WHERE MY CHRISTMAS PRESENTS WERE HIDDEN AS A KID...

Mum’s Wardrobe At Christmas

It had hidden depths.

Was it mahogany?

Dark and foreboding, anyway.

Huge, heavy, hulking,

With a small key.

But I knew with certainty

Where some of my Christmas presents would be…

They were hidden beneath

A clothing miscellany.

Hands were fumbling, anyway.

Quiet, quick, quaking,

New annuals to spy.

But I savoured the opportunity

Then withdrew hastily, quite nervous and spry…

Pete Ray

SANDALS USELESS FOR KICKING FOOTBALLS...

PLASTIC RUGBY BALL: TOUGH TO DISGUISE IN THE WARDROBE...

It was always the same. 

The ‘Roy of the Rovers’ annual and the ‘Charles Buchan’s Football Annual’ would be bought by my parents some weeks before Christmas and I usually found them hidden in mum’s dark and huge wardrobe, when she had popped to the shops on Saturday mornings. 

I would check they were still there at every opportunity.

Never though, would I peek inside. Just touch and hold them, before replacing them beneath the material and clothing at the bottom of the wardrobe. 

And still I showed surprise when the wrapped books were opened on Christmas morning…