大象传媒

I lived in a tenement building in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow. Three flights of stairs with three houses on each flight.

The entrance to the building was known as 'the common close' - simply an entrance to the stairway, leading to the floors. The government, in its wisdom, decided that the close entrances should be strengthened to prevent the building's collapse in the event of an explosion during an air raid. To do this, they erected a timber frame up the walls and along the roof - but in doing so they left a space due to the criss-cross building of the beams.

As an adventure it was possible for boys like myself to crawl along between the beams and play at being spies. But! And such a big but! At the end of the 'close' there was a landing with steps leading down to the rubbish bins. This was know to us as a 'dunny'. It was a wonderful place for courting couples, let's say 'doing their courting', as they were hidden away (or so they thought) from prying eyes. We, however, lay across the beams and could spy on them at our leisure. But, believe me, if any of them caught us there, we would have been in big trouble.

So we just lay there and watched. Suffice to say, it was from this vantage point that I received most of my sex education. The courting couples or 'winchers', as we called them, taught me and my friends everything we know.

-- Read all Tommy Mac's edited contributions to this website

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