My parents didn’t smack very often – my sister and I were raised in the 80s, when spanking was becoming rather unfashionable – but occasionally they did take decisive action, if we were very disobedient.
One such incident which still sticks in my mind today is a day at the seaside in Paignton during our annual summer holidays. We were in a caravan, and up until this particular day, the weather had been foul, throwing it down with rain. Us kids (I was eight, my sister Emily was five) had naturally grown frustrated and bored with being cooped up, and my parents were tetchy too.