New friends are Great!

When we were in junior school we began making lots of new friends. My sister was always the happy outgoing type while I was often a little bit more cautious & aware of possible downfalls. I knew that our home life wasn’t quite the same as most of our school mates. Being part of a naturist family (although the word ‘naturist’ wasn’t known to us then) was usual and great for us but I knew that some people could be offended or maybe even cause us big problems. Some friends we made in school were just that, school friends, and we both kept them just in school. One day my sister Lorraine told me that her newest friend Sarah seemed so happy & very friendly, much more than so many others. So when I saw Sarah I thought I would check her out, I thought she seemed so open too. We sat on a grass slope near the playground, just the three of us, talking about being in this new school & what all the people were like. I nudged Lorraine as I got to a question for Sarah, I asked her “Would your parents be ok if we just called at your house one time maybe a Saturday?” Sarah stopped smiling so much and looked downwards at the grass a while, then she said cleverly “Well maybe I ought to call at your house and see if your mother would be happy for you to come with me!” This girl was very intriguing and fun. I told her that dad worked most days until he got home around 3pm and because he was a coal miner he liked to go into the basement wash area & get a thorough top to toe wash down. So mother often helped he get dried & freshened up. Sarah laughed again and said, “Yep, my dad is the same but we don’t have a basement wash place, my dad gets his wash down in our kitchen, sometimes… well most times he’s not in a hurry to get dressed again!”  We both realised right then that we had made a new friend for certain and we would probably be friends for a long time.

Sarah called at our house on Saturday afternoon, she waited in the front yard while Lorraine & myself came out, as a 12 year old I was more interested in football than ‘girl games’ like skipping ! I saw that Sarah was keen to play indoors because she said she felt cold outside & her cardigan wasn’t keeping her arms warm. I knew dad was still naked & my mother had only slipped on her skirt so I had to be careful about Sarah. I asked if her dad was home from work yet, she laughed and said “Yes, but he’s laid on the sofa trying to have a nap & mother told him he ought to put some clothes on, he looks a ‘rare sight’ laid like that all afternoon.” We both laughed too, I told her “Our dad is the same now, he just came in from his wash and he’s having a meal before he gets dressed, that’s IF he gets dressed, mother has not quite got dressed yet too!” Sarah looked at Lorraine and gave that ‘knowing’ wink, she rubbed her arms as if to try and get warm, then said, “Well if your parents are ok like that I would like to go into your house to play?”. That became the first of many times we all ‘played’ together, either at our house or at Sarah’s, our parents got to know each other and they became great friends. We stayed friends and shared a Caravan holiday too, that is another story…. maybe?