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PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:01 pm
by Frank Daniel
Reflecting on Dave's story about Tony the Wog.

I remember when I was about twelve or thirteen my mate and I planned on pinching a few bunches of grapes from the local saddlers trellis which acted as a shade area and carport behind his house.
What we had planned was to unbutton our shirts, then button them up again around a bunch of grapes each, cut the bunch from the vine with our 'pokkit nifes', and then cut another bunch or two each and then bolt.
I'd only just got my first bunch buttoned up when I thought I heard someone coming to the back door, and the old fellas terrier was going off his head in the back room.
In eagerness to cut myself loose and do my disappearing act, I panicked and dropped my pocket knife. When I bent down to retrieve it I was still part of the grapevine and couldn't reach my prized possession; so I decided to make a dash for it and forego my ownership of the best skinning knife I ever owned and make tracks for the front gate.
Needless to say, grape vines are pretty tough, and I was pretty scared, and pretty near tore down half the trellis as I made my escape around the corner of the house. At least ten or twelve feet of vine followed me as it strained against my body within my shirt until at last I went head over turkey as the grapes were squashed and withdrew from the front of my shirt.
I was a bit of a mess but managed to get out of sight without being caught. I'll bet the old saddler would have known it was me. I'd bought that knife from his shop only a few weeks earlier.
As for my mate, I never saw him again for the rest of that day.
He'd made it out over their back fence, tore the backside out of his pants and was hiding from his mother.

Joe

Re: PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:26 pm
by r.magnay
:lol: bloody amazing hey Frank? I remember pinchin' some mandarins along similar lines, the funny part about it looking back, half the fruit would have fallen on the ground or got taken by the birds anyway, if we had just been game to ask we probably would have had the stuff given to us!....wouldn't have been as much fun though hey?

Re: PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:23 pm
by Heather
So were the grapes any good Frank?

Heather

Re: PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 1:39 pm
by Bob Pacey
We used to raid the trees over the back for mandarins and one night a set of headlights turned into the driveway. We all ducked behind the garage and ditched the booty. The crunch of feet on the gravel told us we were in big trouble and the long arm of the law reached around the corner and nabbed us. A Detective inspector no less. He lived in the flat next door and gave us all a swift kick up the ( you know what ). Sure sorted us out as we had to get our Mandarins further down the block from then on !!!!


Bob The Burglar

Re: PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 10:12 pm
by Jasper Brush
Shades of my of my young years mate.

We had orchards and vinyards on the other side of the creek near home. :?

John

Re: PINCHIN' GRAPES

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 10:15 pm
by Bob Pacey
See we had a lot of fun but really never got into any trouble hey John.

Between collecting bottles and lead to sell and shooting sparrows with air rifles and setting off crackers we never had any time to be bad.

Bob