Of course we often used to bicker and quarrel, as all siblings do, at the age of probably 7 and 8 years old. And Ma used to shout and shout, as all mothers do. One day she came home from work with a pair of boxing gloves, and called us outside on to the front lawn. She put the right one on me and the left on Ian, which was very fair as I was right-handed, and he was left-handed. The other hand had to be kept behind our backs. Oh yes, there were rules to this 'game'. She then said, 'Now fight, but do it properly this time!' Of course, we didn't want to, and she then shouted, ' You will fight, come on hit him, hit her, and then you're both going to get a bloody good hiding and go to bed without any supper'. Of course this made us want to punch even less, knowing what our fate would be. And so it was , no good punches were thrown, no satisfaction was achieved and no supper was had that day!
