Cigerette Dogs | 1001 Stories

#186 Colin Cigerette Dogs

If I’ve got boxes in the house, I put them to one side. The local chemist saves medicine boxes for me and I collect them in bulk.

Colin

I’d just started going to Sunday school at age 11. On leaving the building I passed the foundations for a new church that was being built. There were children playing near by and petrol barrels that were being used on the site. One exploded and I got hit in the leg. I was the only one hurt, as far as I know.

I was in hospital for six months and had ten skin grafts. The physio said to me “I’ve got just the thing for you” and produced empty cigarette packets, John Player, Senior Service. She began cutting them into strips and then showed me how to make the strips into animals.

The first animal I made was a dog. I went on to make giraffes and all sorts. That was 1953. People keep asking me for them. The only problem now is finding packaging boxes. If I’ve got boxes in the house, I put them to one side. The local chemist saves medicine boxes for me and I collect them in bulk.

Precis

The beauty of being in a company of older performers is the kaleidoscopic range of real-life experiences that they bring to the table. These experiences cover everything from the vivid and strange world of childhood, to the unexpected late awakenings of old age. Take our newest batch of anecdotes, for example. These new stories are delightfully diverse: from the earthly, sensual joy of baking bread, to the cosmic dreams of outer space; from an unnerving encounter with a poltergeist, to the risqué glories of adult pleasure products and burlesque. Running as a rich theme throughout, is the possibility of love, and the simple wonder of human connection. As one writer tells us, in her story of funeral rites and flirting, “Amidst death, life goes on”, and indeed it does, delightfully so.

Edited by Barney Bardsley

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#186 Colin Cigerette Dogs

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