Have you ever been ...

[opebo]

Haha, no, of course not.  Or rather, I don't remember it.  I don't count being 'paddled', as this was a hilarious drawn out ceremony which held no terror - basically my mother was always quite angry and yelled quite a bit, but never really hit anybody as I remember.. she would get upset and say 'when you father gets home I will have him paddle you!' - she never did it herself.  However, my father was someone I don't recall ever really showing anger.. I think he did get angry with me once or twice in all the time I knew him, but he just swallowed it up and walked away (his usually practice with my mother, with whom he was angry more frequently).  I don't actually recall ever having the threat of paddling carried out.. I think it may have been, but it was so anticlimactic that it wasn't so bad.

The funny part of the story was they had a special paddle, with holes in it, designed for maximum pain, which as I say was never used, but on the day I broke my arm, this was the item they chose to splint it with, so when the Jewish doctor unraveled their makeshift brace, we all wondered if he was a bit shocked.

It looked a little like this: