem to remember that you set a ghost story either on a bus or in a bus station late at night, and that it was very atmospheric/creepy. I’m not imagining this, am I? And that it was published in an anthology… please don’t tell me I’m having a memory crisis here!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, you’re right, The Last Bus Home.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was eleven in 69, just a tad too joung for all the fun. Disco never really was my thing and my Abba loving friends were anything but tough. I dreamed of being older and loved The Beatles. 🙂 Great story, Sarah.
LikeLiked by 1 person
young, sheesh…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not going to say how old I was in 69! But I was a fan of The Who, Jimi Hendrix & Pink Floyd, to name a few. I remember seeing Abba for the first time, when they won the Eurovision Song Contest. I’m glad you enjoyed my story, Gabriele 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good descriptive writing. Brought back memories of how you had to avoid certain places at night. Bus stations were certainly one of those places!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Penny 🙂 I always sensed that those skinheads were only warming up in the afternoon, for the big stuff after dark! Definitely the bus station where I lived was best avoided on Saturday and Friday nights.
LikeLiked by 1 person
1969 wasn’t really so very long ago–I got married that year, and it seems like yesterday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, fancy that! It’s scary how quickly time flies. I always think of life being on two time-lines. One goes too fast and the other goes too slow. I was amused a little while ago, when a 16-year-old, whom I’ve known since he was 6, told me that although I was old, I was still young in heart. He’s a very insightful lad 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rockers and later Skin heads. As mod I had a few run in’s with them, but my scooter was well souped up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
At tech college, I managed to be good friends with both a rocker and a skinhead (both females). I used to get a bit concerned about the skinhead, when she practiced “toughening” up her head by head-butting the mirror in the girls’ room. I tried talking to her about brain damage but, being a lawyer’s daughter, she thought she was invincible. If she lived to tell the tale, I’m sure she calmed down later. It was only a spell she was going through, and it didn’t really go with her posh voice!
I’m not really into giving a shout about my books, but you might enjoy my novel Desiccation, as one of the main characters is a mod. Vesper scooters get a mention, too! Here’s the link if you’re interested…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Isn’t it funny how every generation goes through it’s period of rebellion against the establishment? For me, it started in the late 60s and went full bore around 1972. My son went through the spiked hair and baggy pants thing. Not near as cool as bellbottoms and peace signs, if you ask me.
Thanks for the flashback, Sarah.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It was my daughter that rebelled noisily. My son just grew his hair down to his waist and retreated into the computer to fight monsters!
Bellbottoms and peace signs … now I’m feeling nostalgic. We were going to save the world! Do you remember making necklaces and wristbands out of love-beads? As for the cowbell that I wore around my neck…
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had a leather headband that doubled as a roach clip. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your accent 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person