Skeem Life: Growing Up in the Seventies

When young Gary Robertson moved from the old tenements to an almost brand new housing scheme in the early 1970s, it was the start of a very big adventure. In the skeems, you could roam from morning to night and get up to all sorts - provided you obeyed the rules of the street (and your parents if they saw you). As a training ground for life it was second to none but there was plenty to learn. There was money to be made on the lemonade bottles and the berries each summer - provided you knew the tricks of the trade. There were games to be played, from Backie Hopping to Scubby Queen, gangs to be avoided and football, music and lassies to get to grips with - or not - at the Clubbie. Irreverent and funny, Skeem Life is set against a backdrop of the tough housing schemes of 1970s Dundee. It was Britain in the time of the three-day week and the OPEC oil crisis but it was a journey full of excitement, adventure and youthful dreams.