Childhood disappointments

I can’t have been more than 3, probably still only 2, but I still remember the shattering disappointment after managing to get behind our big old fashioned ‘wireless’, to see the little people who were talking!*
Just a lot of wires and a little light bulb or two. 😟

*Probably Mrs Dale’s Diary! Who else remembers that?

Primrose53

I was about 9. It was nearing Christmas and my Aunt in Scotland had sent my Xmas present which was under the tree. It was obviously a large book and, as I was a great reader, I was very excited.

Turned out to be a Helen Shapiro Annual. I had never heard of her and was very disappointed.

Well they didn’t know it was 🎶 The End Of The World 🎶 did they?😅

Grannybags

Not me but my son when he was about 7. I was surprised when he was suddenly desperate to go to church (we’re not a religious family) He was so disappointed when he couldn’t see the bells ringing in the roof!

We saw the same disappointment in our nearly three year old grandson a couple of weeks ago. He always commented on the bell ringing each Saturday at the village church opposite our house , so we popped into the church while the ringers were practising. He too was clearly disappointed that the bells were not visible.

If fact, almost next door to the church is the village hall, which was the village school in times gone by. The old bell that would once have rung out at the start of each schoolday is still there, clearly visible, and I suspect that despite my explanations, DGS thinks that is somehow involved in the ringing.

I’d be around 8 when Ski yoghurts appeared in our local Co-op. After much ardent begging from me, my mother gave in and bought me one. Well, it was foul. A horribly sickly thick pink strawberry crust with the sourest yoghurt underneath. And because I’d been warned of course that I wouldn’t like it and it was expensive, apparently, I’d to force it down, pretending to enjoy it.

Another letdown was when the beautifully wrapped Easter chocolates I’d saved for last turned out to be bath cubes.

Your icecream story grannynannywanny reminded me of when we first arrived in the UK from NZ.

It was mid winter here and we were living in a freezing cold B&B.
Breakfast was thin porridge and watery milk, so watery that my sister and I spied on the landlady to see when she filled the milk jug with water!

We didn't catch her and our mum explained that London milk wasn't like our NZ milk, creamy and rich from the cow. 😔

I was told I would get a scooter for Christmas but when I actually got it it was a small dark green wooden thing with wonky wheels that never scooted along properly. Sometimes my aunties would give me money for birthdays and I stashed it away to save it. When I went to get it it was gone- my Mum had taken it. She had no concept that I was upset whatsoever. I learnt to live with that kind of thing but left home asap.

I was always a great reader and there was something about diamonds in a book. I said to my mother One day when I am rich I will buy you a diamond mummy. She said she already had a diamond in her engagement ring in fact 3 in a row. Oh could I see them. She showed them to me and how disappointed I was. I was sure that diamonds would be all sorts of bright colours , like the smarties were. These little things looked nothing like my ideas at all . I still am not impressed with diamonds and would prefer an emerald or opals !

My disappointment was when I was around 5 yrs old on our annual family holiday at my maternal grandparents farm in Ireland. I saw my grandpa getting on his big black bike carrying a shiny metal bucket.

As he was cycling away I asked where he was going. He told me he was going for a bucket of ice cream. I sat myself on the wall and waited in anticipation for him to come back. The farmhouse had no running water never mind a fridge and I quickly worked out that when grandpa returned with the bucket of ice cream we’d have to eat it all straight away before it melted. I was so excited .

About 20 mins later I could see him in the distance cycling back with one hand on the handlebars and the other dangling by his side clutching a very heavy looking bucket.

I was so disappointed when he arrived with a bucket of water. He’d cycled to the spring well a mile away for fresh drinking water 😆

Being 4, going to Buckingham Palace and being so disappointed that it was not a picture book castle.

Oh yes Pixie boots with a heel. Like my best friend had. I got flat brown leather boots with fur inside. When I think back to them now they were probably really nice. And warm. I would like them now at 76, but not at 13.
And the Pink Witch. I wanted one too so much. I think they were made by Raleigh. I will Google it and remind myself. At 11 I got a BSA bike in red and blue. Maybe not even new. But I eventually did love it and spent many hours cycling everywhere. I don't think I would want it now, unlike my boots, our roads are too busy, but I have cast envious looks at a tricycle ridden locally!!

Teetime, I had a similar disappointment with boots.

In the mid 60s I asked for a pair of trendy boots ie knee length, preferably black patent 'leather' and a Cuban heel.

I got ankle length, brown lace ups - not the same at all.

Popeye on tv ate spinach and became very strong so we couldn't wait to try a tin. (My parents did grow veg but not spinach.) Eventually my mother got a tin of this wonderful stuff but, yuk, it was sloppy, sour tasting mush. And the little bit my sister and brother and I tasted didn't make us super strong. Disappointing!

When I was about 7, my mum’s best friend had a daughter I was made to play with, although I couldn’t stand her. (I’ll call her Fran). Mum was an excellent knitter and, at the request of her friend, knitted a jumper for Fran, in a beautiful soft pale green Angora wool. I thought it was beautiful and begged her to knit me one as well.
She did, in grey!!
Every year, I stayed with my grandparents in Wales for the whole Summer. I was so happy there. One year, around that same time as the jumper episode, my mother told me that Fran wasn’t able to have a holiday this year as her parents couldn’t afford it, so she would be spending the holiday with me in Wales. I sobbed and begged but to no avail!
The whole 7 week holiday!
And we had to share a double bed, so she kept kicking me.
And she snored!
Near the end of the holiday, Fran’s parents took her to Ireland as they had suddenly found the funds. They didn’t invite me! (Even my mother thought that was a bit out of order, even though I wouldn’t have wanted any more time with her and wouldn’t have gone in any case). So she got an extra holiday after ruining mine! Uncharitable it may be, but I absolutely loathed her after that and refused to play with her. Uncharacteristically, I made a dreadful scene when another holiday with Fran was mentioned, (even throwing up), so much so that my parents saw sense in the end and gave up.
Over the years, I bumped into Fran now and again, but could barely be civil! The poor girl had no idea why, just as I hadn’t appreciated at the time that none of the holiday fiascos were her fault!

Bohemian I too was disappointed with my much longed for bike.
My best friend had a beautiful turquoise sparkly one and I begged my parents for a bike for my birthday, which I duly got.
It was an ex postman’s bike which my lovely grandad painted bright blue (not pretty turquoise). It was ugly and I cried when I saw it.

Primrose53

I was about 9. It was nearing Christmas and my Aunt in Scotland had sent my Xmas present which was under the tree. It was obviously a large book and, as I was a great reader, I was very excited.

Turned out to be a Helen Shapiro Annual. I had never heard of her and was very disappointed.

We went to see Helen Shapiro years after she first became famous. She was singing jazz in nightclub in Devon. She still had a fabulous voice, more suited to jazz than pop.

I always wondered how my mother managed to see out of the eyes in the back of her head when she had such thick hair!

I was about 11 and pixie boots were my dream , black ankle length with a small cute heel . I pestered my mum for a pair for weeks . She agreed to come into the shops and we went into a shoe shop . My excitement grew but soon disappointment kicked in , I was made to try on a flat brown pair with fur around the top like old lady boots and mum bought them . I had to swallow my sadness and pretend they were OK. I never ever wore them . Since then I've never worn brown fur top ankle boots and I'm 75 .

I was in a small plane flying over the equator when I was 5 years old. An adult explained that the equator was an imaginary line which went around the world.
I gazed out the window to see the imaginary lion 🦁 but was doomed to disappointment.

Deedaa
My father was on the Cutty Sark when it was towed from Greenhithe to Greenwich.
He was one of those who removed those sails and a lot of the rigging.

One Christmas, when I was about 7, South Pacific was on the TV and as you all know it features the song "there ain't nothing like a dame". Dame was of course an unknown American expression to me as a 7 year old English child, so a few days later I asked my older brother what it meant. My brother had no idea I'd watched South Pacific and so my question was out of context, if you see what I mean. He must've thought I said "date" not "dame" and he told me it was a sort of fruit, so for some years I believed that's what the song was about. I thought it must be a really delicious fruit for all those sailors to get so enthused about.

Never getting the pony I so desperately wanted. Every birthday and every xmas, the first thing I did was look out of my bedroom window in the hope that I'd see a pony in the garden, but I never did. I even found out, years later, that my dad had arranged to buy my favourite pony at our local stables, but my mum went behind his back and cancelled it because she said I didn't deserve it. I never ever forgave her for that.

I remember being very disappointed when we travelled across London to see the Cutty Sark. I was expecting to see all the beautiful sails, and instead it just had bare masts. It was another 40 years before I saw the start of the Tall Ships Race with lots of beautiful square riggers.

This is an adult disappointment, carried over from my childhood. We had a coal fire in our house but my mother would never buy firelighters, as she didn’t see the need. I was mystified by these curious boxes.

Fast forward to my early 20’s and my dh and I moved to a house with an open fire. Gleefully, I went to Woolworths and bought a box of firelighters. I rushed home to lay the fire, ripping open the thrilling box…only to find a very disappointing block of a smelly white substance that had to be broken up and placed between the kindling.

I really don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that! 😂😂

valdavi

Me & my brother had been begging mum to buy some Findus crispy pancakes (as seen on TV), & Dad decided they sounded nice too.
Eventually she bought & cooked them OK, even bought Coke to go with them which was another first, but we were all so disappointed. They sounded so appetising, & they really weren't.

When I was aged 9, I remember that one of my Christmas presents was a childrens book 'The Bobbsey Twins'; obviously an American book, I'd never heard of the Bobbsey Twins either before or since - I'm now approaching my 70th birthday,

For my 10th birthday I wanted a bike, more than 'wanted', I was desperate for a 'Pink Witch' bike, which were the rage at the time. I was duly given an obviously very much used black bike, I still remember the disappointment.

When I was about 7 or 8, I was obsessed with Arthurian legends. A sign appeared on the village hall, advertising a visit regarding The Silver Sword of Truth.

I was utterly convinced it was about Arthur and his sword, so I counted down the days, raided my piggy bank for the shilling fee and went.

It was about Jesus. I was so sad.