The “Walthamstow One” or The Gift?

At only fifteen years and two months

I got sent out into the world,

The very real world that is

Where “rollocking” insults are hurled.

This new place was inner London

Not where I would regularly go,

And it seemed to cause amusement

That I came from Walthamstow.

I had only just left school

And being older thought I knew a lot,

But when you enter the big outside

You’ll find you don’t know the plot,

For in the expanse of industry

Life can soon get quite hard,

With lots to do in a decreed time

After you clock in with a card.

But I think it was the shock

Of the life to which I was strapped,

A spotty “no nothing” apprentice

Arriving naive, and all gift wrapped.

For I was youngest by a mile

Than the older and wiser males,

Who all sought to find favour

With tall stories and sordid tales.

It seemed that I was all at odds

With most of the usual view,

Though of course I didn’t realise then

That most of it wasn’t true.

2

But as a youngster you doubt yourself

Trying to mature and find your way,

So perhaps because it was easy

I was teased nearly every day.

Though I was born with a ready wit

And would answer quickly back,

Which of course did not go down well

And was told to hold my “sauce” back.

Also my natural brighter side

Was not appreciated by all there.

And especially a notable few,

But I was beginning not to care.

For as a pup grows up and gets bigger

I grew less likely to do a runner,

And till I finally got acceptance

When I landed myself a stunner,

Who accompanied me to a work party

Held in a bloke’s house nearby,

And now many of my fellow workers

Surveyed me with a green eye.

For my lady who came with me

Seemed to arouse jealousy not contrived,

And I knew then that this once naive boy

Had in the grown up world arrived.

Best regards, and CHEERS, Laurie