23/06/2026
π School Holidays in the 90s β Things My Mum Probably Didn't Know About
PART 3
After the exploding Raro bottle and the slimy culvert incident, you'd think I might have learned something.
You'd be wrong.....
This adventure took place a few years later. I was out riding my bike on the outskirts of our small Otago town when I stopped beside a paddock full of spring lambs. I stood there watching them for a while, thinking how incredibly cute they were. Then I spotted a newborn lamb curled up near the fence without its mum. And a thought entered my head: "I want one."
So I reached through the fence and picked it up.
The problem, of course, was that I was still a few kilometres from home. After unsuccessfully trying to carry a lamb and push a bike at the same time, I came up with a solution that seemed perfectly sensible to my young brain. I put the lamb in my bike helmet and hung the helmet from my handlebars.
(If you read Part 1, you'll know I had previous experience hanging important things from handlebars. Apparently I hadn't learned my lesson.)
I made it about 100 metres down the road before the farmer spotted me while doing his rounds. "What are you doing with that lamb?" he asked. Without missing a beat, I replied: "Oh, it was outside the fence. I was rescuing it." A complete fabrication.
Needless to say, my plan to become the proud owner of a new lamb came to an abrupt end. And I don't think I've ever told Mum this story before...
So if you're reading this, Mum..... surprise! π
Now I can't be the only one...
What's the most ridiculous thing you did as a child that seemed like a brilliant idea at the time? Or when did a plan go spectacularly wrong?
Everyone who shares a story in the comments will go in the draw to win a free programme day this winter.