Piece n chips

Posted on Jun 20, 2019 by stupatterson

As wee bites go, ye cannae wack
the awesomeness of a Scots snack
Whether deep fried Mars,
or battered ice cream
us Scots know whit
eating food really means

But for the purpose
aw this wee trip
a want tae tell ye
aboot ma piece n chips

Ye know doon in Wales, when in TC
nuffink could be pit oan a piece
Apparently they didnae appreciate
a piece n pizza delicacy
Bolognese between two breid
also left them quite aggrieved

So aifter dinner every night
yir bread suffered a rotten plight
Wae only butter tae flavour it
the breid was often left oan the plate

Cos after church oan a Sunday night
we gote tae end the pieces plight
As Sunday nights wid come roon
an wen coming back fae Swansea toon
we wid stoap aff for Cross Hands Chips
the taste already oan oor lips

Back in the centre we sat doon
and grabbed the breid, and gaithered roon
Like laddies waiting for mair worship
We devoured aw wir pieces n chips

© Stuart Patterson 2019

I think the next time my mum and dad were so excited to help me pack my bags to go away was in May 1997 as I got ready to leave with Ken Persaud to go to Teen Challenge. It is hard to get into words what it meant for my parents to be able to draw breath, as they did not have to worry about that knock at the door telling them I was either dead or in prison.

Funnily enough, I have never asked them what those first days were like. So I asked my sister Yvonne. Now anyone that knows our Yvonne knows that she has never been one for mincing her words. Uh oh.

“They never thought ye were gonnae stay there. Dae ye remember the letter ye sent my ma?” Straight to the point.

“Whit letter?” I asked, but knew what was coming.

“You sent her a letter, telling her you couldnae handle it and wanted tae come hame.Ye sent it tae ma ma cos she wis the weak link. You thought she would gie in, Cammy wis ragin wae ye. (Cammy being Yvonne’s husband).”

“Cammy wis ragin?” I retorted, “he’s got a cheek. “

“He wiz ragin thit ye sent it tae ma ma cos the rest o us wid ave telt ye were to go.”

Nothing I could say to that. It was true.

My only saving grace was that I had actually talked over that letter, and a few other things with my mum, AND apologised for it.

It was true though, both my mum, and Roy Lees, in the early days would get letters and phone calls begging to let me come home. It got so bad that I remember calling Roy one night and saying to him just to ignore me and Ronnie (another Easterhouse boy) that used to take shots each with me at calling Roy to bring us home. I told him it meant we were just having a tough day. “Tell us to shut up and hang up on us, we will get over it”.

I did tell my mum the same thing on the phone as well, but it did take a long time and a quite in-depth chat with Jay Fallon before I really found the freedom to be quite open with those closest to me.

My favourite evening snack in my Teen Challenge days was a piece n chips. This was because you weren’t allowed a piece n anything through the week. Apparently, the very Scottish tradition of sticking anything between two slices of bread proved too much to a particular management staff member when one of the guys had bolognese (a quite tasty piece if I do say so myself) and had the favoured mealtime practice banned. The exception was a Sunday evening. We would stop off at one of the local chippies on the way back from church in Swansea and get bags of chips for all the guys.

My mum and dad did get some respite whilst I was there. I never left early, in fact, I never came home for eighteen months. I spent my weekends away with the wonderful Sutherland family (John, Joyce and Jackie) in the stunning town of Newlyn, Cornwall. John and Joyce were involved in the leadership of The Rock Church and had welcomed other Teen Challenge students into their home as a safe place to get used to their new lives outside Teen Challenge.

My mum and my sister Yvonne travelled down to Gorslas a few times, like for my baptism and one or two day visits, as well as my graduation in November 1998. I never got sucked into that trap of feeling I had to prove my addiction was gone by going back to Easterhouse as soon as I could. This suited my mum and dad as it meant their respite continued. I am not quite sure though if theirs included milk n a piece n jam though.

Continue reading next part… Part 4

Previous instalments:

Part 1

Part 2

This POST is part of a wider collection to show the journey that would eventually lead me to the cross of Jesus Christ, my personal redemption, and my journey of faith afterwards. If you would like to know more of my story, please click on my “About” page and take it from there.

Alternatively, you can visit the Media Links page and see a short visit done by BBC Radio Scotland for an interview I did there.

I have now released an early edition of my story, Completing the Tenner. 

I have also published two poem books: Simply Jesus  and Five Weeks in May

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