"Andy McNab - Immediate Action" - читать интересную книгу автора (McNab Andy)

while we just stood there giggling. As far as I was concerned, I was in
the gang; let them argue as much as they like.

As I mixed more with the other kids, I started to notice that I didn't
have as much stuff as they did. The skinhead era started and everybody
had to have Docker Green trousers and Cherry Red boots. I said I didn't
want any.

We'd go to the swimming pool once a week, and the routine afterward was
to go and buy a Love Heart ice cream or Arrowroot biscuits out of a jar.
I never had the money for either and had to try to ponce half a biscuit
off somebody. I never tasted a Love Heart, but one day I scrounged
enough money from somewhere and made a special trip to buy one-only to
find that it had been discontinued. I bought an Aztec bar instead and
felt very grown up. Unfortunately there was nobody to show it off to
because I was on my own.

I tried the Cubs once but never got as far as having a uniform.

We had to pay subs each week, but I managed to lie my way out of paying
the first few times. Then, on Tuesday nights, we had to have plimsolls
to play five-aside. I didn't have any, so I nicked somebody else's. I
got caught and had the big lecture: "Thieving's bad." That was the end
of Cubs.

I knew that older boys got money by earning it, so I got chatting to the
milkman and persuaded him to let me help with his Sunday round on the
estate. He'd give me half a crown, which I used to buy a copy of
Whizzer & Chips, a bottle of Coke, and a Mars bar. That left me with
just sixpence, but it was worth it. It was all very important to me,
buying the Coke and the Mars- bar, because it was grown-up stuff, even
if it was only one day a week.

One of the gang wore "wet look" leather shoes, which were all the rage.
His hair, too, was always shiny, like he'd just stepped out of a bath.
At our house we had a bath only on Sundays.

He had one every night, which I thought was very sophisticated.

We used to go into his bedroom messing around; one day I noticed that he
had a ten-shilling note in his moneybox. As far as I was concerned, he
was loaded and wouldn't miss it. I nicked it, and nothing was ever
said."started nicking more and more. My mum used to have a load of
stuff on the slate in the CoOp. When she sent me for milk and other
bits and pieces, I'd take some extras and put them on tick. I knew she
wouldn't check the bill; she'd just pay it when she had money.

I'd never lived with my older brother. All I could remember was him
coming home from the army with presents. I didn't really know him, and
he didn't really know me. One time when he was home on leave, though,