neighbourhood: in the street

I lived in the same house until I was twenty, so I wasn't familiar with the process of moving. I used to believe that people who moved had to swap houses with each other. It amazed me that so many people wanted each others houses!

My mum used to call road humps sleeping policemen when I was younger, and so I thought that when policemen were tired they used to burrow under the road for a little nap. I even used to give the ones on my road special waking up calls, and was very angry with them for not waking up

when I was a kid and saw a van drive past that were a firm of shop fitters - I always read it as shop lifters & wondered why the Police didn't go after them

(It still catches me out sometimes)

My Mom convinced me that those black things that stretch across a road to monitor how many ppl drive on the road...where actually people's garden hoses that they stretched across the road to flatten them out cuz they didn't want to wrap their garden hoses up in circles anymore. And the reason they were black (instead of green) was because the tires and road were so dirty.

I used to believe that my neighbour across the street was a kidnapper and had all of my friends convinced of this also. He drove a massive Kenworth truck and I believed he stole children and kept them in the trailer end as prisoners. It got to the point where we'd hide under the coffee table or behind curtains when he arrived home from work every night. From then onwards I became paranoid about big trucks and shut my eyes when they went past at night with all the lights running down the side of the trailer. When my dad (who was friends with this man) found out what was going on he told me off for making up such rediculous stories. I honestly to this day don't remember making this up at all. The story just kind of appeared from no where.

When I was little, my dad told me that the paddock things in the middle of the road (they're actually for crossing) that have grass in them were used for keeping bulls in!!! I beleived him until recently.

When I was little, my dad would tell me that if anyone ever tried to kid-nap me, all I had to do was try to get under a street light and they would let me go. I didn't understand his sarcasm so I really believed that if that ever happened to me, all I would have to do is get under a street light and I would be ok!

I often wondered what No Outlet meant when we would go driving down new neighborhoods. Where did these people get the electricity from? I don't get it? How do the lights go on in the house?

when i was little.. i used to try not to step on the cracks.. cause i seriously thought i would break my moms back.. it was sad.. still to this day i am parinoid i try not to step on cracks in the sidewalk
it is sadd

I have a cousin who has mental problems because of natural causes. But when I was a kid I used to think one of his neighbors threw a rock at his head which damaged his brain. I would frown at them every time I saw them.

My mom never thought twice about expanding on my already vivid imagination. One particular story I'll never forget was one that involved little men who lived in lamp posts, a bit like lighthouse keepers. They controlled the street lamps and on darker days, they were always "around" to protect me on my way home from a friend's house. Their little doors, regardless of the advances in technology, can still be seen on the side of lamp posts.

When younger, on certain days of the week I used to wake up to the sound of the World turning around. A kind of faint whirring sound. It wasnt til I was a teenager that I realised the noise was coming from the local Go-Kart track !!

I use to think that the salt silos next to the highway were houses of worship. my grandfather told me about the salt but I was convinced they were where people prayed to the salt lords - I was a dumb kid.

I used to believe that when a family moved to another house, that the family living in the purchased house would move into the first family's house, i.e. a house swap. I wondered at the cooperation of it all.

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

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