Mum looked at Mike's empty glass, "come on then Michael, time to make a move, we have lots to do," "ok," Mike said, "I'm with you." Mike did not mind shopping with his mother, in fact, he enjoyed it. Together the pair of them walked back up to the opera house, then turning left up up the narrow street to the citadel, where the N.A.A.F.I. shop was. On the inside, it was nice and cool, this was due to the thickness of the walls, and made shopping there very pleasant. Mother knew what she needed, and within an hour Mike and his mother were back outside again with Mike carrying a large cardboard box of groceries, everything from fresh bread to baked beans, Heinz of coarse, Mike's dad refused to eat any other brand, he had tried a few, but always came back to Heinz. As Mike and his mum stepped out into the mid afternoon sunshine, they heard the toot of a car horn, it was Mike's father and his brother, they were parked up across the square. Mike took the box to the car with his mum close behind, and with dad's help put the box of groceries into the boot of the car. Then mum said, "come on Michael, we have two more stops before we can leave," and taking his arm they walked back towards the opera house, crossing the road they went into Wembley Stores to get fresh cows milk plus a couple of other bits that she needed. Then it was out into the sunshine again, as Mike and his mum past the paper seller, she bought the Malta Times and the Daily Express. British papers it seemed were always a day late in Malta, so Ken would read the Malta Times to get the headline news, and then the following day would read his Daily or Sunday Express to get, as he called it, the full picture. Mother also picked up a couple of comics for her two boys, The Eagle for Michael and the Beano for Kelvin, she put them in her bag with the newspapers.
It was far too late to swim now, by the time the family got home and the food was out a way, it was time for tea, so as mother got on with the meal, father sat in his easy chair and read the paper, Kelvin went to the park to kick a ball about, and Mike went to his room and lay on his bed reading the Eagle, the centra page had a cutaway picture of one of the new aircraft carriers being built for the Royal Navy, the Eagle was a very good read as well, and Mike would at night in bed read his favourite magazine, he didn't call it a comic from cover to cover.
As the weeks progressed, school was becoming harder, especially maths, and Mike felt that Mr Ward had it in for him big time, the class was learning algebra and Mike just could not get the hang of it, what was it all about, if A=% and B=7 then what does D=, who the hell cares, all Mike was interested in, math wise, was if he had £5 in his pocket and spent £2 7s 6d how much did he have left, Mike knew that a foot was 12 inches and that 1760 yards made a mile, 16 ounces made a pound and so on. Mike had no plans to be a professor, he already knew what he wanted to do with his life, he was going to join the Royal Navy, and come back to Malta as a sailor, and do what sailors do, he also planned to see the rest of the world, if possible, so why did he need algebra.
Mr Ward was calling his name, he was walking towards him, but Mike was ready, no more headbanging, he was fed up with it. As Mr Ward reached Mike's desk, Mike stood up and they were looking at each other, Mr Ward stood back and said,"well, what's the answer, don't know, I thought not, daydreaming again," Mike looked at the teacher, "No sir, not daydreaming, just deep in thought, but please sir, we are all supposed to be thick in this class, why do we need to know all this stuff?" Mr Ward stood, his mouth open and hand ready to strike. As his arm came down, Mike raised his to shield his head and it worked. Mr Ward's arm caught Mike's arm, and as Mike looked at Mr Ward he could see the pain running through his face and eyes. Mr Ward headed back to the front of the class, Mike continued his small speech, "I know my plans for the future," "sit down Palmer," came Mr Ward's voice from the front, Mike continued, "I plan to join the Royal Navy and become a sailor," "sit down," Mr Ward screamed at the top of his voice. He stood in front of the class rubbing his arm, "I will see you at the end of this lesson Palmer," he said, the rest of you open your maths books at algebra test page ten and let's get on with the lesson in hand."
Mike felt a little scared, but also a little proud of himself, he had stood up for his rights, he refused to be treated like this ever again. At the end of the lesson, the rest of the class moved out of the classroom and on to the art class. Mr Ward came up to Mike and said, " stay here, I will be back in five minutes. Mike wondered what was happening, but Mr Ward returned with the headmaster.
The headmaster was a naval officer, a captain who was very good at dishing out the cane when needed, as Mike would find out later in the year, this time however he sat on the desk in front of Mike with Mr Ward stood alongside him. "So Palmer," he said, "what's this all about," Mike explained about the headbanging, and that Mr Ward was the only teacher that treated him that way. Mike said it was making him very very angry, and he felt that if it continued he would do something he would regret. The headmaster looked at Mr Ward, "Is this true," "yes sir it is I'm afraid," they walked to the back of the classroom and there they spoke in whispers, Mike did here some words though, like lazy, and father mentioned, knock some sense into him. They came back together the headmaster sat down, he looked at Mike. "Palmer, how old are you," Mike looked at him and smiled, "15 in June sir," he said, "and what," he said, " are your plans for the future," Mike said, " I'm going to join the Royal navy when I get back to England, I'm going to the training school at Torpoint." Oh," he said with surprise in his voice, " it looks like your future is mapped out for you already, So," he said, "what do you do after school." Mike smiled, "we, my family that is, have built a 14 foot two man canoe and we use it most afternoons around the creeks of Pieta Msida and Sliema, we visit the subs destroyers and frigates, and swim at Manoel Island." "Oh," he said with an almost cheery grin, "and when you join the Royal Navy, what do you want to be." "A seaman," Mike said proudly.
He again stood up, and with Mr Ward, they walked away towards the door, Mike heard the headmaster say, "I think Palmer wants to be treated like a young man, and not a naughty schoolboy, so let's give it a go, ok." "Ok sir," said Mr Ward, he looked back at Mike, and said, "carry on Palmer, carry on to your next class.
Life at school got a little easier after that, Mr Ward kept his distance from Mike, and when it came to getting the answer wrong, Mike was told to rethink Palmer, rethink. As for algebra, that went into one ear and out the other.
Mike's friends were great, even some of the girls were ok, like Amanda, Denise and Heather, they all got on very well, and at nearly 15 Mike was becoming very interested in girls, big time. Though his heart was set on May Riddle, she was his role model when it came to the opposite sex, in his class no one ever came close. Dave, Mike's best mate also thought as Mike did and they both started to look for the girl of there dreams. This meant the Maltese girls, some of them were beautiful, with there jet black hair, and faces that made lads look twice. But it was never going to work, as Dave said, "to get to the girl you have to go through the mother and that was impossible.
Both Mike and Dave decided to see how the land lay with the girls at school, but even there, the girls were only interested in soldier's airmen and sailors, men in uniform. Dave and Mike realised that things were going nowhere fast. May though kept there steam up with the outfits that she wore, even to the extent thew Dave and Mike would make excuses to go to her desk, just to get a glimpse of creamy bust as she leaned forward to check or mark an exercise book.
As the weeks progressed, it got hotter and hotter, kelvin and Mike spent more time with the canoe, they would paddle around the ships seeing what was new, some evenings they would stop alongside the subs tied up to the Forth and with the sub's crew watch a film being shown on the casing, the sailors who knew Kelvin and Mike in their canoe would give them cans of coke and the odd chunk of cold meat and potato pie, or corned beef sandwiches. One of the sailors handed Mike a couple of copies of Tit Bits, a magazine containing girls in bikinis and raunchy stories.
Other days they would head for Manoel Island to swim all afternoon, so with school working a half day and the rest of the day out in the canoe or in the water swimming, the weeks just flew by.
Saturdays and Sunday nights were very special because Saturday was tombola night and Sunday was film night. Mum loved her Saturday nights, she loved her tombola, and when it came to being lucky at winning money, then there was no contest when it came to Dorothy Palmer, Saturday was also oggie night, also known as Cornish pasties. At the club, there was a choice of a 6 inch or 10 inch pastie, most of the sailors went for the 10 inch, the families went for the 6, Mike always thought that the 6 inch was for the children because there was loads of meat and veg, but very little onion. Each pastie was piping hot and came in its own special bag, which was used to stop you burning your fingers, it was slightly thicker than a normal paper bag, plus every pastie was wrapped in a napkin before being placed in the bag.
After the game was over, the family would say their goodbyes, and head for home, the Palmer's included, and if mum had been lucky, then on the ride home, she would hand over some of the money to everyone so that everyone got a share of her big win.
Across the road from the flat was a park, that Kelvin and Mike used as a play area, then above the park was a hill covered in trees, and in the trees was the remains of a sort of fort, in this area Kelvin and Mike found a place they could use as a hideaway, a place that they could use in the winter months to get away from the flat. Up in the hideaway Mike stashed the magazines he had been given by the sailor on the sub.
These magazines could not be purchased over the counter in Malta, as the church had a very dim view on anything sexual. It seemed that even in the home, sexual activities were viewed as something taboo unless it was to produce offspring, and not for the enjoyment of the husband or the wife. Mike felt that the local church was very cruel to the Maltese people, he saw that the majority of the people there were very subdued, when it came to enjoying life. Young couples were not permitted to go out without a chaperone in case they wanted to kiss and cuddle, and even if a British couple were caught kissing in public the local priest would look down on them.
It seemed that confession was the big thing in Malta, everyone was expected to confess there sins, no matter what, and Mike felt that most of the Maltese people made up sins just to please the local priest.
And he noted with distaste that the church had the crazyest rules and regulations, a bus is full, a priest or nun gets on, and if a pregnant woman was on the bus, she would stand to let the priest or nun sit down. The priest is probably a younger healther man, yet he would sit while the pregnant woman would stand, uncomplaining , hoping her God would look upon her with love and tenderness. Mike on the other hand felt that the priest was a total moron and really needed to think about where his priorities lay. But that was life in Malta and nothing could change it.As a young man Mike found it barbaric and distasteful , he would always stand for a lady if the bus was full, he was taught to do this by his parents, and in the 1950s it was the done thing by all gentlemen, but in Malta in the 1950s the country was run by the church, and even though the Island was under sovereign rule, the church in daily life seemed to have the final say, and the church seemed to rule the people with an iron fist.
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