Cardboard Box
Quite a few times when I was small I decided I would run away from home, but I never actually did much more than dreaming about it. The furthest I got was to put some kind of a stick through the side of a cardboard box (to pull it with) and fill it with clothes from the dressing up box. I don't know how on earth I thought I was going to manage with no food or money, but a massive pile of my Granny's old clothes and a selection of humorous hats. I got to the bottom of the stairs and the box fell apart, so I just stayed at home.
(X Offender, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 15:26, Reply)

Parents Evening
I knew what was coming when my parents were due home after having a chat with my school tutor.

Me and a few mates decided to play a game of footy behind our house which backed onto an open field. Said field had a bank down to a lower field that couldn't be seen from the top.

Apparently, my two sisters and my mum and dad had looked for me when it started to get dark, but as we played footbal until we could no longer see the ball, I got home at around 11pm to a right pasting for a) the bad report and b) for worrying everyone.
(a5972s, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 15:21, Reply)

I ran away from running away.
Last year I was working for a sales company named Cobra, which was pretty much an evil cult. People disappeared and were never spoken of again, I worked 10am til 11pm on the streets selling gas and electricity to Alzheimer's sufferers, non-anglophones and cripples and finished the day with a happy clappy dance and ringing a bell with all the other cultists.

Anyway, one day my leader (yes, 'leader') called me to say that the office was closing the next day and I'd have to move to Coventry if I wanted a shot at the big time.
So, being the moron that I am, I loaded my suit and packets of cheesy wotsits into my car, on being asked by my Mum where I was going I just said
"Coventry"
"Why? For how long?"
"Forever, seeya"
She cried and I ran away from home.

For 2 weeks I lived in a Formule 1 hotel with a Mexican named Edgar, a big black dude called Nathan and a dog called JJ, we had to share a double bed but we were working all day so we didn't care.

Eventually I came to my senses (after a near bum raping by a Coventry native) and refused to go to work one day. I went back to my hotel, packed my cases, threw the dog out the window (ground floor) and left my team to it (I had 2 people working for me that I'd recruited from the streets, one called Dicky Henrys and another who couldn't speak a word of english). I ran away again.

I started driving, not knowing why or where I was going so using my retarded sense of geography I called my friend Rob who lived in Bristol to see what he was up to. He had just graduated, a full on rock session was called for.

I arrived in Bristol still wearing my suit and tie and explained the situation to Rob, we went out and got conclusively drunk.
I decided we were going to France, we booked the Ferry tickets and a few days later set off in my car.

We began a week of drunken lunacy involving escaping from a camp site, drunk driving, shitting on the Eiffel Tower, wearing berets and being kicked out of youth hostels.

At the end of the week we were burnt out and my Mum kept ringing me but I just put the phone down as answering it would cost me money.

So, a month after running away from home I returned and my Mum asks

"Where have you been? I've been ringing you I thought you'd been mugged or killed or something! Nobody knew where you were!"

"Yeah I went to France, I've quit my job by the way."

Then I went to bed. I run away the hardest.


i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/stevemotron/bigwhiskey.jpg
I can't think of a better reason to run away than a bottle of whiskey almost as big as a man, can you?
(Bellamy's Enemy, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:58, Reply)

Crawling away
I don't remember this but have had it recounted to me many, many times.

We have a long back garden with a garage that runs the length of it. There is a gap that a person can squeeze through between said garage and next door's garage but it's overgrown with thistles and weeds so it's impassable - or so my parent's thought.

My mum was busy preparing dinner when the doorbell goes. She answers the door to find this man standing there with her baby girl saying
"Is this yours?". Somehow her baby which had been playing happily in the back garden had crawled between the two garages, over weeds and thistles, up the driveway and into the middle of the road whereupon a bloke driving along the road has seen the baby, stopped and gone around the houses trying to find the parents.

Then there was the time I fell asleep in my toybox with the lid down for a few hours. The house is searched, up and down the road neighbours are looking for me and the police are about to be called when I emerge none the wiser. OK I didn't actually run away but everyone thought I did!

I say to you what I said to my ex boyfriend. "Length? There's barely anything there!"
( Joliet, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:36, Reply)

Fourth time lucky ...
#1: Caught smoking aged about 13. Ran away to the woods to avoid the hell to pay when Dad got home. Built a Ray Mears type bender and hid in it all afternoon and evening. Heard my Dad calling and trying to track me down but held out hidden until hunger saw me creeping home to face the music later that night.

#2: School mate and I called the French Foreign Legion recruiting office in Marseille and attempted to join up one lunchtime. They saw through us.

#3: Age 17. Slept in the garage to avoid consequences of after a particularly heavy night out. Crept in after I thought everyone had left for work, only to find them still round the breakfast table. Cue fireworks, and dramatic 'get out of this house'. So I did. Hitch-hiked down south, got a bedsit and a job, neglected to tell parents where I was for a couple of weeks. Refused to come home, ever. That taught them.

#4: Ran away to Spain to go fruit picking forever. Spent all my money and had a fight with some Spanish military police. Crept back to the UK in shame.

Length? It's not that long, but it's very wide.
(p0zitr0n - phunarmically charged particle, detected at, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:31, Reply)

Next time im gone for good......
a friend of mine ran away once, a group of us had picked on him for farting in drama and make an embarresingly big deal about the foul stench that fell out of his arse. he was obviously upset at this treatment, which only served to encourage us with our torment.

After an hour or so of this he was near tears (one of our biggest rugby players but off the pitch he was a gentle giant), so we left it.

The next day he wasnt in and our teachers called those involved it the "bullying" into a room, he had tried to run away that evening and his parents wanted to find out why, we gave our end of the story and were let off (quite rightly too).

However, the funniest part was how he returned, he had successfully and covertly packed his belongings and much food into his bag, climbed out of his window, shimmied down the drain pipe and off into the local woods. he had to return however as he nothing to open all the tins of food he had taken and couldnt climb back up the drainpipe. Numpty.

And yes he got it for a few days after for not even being able to run away properly.
(Smellyape liking http://www.b3ta.com/bpma/, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:26, Reply)

*sings*
THERE'S A VOICE,
THAT KEEPS ON CALLING ME.
DOWN THE ROAD,
IS WHERE I'LL ALWAYS BE.
EVERY STOP I MAKE,
I'LL MAKE A NEW FRIEND.
CAN'T STAY FOR LONG, JUST TURN AROUND AND I'M GONE AGAIN.

MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANNA SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON

DOWN THIS ROAD, THAT NEVER SEEMS TO END,
WHERE NEW ADVENTURE, LIES JUST AROUND THE BEND

SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,
THAT'S HOBO STYLE.

MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, THE WHOLE WORLD IS MY HOME

SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,
THAT'S HOBO STYLE.

MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.

(Instrumental Bridge)

MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.

THERE'S A WORLD, THAT'S WAITING TO UNFOLD,
A BRAND NEW TALE, NO ONE HAS EVER TOLD,
WE'VE JOURNEY'D FAR BUT, YOU KNOW IT WON'T BE LONG,
WE'RE ALMOST THERE AND WE'VE PAID OUR FARE, WITH THE HOBO SONG.

MAYBE TOMORROW, I'LL WANT TO SETTLE DOWN,
UNTIL TOMORROW, I'LL JUST KEEP MOVING ON.

SO IF YOU WANNA JOIN ME FOR A WHILE,
JUST GRAB YOUR HAT, COME TRAVEL LIGHT,
THAT'S HOBO STYLE.

MAYBE TOMORROW I'LL FIND WHAT I CALL HOME,
UNTIL TOMORROW, YOU KNOW I'M FREE TO ROAM.


length is irrelevant when you're a dog with a neckerchief....
( Sonic James Doom forgetting the date since... umm..., Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:21, Reply)

When I was 4...
...I ran away from home while no-one was looking, to visit my grandparents. The flaw in my plan was that my grandparents lived about 100km away.

I was found about two roads away from my house by two well-meaning ladies. Having forgotten my initial plan for the time being, I demanded to go to the playground.

One of them took me into her own house for the next hour until I told her where I lived.

My father now points out the two women, their cars, their houses, etc. every bloody time we drive past. Ten years on.
(00tinytim00, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:18, Reply)

I should have worn my watch
When I was 15 myself and my best mate ran away from home as we had gotten into a bit of strife at school.
We only had school uniforms with us and our school bags, so we grabbed some overalls from a St Vincent de Paul donation bin to keep warm and went to sleep under newspapers on the roof of a shopping centre next to the street I lived on.

Having had a pretty rough sleep and no idea of the time, we headed down to the bus stop to have a smoke and work out what we were going to do....... and thats when the cops pulled us over.

They asked what we were doing there, and me being a bright fellow answered that we were waiting for the bus to goto work.

Unfortunately we had misjudged the time, we thought it was about 5am but it was only 1.30am lol So they ended up taking us home because our folks had rung them.


Pretty crap story really.
(sinewriter, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:05, Reply)

same as rest
wasn't so much running away but still got looked for!

me mate had such cool toys (think those big infants train sets MY GOD YES!) and i loved playing with them - a bit too much

one time i got very attached and didnt want to go home when my dad came to get me. so i hid under my friends bed, and nobody knew where i'd gone.

i didn't know that people would assume that i'd ran away, council estates not being especially safe (not ours anyway)

i can't actually remember if they found me or i got hungry first...
(hamstrungbarber chris, 1990, united kingdom, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:05, Reply)

She's leaving...
At the tender age of three, I dramatically declared to my mother that I was "leaving forever". Rather than weep inconsolably and beg me to stay as I was expecting, she found me a little stick and a handkerchief to tie up my precious belongings in true hobo fashion, helped me to pack (one stuffed rabbit, one pack of sweets) and waved me goodbye at the door. Having been left (quite cheerfully by ma) to fend for myself, it was then that I realized that I was totally dependent on my parents, and that I needed them somewhat more than they needed me. I pouted for about a minute and a half and then rang the doorbell to be let back in.

My first, and last escape attempt.
(schnuff, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 14:04, Reply)

When I was a kid...
I wasn't too smart and I wore these leg braces 'cos my backbone was crooked as a question mark. The local kids used to chase me in their car when I was out with Jinny and throw rocks at me.
So one day I just started running, and running. I ran clear across the United States and when I got to the ocean, I turned back and ran the other way, and when I got to another ocean I ran the other way again.
Along the way, among other things, I invented the phrase 'Shit happens' and became a cult hero.
Then I got tired and joined the army.
(Bellamy's Enemy, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:56, Reply)

Are you wearing ears?
Ah, one happened just this weekend at The Big Chill.

I was dressed as a sailor. Whilst walking through the event to meet some friends, I chanced upon a girl who was also dressed as sailor.

Laughs were had, photos were taken and everyone was in grand festival spirits.

I then turned to her friend, pointed at her cute pixie ears and delivered the immortal line:

"So are you wearing ears then?"

She was not.

The sight of her crestfallen face was burnt into my retina as I ran away mortified.

I wouldn't have minded but she was really pretty. (They both were) When I tried to apologise a few minutes later she told me to fuck off :-(

Fucking lesbian.

edit: ah.. wrong kind of running away.. took it a bit literal like.
( cupboardy, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:47, Reply)

No going back
Mrs Grimdsale (name changed to protect the innocent) ran away from home in 1984; that was the year I met her. Since then I’ve met her mother just twice and one of her six siblings just once. She left with a couple of bags after dropping out of college and finding a job and a bedsit. She did have a very good reason though, her Dad had got out of prison and her Mum let him come round for Christmas dinner. When Mrs G refused to come out of her room she was told she was spoiling Christmas. It was her that prevented the same thing happening to her two little sisters that had happened to her.

Sometimes it’s right to run away. Sometimes she’s tempted to get in contact to see whether the old bastard is dead yet, but she hasn’t bothered yet.

Sorry to bring you all down, but we’ve had 20 happy years (for the most part) and have brought up a healthy happy daughter. THIS is home: where the heart is.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:44, Reply)

tricky
Me and my sister decided to trick our parents into thinking we'd run away. So just as we were all leaving my granny's we nipped ahead and hid in the boot of our car.

Tee hee!

Then our folks took fecking HOURS to come out and we were trapped in a dark, hot, sealed boot for ages. Eventually panic took hold and we managed to kick the back seat down and crawl out, weeping. We put the seat back and sat down. Our parents appeared, having not noticed our absence at all. So we both gave ourselves a lifelong subscription to raging claustrophobia for NO reason.
( calgacus Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:40, Reply)

A friend of mine
ran away from home when I was living Stateside, and holed up in my loft for about 3 days. I think my mum knew, but she didn't say a word or do anything. He got homesick and went back, a changed lad. (Actually, he probably got sick of toast for lunch/dinner)
( McBadger COW, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:32, Reply)

The first page is shit
woo I got in first!! lollz big fucking deal the point is to answer the question not get the earliest post in.
And FleetlordVT that was in Teenwolf.

I ranaway when I was old enough to know better after a stupid row with my parents over smoking dope in my room.
I spent three weeks sleeping on mates floors and only went back when I bumped into my mum in town and she said it had gone on far too long and to come home as long as I didnt smoke in the house.
(Barry Chuckle has gone out in the thong to feed the pigeons, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:32, Reply)

My mother ran away
She ran a few times. Once it was because we all said her cooking was inedible (it was). She stormed off and didn't come back for a week, during which time we all did our own cooking and cleaning. Nobody brought up the awkward subject of being motherless. When she came back, she seemed incensed that we'd just got on with it without her and not crumbled into destitution and cannibalism.

A few years ago she did it again. She was gone for a few days and came back to my dad saying, "Been for a walk, dear?"

I'm never having kids.
(frankspencer, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:31, Reply)

ran away loads of times
but the one i remember clearly is when i was very little. ran away, tried to come back and wasn't allowed in for ages. "you ran away, you can't just come back"

i'm pretty sure this moment is the one that made me appreciate wandering about by myself. pretty much carried on self-sufficiant running away/adventures for years.

i also ran away when i was 12, forgot to tell anyone i was running away, then forgot i was actually running away and just stayed out for a couple of nights camping in the woods. had a great time, when i returned i was greeted with "had a good time? we knew you'd be alright, you know what you're doing" and a brew and bacon sandwich

ace! :)
(unlawful odour i dunno..., Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:29, Reply)

I Ran Away
By accident.

I was living in Newcastle when I got a call from a mate who lived in Manchester inviting me to a party so I packed my rucksack and hitched down too Mancland. I intended to stay for the weekend but got involved in an endless round of drinking, womanising and endless debauchery and somehow two years passed without me calling home or letting anyone know where I was.

Eventually I decided that enough was enough and headed home to see my folks. On arriving back in Newcastle I put my key in the door and walked into.....

A houseful of strangers.

Bloody parents had moved.
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:28, Reply)

There's running, and there's running...
I started running away when I was 15. Though working, saving up and going away for a while seemed to more accurately sum it up at the time, I now know that I was truly running away; from the inevitability of settled life, from my crap ‘A’ level grades, from a disastrous catering course, from good advice, well-meaning middle-class family.

It was probably the happiest time of my life. Mainly I was running away from ‘Che’ the geeky virgin mis-fit, to become ‘Che’ the independent rugged individual without a past. It worked a treat too and I’d be doing it now if lurve hadn’t got in the way twenty years ago.

Now I run away from my boring, dead-end, pointless job to join my new-found gang in b3ta-land…wait for me boys and girls…wait for me……
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:26, Reply)

hero in a half shell
i ran away, dressed as a ninja turtle, then i posted cards with pictures of dinosaurs on that you used to get with packets of tea through peoples front doors.

i think i was the reptillian ninja post force. or something
(scumbum, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:21, Reply)

i ran away from ...
... a meaningless life into what i thought was going to be a beautiful everlasting relationship.
then i got hit by a truck


(fushundchups taste better with vinegar, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:20, Reply)

RUNNING AWAY FOR EVURRRRR
I was at my aunt's house (not my real aunt, but some fellow called, Jocky McHurting-Shabazz). Anyway, Auntie Jocky said, "Would you like to see something incredible?"
I said, no, and ran away.

For 2 days I danced with Wolves football team when a girl called Haggis showed me her favourite necklace: it was her dead mother's fallopian tube.

I'm still running. There is no god.
(diPPiE lyrical bitch of yo' dreams, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:19, Reply)

And I ran...
I ran away once. Ran out the front door and along the sidewalk. When I got tired, I started walking. I walked most of the day. When it started to get dark, my mom came out of the front door of the house and brought me inside.

See, I wasn't allowed to cross the street. I'd been walking around the block for six hours.
(FleetlordVT, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:14, Reply)

Sister
Not me, but my sister.
In her early teenage years she had loads of arguments with my parents and one day she decided to run away. So she packed all her clothes into plasic carrier bags... well two, she couldnt carry the rest, and stormed out the door.
She was back half an hour later because it started raining. Wuss.

Woo third!

EDIT: bugger, fifth :o(
(Fishbone-didi, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:13, Reply)

I came fourth!
That reminds me of the time me and three other friends were playing "Wank Biscuit".

Erm, shit. I said that out loud didn't I?....
(Discocat is bringing sexy back, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:12, Reply)

Running away
My friend once ran away, he only got as far as a couple of fields away from his house though, then he went back for tea.
(Danzo, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:11, Reply)

Oh fuck
No story, errm....

Edit: Bollocks, still only silver
(tinypod will never learn. Ever., Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:10, Reply)

I came first! (No shame there, at least I'm happy!)
When about 5 I decided to run away from home.
I left the front door wide open and ran off up the street crying (probably some lame reason like not allowed to watch the A-team). I made it to the bakers about 100m up the road where I gazed at the cakes in the window and hid behind a wall, periodically checking to see if I was "missed".
Lasted about 5 mins....

....that's more than I last these days.
(golddust QOTW now revolves around being a cunt, Fri 11 Aug 2006, 13:10, Reply)