You have, perhaps by now, read a story that broke a week or two ago. There are still unanswered questions about the source of several ounces by volume of liquid mercury that a school child innocently brought to his school.
Talk about a freak-out. A swarm of hazmat-garbed toxicology agents besieged the school, which is opening back up for classes again just today, to clean up the potential toxin.
Now this story is close to my heart, being thankful, in hindsight, that my similar stunt in grammar school back shortly after the end of the last ice age did not produce an equivalent freaking-out.
I don’t remember where I got it. But I held a little puddle of it in my hand. I coated old nickels and dimes with it. I made little raceways with pencils on the slope of my desk and retrieved the winning glob at at the finish line. Mostly.
And yet, perhaps had I not be poisoned by this early exposure, I might have turned out normal. But then today’s normal maybe is not such a high ideal, come to think of it. I’ll just be happy to be your eccentric, quirky, weird Uncle Fred–mad as a hatter but too dumb and happy to care.
Back when I was at school someone smeared mercury on the aluminium stair treads producing long fronds of mercury amalgam. That particular prank wasn’t me…
I remember having some of it too. Like you – we made those nickels and dimes shiny. Don’t remember what else we did with it. Guess that explains a lot on my end too.
We too had mercury to play with, and as an USAF brat it would have been military grade mercury!
I have no actual memory of where it came from, just that I passed the time in school playing with it at my desk.
I wasn’t that adventurous, but I do remember seeing mercury–possibly a classroom demonstration. I don’t think I actually touched it. We had no idea it was a dangerous substance. Aah, ignorance, wasn’t it wonderful!
Today we’re over-protective. Maybe in some ways, underprotective is better for children’s adventures if not for parent’s peace of mind?