Odd memories of school days.

Do you remember jumbee bubbee? Well, jumbee bubbee was great if you knew that you were going to get 'licks' from teacher.
For example if you were going to turn up late for school. The plan is to demonise the teacher by rubbin jumbee bubbee on the palms of your hands.
When you got your lashes, your hand would break out with terrible weals. And you can complain bitterly to your mother about how the teacher was so bad, bad, bad for beating you so cruelly. You probably got more 'licks' from your mother though, instead of sympathy.
I think jumbee bubbee was purple or red berries, but the name of the tree or bush from which it is got, escapes me. I never used it anyway, I was a good boy!

At school, did you have ladies selling sweets, green and ripe mangoes with salt and pepper? What about tamarind coated with sugar or drippin with syrup?
Did you have a shave-ice lady too? The shave-ice lady lived across the 'gutter' (narrow drainage stream) from us, and she would give me a full shave of ice 'crumbles' with extra syrup whenever I bought from her. It's so good to have friends.
Talking about gutters, as a child, the three-foot wide gutter appeared to be as big as a trench to me, especially when after a heavy rain and it overflows into our yard.

I'll let you into a secret, as I grew older nearing the end of my primary-school days, I would often buy the sweets we called 'long sweeties.'
Guess what, the girls noticed this and started teasing with the nickname: "Daddy, long sweety!" So I'd make out like I was annoyed and chase after them as they ran off. I wish I had that energy to run after girls like that now. ;-)