A 1950's Childhood in Moss Side. (
Too many ZORRO's , So few----Indians
By David Hulson
Some times you do things and when you thinking back ,you say to yourself I must have looked a right plonker doing that. So there I was eight foot up and standing on our wobbly back yard wall, head held high and hands on hips , imagining I was Zorro, Just a dark silhouette of a hero with a setting sun going down behind the Spanish governors mansion , well in my case it was the sun going down behind the smokey chimneys and roof tops of Hulton street in Moss Side. Get of that bloody wall now you stupid child ,shouted my mum ,you'll kill yourself . Snapped back to reality, I jumped onto the old air raid shelter then climbed down into the back yard. What the hell were you doing up there said mum. Playing Zorro I said . Get in the house now and unbutton that coat from around your neck, if that had caught on something you could have strangled yourself to death or even worse. "Now what could be worse than dead ,according to my Mum their is something ,but I'm blowed to think what" Anyway back to the story.
Yes Mum I replied ,ducking down as I passed her ,Just in case I got a back hander as I passed by her into the house, " in them days you always got a clout on the Back on the head when you weren't watching" And hang that coat up in the hall. Yes Mum, I didn't have a proper cloak ,so a coat with the top button done up had to sufficed. Granddads due to day said my big brother coming down the stairs, and he always gives us spends. How do you know he's coming I said . Look mums cleaning everything , and she's even got Apple pies in the oven , Granddads favourite and that's a sure sign of visitors. He was right ,later on that day we heard the put put sound of his Moped coming down the street. Mum Granddads here shouted Roger. Well go and open the door for him,mum shouted from the kitchen.
Hi ya kids said Granddad as he came into the house and placing his helmet and gauntlets on the hall stand,there you go he said as he pulled coins from his pocket ,one each ,then with a rub of our head hair and a little laugh he was with Mum in the kitchen, before he even had time to greet his daughter ,we were out of the door . Back in a bit mum we shouted as the door slammed closed behind us. And with a half crown each to spends each we were off to the Spar shop on Great Western street, I got a lone star cap gun and holster ,then it was down to Woolworths on Alexandra road where they sold Zorro Capes and swords. Roger was happy with his new Yoyo. (well he was good with them things ,and did I mention that he was the north west Yoyo champion) No more wearing a coat with just the top button done up , I had the black cape , the cap gun, and most of all the sword ,a sword that you could put a piece of white chalk into the end of it and write Z's on everything , magic. now I was ZORRO! ............ But so were all the other kids in bishop street.
There wasn't a wall or a pavement that didn't have a "Z" written across it, even cars and they were a rare sight in the Moss Side area of Manchester had the dreaded "Z" emblazoned on them. Graham Dobbs had a sword with a red piece of chalk that he pinched from school in the end of it , he said I looked like blood when the "Z" was written on the wall. Now the only down fall of being a Zorro is that all the kids in the area were also Zorros there must have been At least fifteen kids looking for a bad guy ,a special kind of kid who still liked playing at being an Indian. When a voice shouted ,look over there it's that polish kid, Tajo with his bow and arrow. Get him shouted one of the Zorros. You've never seen an polish indian run so fast in your life , There again ,who wouldn't run with fifteen ZORRO's waving swords chasing After you . It wasn't long before Tajo was Backed into a corner , and surrounded by ZORRO's , Tajo slid to the ground knocking the empty milk bottles of the door step.
And finally ,Gary Dobbs stepped forward and looked down at Tajo on the ground . Throwing back his buttoned at the neck coat ,"sorry Cape " then with one hand on his hip , and his right hand on the swords hilt he drew his weapon from his snake belt and swish ,swish , swish .......a blood red "Z " was scrawled on Tajo's grey short pants. It was a bad day to be an Indian ! Note after this I don't think Tajo was ever an Indian again, But there again who could blame him.