When I was young we lived in a largish village, and we had one of the larger houses. It was on a corner site, with a large garden and an old-fashioned kitchen with a big old range. It was about as far from the local police station as was possible. My father was an easy going type and knew everyone in the village. Our back kitchen was a favorite spot for the coppers to have their meal breaks – it avoided the trek back to the station. And, on a cold winter night at 2 am they knew exactly how to find their way into our kitchen and its welcoming fire! So, when I came home from school of a winter’s evening there was often one of the local coppers in the kitchen enjoying his tea. This was in the days before government cuts when there were a lot more coppers. There is but one in the village nowadays.
I always got on well with them, perhaps because they were on my territory: but I was always a little in awe of them. Although they were friendly they were still, to me, very much figures of authority: and still are. This view was much heightened when I met them in the street. There, in those days, they were authority personified. When they started wearing handcuffs in pouches on public display it made the authority aspect much more real for me. I made several half-hearted attempts to get the coppers in our kitchen to put their cuffs (or ‘bolts’ as they called them) on me – without success. This naturally only increased the attraction.
As I grew up a crowd of we young lads got into the tying-up games, and this lasted with a few of us into our late teens (and beyond!). Ropes, straps, handcuffs and a few minor leather gadgets, even a hood – it was very good fun, but I think the sexual overtones were then a minor consideration and we had to exercise great care. One day in a magazine I saw an article about an escapologist. It had two photos of him in a straitjacket. My heart took a leap. That looked interesting! I couldn’t explain why, it just did. So I went to the library and got out books on Houdini etc and found out as much as I could. Then on TV I saw an act with a straitjacket and my interest was doubled. But, I knew no way to find one, or anyone with one.
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