Dave Patterson remembers an unusual boyhood sport...
I was intrigued by the talk about distance spitting during last week's Home Truths.
As a senior citizen, this stirred distant memories of boyhood sports
practised in Dundee, when we attempted to attain street credibility from
the length achieved, not only from propelling spit, but far more
importantly, from the distance that one could pee. A poor performer in
this respect was sometimes described as "A good lad but can't pee far".
In those far off days, tramlines provided convenient markers for group
competitions to determine the furthest projection from the pavement, and to
attain "second tramline class" was a feat worthy of considerable peer group
esteem. The practice may even have introduced the term "peer group" into the
language.
In these days when many sports require considerable expenditure on the
requisite kit, distance peeing also has the great advantage in that the
equipment required could not be more basic.
More input from listeners to Home Truths on this topic might establish
whether this sport is sufficiently widely spread to justify competition at
international level, and if so, I am sure that fair minded observers would
agree that distance peeing is by a long shot more worthy of Olympics
recognition than formation swimming.
