The inquisition of 1970

Memories of when I was young include the Great T**d Mystery. I've just been chatting to Posselq on the 'phone and laughing about this one. My Father was a plumber, and therefore must have thought that the bathroom and toilet at our house were his personal domain. With five people living there - occasionally things were bound to go wrong. When they did - we would have the Spanish Inquisition (or a Sheffield version of it...any road 'up).

One day - somebody (and we never found out who) left a 'floater'. Now I'm sure this has happened to everyone of us at some point. 

When my dad came home and saw this offending missile lurking in the porcelain - he had a bit of a hissy and shouted us all to gather round. Then - the questioning began........."Was it you?" came the stern and accusatory voice.....we were all trembling with trepidation and fear at being the one who was responsible for such a crime against bathroom fittings.  (Did you know that the man who invented the flushing toilet was called Thomas Crapper?). Wondering, as always what the punishment would be for such a henious offence. 

It was totally ridiculous that a grown man would hold such an inquest into a floating t**d - almost as if one of us had done the deed on purpose to annoy him!!!

Nowadays we all laugh hysterically at the memory of the "Great T**d inqusition of 1970" but at the time it was quite traumatic. 

It's funny how childhood incidents can affect you well into adult life - I still have a morbid fear of leaving a 'floater' and always double check that whatever I have left has fully disappeared before I leave the bathroom!!!