A childhood memory

It was easy to decide on a memory for this assignment; it’s talked about every time a child in our family gets tired of walking. It’s the day we made the Boggle Song.

Our holiday was a tour of several Bed & Breakfast establishments around the Scottish Highlands and as was often the case, much of our time was spent walking in the mountains. The youngest in the family, I sometimes tired before the others so needed much encouragement from my Mum.

The B&B we stayed on this particular day had given us a hearty fry up for breakfast, followed by more toast than we could eat on one of those silver toast racks that were considered quite posh back then. Unwilling to see food thrown away, my step-dad proceeded to spread them with marmalade and wrap them in napkins ‘for dinner’. I hated marmalade, I wished he’d just spread a couple with jam but I daren’t complain so we set out with me, dreading eating my lunch but looking forward to a day in the hills.

About half way up the mountain, my legs were aching; the grown ups had to get inventive. Somehow between them, they decided that my new walking boots were actually Boggle boots, a Boggle being an amazing creature that skims mountains with ease, all due to the Boggle magic in their boots. At this point, we made up the Boggle Song and sang it as we climbed, my aching legs being a thing of the past. To this day, none of us can remember anything apart from the first two lines:

‘I’m the first Boggle in the world,

 I’m the first Boggle in the world…

Thanks to my new boots and their Boggle magic, we reached the top of the mountain and a welcome dinner of cold toast marmalade sandwiches – it was a moment of mixed emotions…