packed lunch to school

i and my friends at school used to wander into town at lunchtime.
we'd make a beeline for the record shop, hang around a bit, eat chips on the way back to school and generally mess about.
chips.
every day chips.
you see i was given a couple of pounds each day for lunch and chips were about 50p, which meant that by the end of the week i had enough money to buy a record.
but then record prices went up a bit and it meant i needed that extra bit of cash.
so if there was a record i felt was particularly important for me to have i'd go without lunch for the week and i could afford to buy what i felt i NEEDED.
friends had paper rounds and the like to earn some money but i was, to be frank, lazy.
i thought i was on to a winner.

but i can be dim.
something that i can could never say about my old man.



i really really REALLY needed "psychocandy" (well, you would wouldn't you?).
when it came out i went down to the record shop during my lunch break and bought it.
but i was hungry.
i knew dad was out (he worked funny hours so you couldn't always be sure) and so i ran home and made a sandwich.
realising i was going to be late back to school i grabbed my bag and left the house.

dad got home, saw a dirty plate and glass in the kitchen and immediately knew what was going on.
the first thing he did?
he phoned the record shop.
yes i'd been in there at lunchtime.
he didn't shout at me or anything.
he simply insisted that from now on i would take a packed lunch to school.