Looking back to my Oatlands teenage years (wow was it that long ago…and  I still feel like wan!) there were quite a few ‘crazes’ that me and my pals went through together.

One in particular that made its  mark came all the way from the good ole USA – skateboarding - bringing surfing to the sidewalk!

 The sheer excitement of speeding down Granton Street (oh the joys of tarmac  pavements) on a board constructed from an old roller-skate and a painted up piece of woodchip was a rerr experience. I moved up to a newer board via my mum’s good ole “Marshall Ward” catalogue.

Me and my mates Cammy and Gary (see photo) set up ramps at the top of the street and held impromptu public displays to show off our extreme skills. Occasionally we over-ramped into Mr Wallace’s garden! Believe it or not chickens…yes chickens…also played a part in my youthful days in Oatlands. Within the industrial side of the area there was a chicken run from Rosyth  Street.

It was easy to find from the trail of feathers and ‘fowl’ smell. The local tradition was that once you acquired a chicken claw - and they were usually very easy to get hold of – you would chase after your pals while pulling on the end. This resulted in the claw opening and closing. The more daring of us would wear the claw like an amulet around our necks. The things you did when you were a wain eh!

 Digging deeper now into the recesses of my memories – boy, this could get dangerous – I remember that by taking a walk behind the chicken works we would venture onto a vast open bit of land that we knew as Jenny’s Burn. Originally fed by the Malls Mire Burn, the landscape here was made up of hills of shells which we ‘sledged’ down on formica-backed, poly boards (technical stuff eh!). There was also the remains of a derelict building that, in my mind, resembled a foreign legion fort. My mum’s late Uncle James had left me an early Glasgow Street Atlas. It had this fascinating area pencilled in as ‘The Coup’. Does anyone reading this remember it?

Well my fellow Oatlanders, I will call a halt to this month’s venture. But I would like to announce that I have a plan to visit the Blue Hut in Oatlands. I would love to hear from any one with memories and photos. Watch this space for a date…hope tae see you there….oh, also hoping to get the website online early 2008!

Talk to you before then.