A Coventry Kid's Tale

Chapter 11: 14 years old

With the sister out of the way, and not a hula hoop in sight, the front bedroom window was now more accessible. Opening the bottom part of the window and leaning out you could have a good view up and down the street. Up was the best, on a Friday night, at closing time in the Foresters Arms pub. This pub was opposite Vine Street where "Old Ma Brown" lived. She took in lodgers by the dozen. The lodgers worked on the roads and were away for the week only coming back on a Friday night and then leaving on a Monday morning. "Old Ma Brown" was a very stout woman whom the child liked (this because he sometimes had a bowl of stew or bacon and potatoes at tea time, she could see that he was half starved). She ruled the house with an iron fist (handbag really, a very large one). On Friday nights the lodgers would arrive and their tea would be waiting for them on the table, but nobody was allowed to sit until they had washed. After tea all the lodgers would retire to the Foresters Arms for a quiet relaxing tipple. Old Ma Brown, after washing up, would also go for a quiet tipple. As the night wore on the tipple became gallons.

It was now time for the child to open the bedroom window. The noise coming from the pub was now at full volume, the lodgers were now at the stage that they wanted to play. At chucking out time the first blow would be struck, followed very quickly by many more, until all the lodgers were fighting in the street. Old Ma Brown always took a dim view on this and would wade into the middle of the melee batting every lodger around the head with her very large handbag. This was no mean handbag for on some occasions the lodger who was hit by it did no get up again, knocked out for the count. In the distance the sounds of sirens could be heard, gradually getting louder until three Black Marias would appear in Raglan Street. When stopped, the police would leap out of the back and start to break up the fight. The police did not like to see an old woman attacked by so many men, so with two policemen to one lodger they would lock the lodger in the back of the Black Maria. Old Ma Brown upon seeing this did not like the thought of losing all that lodging money, so promptly started to bash as many policemen as she could round the head with her very large handbag. The policemen, now realising they were under attack from a very strong woman, left the lodgers alone to concentrate on locking up the woman. This took a lot of policemen. The lodgers seeing that they might not get their supper, stopped fighting each other and started on the police. After about half an hour the police always won and everybody would be carted off in the Black Marias to the police station. Peace would reign until the next Friday night when it would happen all over again. What a lovely Friday night's entertainment for the child....