When I was a wee nipper, back in the mid 1960's, gardens were a treasure trove of interest to young boys such as myself. There were still homes with Anderson shelters in the back garden, many gardens around Mill Hill had detritus from the two railway lines and the recently constructed M1 Motorway. In our street, Millway, we had both at the bottom of the garden. In the no mans land between gardens and the recently built M1, you would find all manner of weird and wonderful things. The land had been railway sidings before the M1 was build and there were still plenty of artefacts lying around.
Myself and my mates even built a 'base' in this no mans land, our of old sheets of iron and old water tanks. We christened it Ironbase. We'd but my mate Rick's little brother Luke in it and bombard it with rocks, bricks, stones and clods of dried mud. The dried mud clods were the best, as they'd explode like mortar shells if you lobbed them really high. Luke developed a fascination in 'iron base' and ensured it was constructed to the highest standards possible. As he's now a top engineer, I think it set him up for life. Although it sounds awful, the base was more than capable of withstanding the bombardment and for us the fun was hearing the loud bangs as the lobbed detritus clanged on the base. Perhaps the most spectacular assault on Iron Base was when we found a gallon of petrol that had been disgarded over the M1 fence. We decided to see if Iron Base could withstand a molotov cocktail. A milk bottle was acquired and the plan was made to perform the test, when no parents were around. I had no idea what to expect, but the results were spectacular, beyond our wildest dreams, resulting in a fire engine being called by a neighbour. Sensibly, we'd not put anyone in the base for the test. I think we'd done it when Luke wasn't around, as we wanted to ensure that no one told on us. Some of the vegetation and shrubbery got burned The fire brigade put it down to a stray cigarette from the Motorway starting a fire. To be honest, by the time they got there, it has burned out. They just saw some smouldering shrubs and some blackened metal sheets, at the time there wasn't much to birn there.
Oddly there was hardly a mark on it. The neighbour who'd reported it had been most worried that we'd been involved, but we'd legged it and were watching the telly, feigning innocence. He claimed that he'd seen us playing there earlier. In truth, my Dad wasn't terribly interested. He thought setting things on fire was a perfectly normal pursuit for bored boys. When my parents realised that we'd constructed Iron Base, we were forbidden from 'playing on the motorway. Fortunately, they were too lazy to actually dismantle it and we didn't listen.
Another favourite game was building bonfires and throwing lumps of asbestos on, which would explode, doubtlessly showering us all with dangerous particles. There was plenty of old sheets of asbestos just left when the railway buildings were demolished. We didn't know it was dangerous. It was quite spectacular the way it exploded. I wouldn't recommend it though.
In truth, railways, building sites, bomb sites (of which there were still many), were places of fascination. We'd go exploring, as would most kids my age. Occasionally, we'd find the strangest things. The other boys at school were equally 'inquisitive'. Occasionally, we'd hear reports of guns and bullets being found. Even mundane things seemed rather interesting though. We'd go exploring on the Motorway embankment and deposit all manner of old signage, workmens lamps, bits of fences, etc in Iron base for later investigation, The old road works paraffin lamps were especially treasured. Often these would be painted and hung in sheds. It is odd, back in those days, there were all manner of perils we were warned about. There were even public safety films made, advising kids not to hide in fridges. At school, we were warned about playing on railway lines and also of the dangers of derelict houses. We never listened.
As we grew up though, we lost interest in such things. As the cutting next to the M1 became overgrown, there was less to find. We had other things to interest us. Expeditions over the fence became more difficult as nettles and brambles grew. Iron base eventually rusted away. When I was about 14 Rick moved away. Like moved a couple of years later, I'd got into punk rock and Luke, who was a couple of years younger had discovered Motorhead. I didn't see him for a couple of decades. Through facebook, we eventually met for a drink. When we got chatting, the subject of Ironbase came up. We both agreed that it was a highlight of our youth. I am not sure either of us would be chuffed at the idea of our kids doing the same sort of things when they were 7 or 8.
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