in the street

The old Sydney suburb of Balmain, where I was a child, had long been an almost self-sufficient town, with it's own Town Hall, Courthouse, Police Station, Fire Station, large Post Office, ferry, tram and bus services and a number of sporting facilities. It also had long rows of shops, three cinemas, four Primary schools, three secondary schools, a major hospital, several big churches (the Roman Catholics with their own convent and seminary). There was a major shipbuilding dockyard where my grandfather worked, a coalmine, several large factories and a big power station, together with many other enterprises. As a little kid I assumed that all suburbs were like that, and was horrified to visit relatives in places just full of houses and where all the people seemed to do was go there to sleep!

Swanny

weii this isn't my belief....its my cousins.you see my parents used to tell that the meanig of ATM was "Another Trouble Maker" as a joke. My younger cousin(she's 4) believed it and one day when younger cousin andi went for a walk, she pointed at the ATM machine (someone was standing there)... oops

haych sqyare

I used to believe that the guy across my old street was going to kidnap me.

Briana

I dont know why but I used to think The Salvation Army was a mint company.

Anon

Someone told me that those big cement trucks would drive around the neighborhoods looking for little kids, who would then be dropped down into the chute and ground up into little bits inside the big tumbler. I would run away everytime I saw one, scared to death.

kwyk

When garbage trucks would pass by my friends and i would run away. We believed that the big thing that comes down to pick up trash cans would pick up children too. We feared we'd be kidnapped by a trashman lol.Well,It could happen....

Catie C.

There was a road that ran off mine where my parents friends used to live, Reg and Maureen. I once asked my dad what the road was called and he insisted it was Reg And Maureen Road, and as I couldn't read those words I believed him. The next week I had to write a postcard with my address on it, and I wrote Mum And Dad Road as I thought everything worked like that... I was confused when I realised my next-door-neighbour would call our road something different.

Stupey Girl.

When I was little I thought everyone had to live on the street that started with the first letter of their last name. Since we lived on Avenue I and our name started with F I was convinced we were going to be arrested. Every time I heard sirens I just KNEW they were coming for us!

Bekka

Near my elementary school, there was a building that said, "F.L.T. ODD FELLOWS HALL I.O.O.F." I wondered what those acronyms stood for, and since I thought it said, "Old Fellows" it was an assisted living home. Then I realized it was a fraternal organization, and when I was down the Cape, I saw a building with the same sign and realized it was a chain club. Then I went online and found out about the Odd Fellows organization and realized that F.L.T. stood for Fraternity, Love, and Truth, and I.O.O.F. stood for Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Anon

I used to see " To Let" signs for houses/buildings etc. as we drove through my home city, and winge at my parents that I need to go to the toilet. I didn't understand that these were'nt really giant toilet signs until I was about 11.

Harri

My parents always told me at night the sticks we had played with throughout the day turned into snakes..

Sarahb

I used to believe (Thanks to my crazy uncle...) that the sidewalk dissapeared at night (the area near my home didn't have street lamps)

Anon

I was told by my gran that the lion statues outside Leeds town hall moved during the night. Every time I went past, I would try to memorise which position they were in. By the time I saw them again, I had forgotten their positions but was convinced they had moved.

Kirsty

my parents convinced me that ewoks lived in the forest behind my house

devon

I used to belive that if I didn't duck when going under bridges they would hit me.

Anon

I used to believe that it was warmer during the day than at night because more people were about.

Anon

When I was young there were a few pedal cycles in our village. We all knew that the rider had to pedal, with the legs going up and down in turn, to get the bicycle to move. On a rare occasion, the sanitary inspector came on his motorcycle. I was convinced, though, that the wheels of the motorcycle did not turn: they just glided on the road. Did anybody see the rider pedaling? No, all that the man did was to sit comfortably with bent knees without moving his legs at all.

Gamini Premadasa

As a small child, it seemed perfectly normal to me that all the houses in the road went away, to leave just blackness behind them, when I fell asleep. It was, therefore, also quite normal that they reappeared when I woke up the next morning. It really came as quite a shock later on to discover that this did not actually happen.

Little Boy Lost

that the bears which live in the cracks between paving stones are Russian

jonah fonder

i used to believe that scaffolding was used to support buildings when they were having work on them.

Anon