Gale Force Humiliation

In my first year at high school, aged 11, I had the daily task of a half hour walk to and from my school through less than salubrious areas. Sometimes I would have a couple of mates for company or occasionally I would walk solo. I was small for my age (I still am) but this didn't prevent me from lugging my school books in a large Adidas bag. My spindly arms would struggle with the weight and by the time I reached the school gates I would give the appearance of having been dragged through a hedge backwards (my appearance hasn't changed).

One particular winter's day, there was a huge storm blowing through Manchester and I had to make the arduous walk home all alone. The tempest was literally taking my breath away. I staggered along with my homework laden bag. My route home took me over a canal bridge and as I approached I could hear a group of girls from my school walking behind me. They were older than me and maybe15 or 16 years old.

I wasn't the most confident of boys and my 11 years old self-esteem wasn't the highest. As I crossed the canal bridge a huge gust of wind hit me side on and literally blew me off my feet. I crashed into the side wall of the bridge still gripping onto my bag. As I hit the ground the bag landed on top of me, leaving my sparrow like legs sticking out underneath..I could now hear the hysterical giggling of the aforementioned girls who were now standing over me laughing and pointing at my perilous situation. Not one of them helped pull the bag off me.

I managed to wriggle free of my bag and stumble back on to my feet. The girls remarks included "eh, kid, that's one of the funniest things I've ever seen" and "aww, look at the size of him, if we blow on him he might fall over again. hahahaha " etc etc. They continued their journey still laughing hysterically. I stood my ground for a minute or 2 to count my bruises and compose myself. I reached home with a feeling of total humiliation.

The humiliation didn't quite end there either as, over the next few months, if any of those girls saw me they would shout "eh you! you're the little fart that blew over in the wind aren't yer?!" and so on. It didn't mentally scar me for life....honest.