| F646 |
[inaudible] Nae wonder her brain was slowin doon, she wisnae get- she wisnae gettin usin it.
See now she's goin tae that day centre, day centre, isn't it? |
| F632 |
Aye, she was [inaudible]. |
| F646 |
Well, she's going to the day centre, and she's busy. |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
I said that tae yer mum.
She'll be in there helpin tae pour oot the tea, |
| F632 |
mm |
| F646 |
And do things,
because, if you've been useful all yer life, ye ye feel, mean ye just sit [swallow]
I'm better than her actually; I sit here and I don't have any company. |
| F632 |
uh-huh. |
| F646 |
But I can always turn on my book, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
or I can put a tape on over there, |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
or I could put one of these LPs of Jack Jones, o- up on the top, or a CD. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And then, but she doesnae go in for that either, she doesnae have readin books or. |
| F632 |
No. |
| F646 |
She [inaudible] to have CDs on. |
| F632 |
mm |
| F646 |
Because it's the only way ye'll get out- outside yerself. |
| F632 |
That’s
//right.// |
| F646 |
//Although//
in her case, she would be sittin there, on her own, and is it any wonder her brain was slowin doon? |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
I ent- I talk to myself a lot in here. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
I says to mysel, "they should have called me Thora".
Like Thora Hurd.
When she used to be workin away, she'd speak to her friend, |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
That's her friend.
God's her friend. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
She says, "people'll say, ye've had a lot wrong with ye Thora."
She's got two bum hips, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
have been replaced.
And I don't know whether she's got her knee done yet, she was she was getting a replacement knee. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
[inaudible]
And she says that people say, "Well, how is it that if you believe in God so strongly that he lets that happen to you?", but she says, "that's no what Christ- what it's about. What God bein your friend, and that, does for ye, it helps ye to cope |
| F632 |
[mmhm] |
| F646 |
wi the things that go wrong with ye. |
| F632 |
Yeah. |
| F646 |
The things that just happen in everyday life.
It helps ye tae cope wi sorrow and different things. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
It's like havin, she says it's like havin yer friend beside ye. She has a talk tae her friend.
Sometimes when I'm, this is years ago when I'm just maybe dustin round aboot and, see she lost her husband and they'd been married a long, they were married a long while. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
She called him "Scottie".
He came from up, I think, the east coast of Scotland some place, and his name was Scott. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And eh, I think when he died, now before he died, he was, for a long while, he was that way like yer granny only a lot worse.
He'd had strokes, which made walkin, eh kind of slow, |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
and stumbly and eh and he would forget.
//She would// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
de- she would be talkin aboot things and she'd tae keep repeatin them tae him, ye know.
But eh she says "God helps ye", she says, "tae get through a thing like that".
But I th- I never thought on it like that before, but that's it, she says, "God's no there to say that nothing'll happen to you. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
Things do happen to you." [laugh] |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And eh but she says, "if you've got a strong a belief in in your friend, it helps you to cope." |
| F632 |
Yeah. |
| F646 |
It helps you to get through it, because you know you’re not alone. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
oh aye, but she's a she's a Methodist though. |
| F632 |
Is she? I didn't know
//that.// |
| F646 |
//I think//
so.
Aye, I think she's a Methodist.
But she is a genuine Chris- seven day a week Christian. When I say that, I mean she doesn't go to church every s- every day, but she |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
She says her prayers regularly, I think, and |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
and, as she says, she talks to her friend. [swallow]
And I think that's how it should be. |
| F632 |
Yeah. |
| F646 |
The number of people that really annoy me in this world |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
are the types, they never go to church, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
And, fact, they're they're inclined tae be derogatory about the people that do, but, when it comes tae a funeral, or a wedding, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
They've got the brass neck to charge charge up to the church and a- get the minister tae make arrangements. But he cannae really, I don’t think a minister can actually turn you down unless he’s got an awful good reason for it. |
| F632 |
Ours does. [laughs] |
| F646 |
They've got tae have an awful good reason for it.
There are some of them that say "Well you never come here, what are you comin now for?" |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
But eh they they use it. In other words, I don't think they so much use it, Eleanor, as they abu- abuse it. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
I don't think that's right. If ye don't go why you, mean why do you want it for weddins, christenins and and funerals then? |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
My brother swore that eh [laughs] "that's the life-belt brigade".
[eating] I says, "What dae ye mean?" and he says, "well, they’re kind, they're kind of usin it as insurance, ye know". |
| F632 |
[laughs] |
| F646 |
'Ye show face now at a funeral, in case.'
But never mind, I think there's more people goin to church now than there was for a long while.
Young people in, at one time used, mind I told you? |
| F632 |
mmhm. Yeah. |
| F646 |
[inaudible] Well, Eleanor. I'm no really a Christian, cause they thought that if they were a Christian, they were regular church-goer, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
But, I never could get the hang of it much at all.
[inaudible]
The boys that used to go regularly to church, the teenagers, and that, they used to get sneered at by their pals.
They would maybe be passin in the evenin to go to the church service, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
You were a wimp,
if you went to the kirk.
If you went to the boozer, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
you were a man. |
| F632 |
Mmhm? |
| F646 |
[laugh] I could never could work it out. Maybe it's me that's barmy though?
I'm a perfect example when I see it, is that, the troops are marchin past, "oh would you look at that, everyone's out of step but our Willie." |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
You know, but it's maybe me maybe me that's out o step.
Did you know this was Friday the thirteenth? |
| F632 |
Yes I did. |
| F646 |
They were talkin there about, "oh I never [inaudible] walk below ladders". They're talkin, silly women.
I never walked below ladders either! |
| F632 |
No? |
| F646 |
But it wasnae because I was frightened that I would be "struck from above",
but if there's somebody wo- workin up the ladder, you get the scrapins off the soles of their shoes or, drips off their paint-brush |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
could be droppin on you; as long as there's enough room to get round the ladder, you're always safer |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
goin under it, plus the fact that you went under it and dunted it, you might, if it's up like that and you go under it and you dunt it, it might go like that and the poor sod up up the ladder'll |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
come crashin ontae the pavement, you know.
Never was superstitious that way.
The precious jewels brigade, no.
I don't know what Auntie Barbara was expectin to find that day.
I didnae know that wee hymn, wee, but I gather it was a wee childrens' hymn.
But we hear all these quavery voices.
Old voices sing- givin it precious jewels, "prec- precious jewels, precious jewels, his love and his own". And we're outside tryin no to laugh. We'd to run out the close, so they wouldnae hear us
but th- it turned out, I told my mother. "Oh", she says, "Don't tell me our Barbara's goin; this was a woman who, she was a spiritualist, |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
and they went in for the "all put your hands on the table,
fingers touching". |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
You see, and see if somebody would come d-. I don't know what Auntie Barbara wanted anybody up there to come down and talk to her for, because they might have [laugh] said something to her she might not have liked, you know
But eh, no unless it was the wee boy.
See, Eleanor was a twin, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
But her wee brother William, who would have been the only boy in the family
//I mean Aunty// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
Barbara, there was Grace, Rachel, Mary, Julia and then the twins, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
But the wee boy died. He only lasted oh about a week, or somethin like that, if he, if he did that.
He took fits and spasms and then died,
My mother says, "oh I'll never f- oh I'll never forget it," she says,
[click]
Willie, he was sittin cradlin the wee soul, while it was gaspin for breath, you know, and it would go stiff and everythin and she says the tears were runnin doon his f- he was soft-hearted, [laugh]. That's how my Auntie Barbara got away wi so much I think, but eh, his heart was broken when the wee lad died.
But the time I came back fae Aunt- I'd been at my Aunt Barbara's and somebody said about Eleanor, and I says, I didnae know whether to s- mention it to my dad or to forget it. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And I says but, I says, "can you be half a wean?"
My father says, "what in God's name are you talkin about thi- noo [laugh] this time?"
I says "Uncle Willie says that Eleanor, they’ve got to be awful careful with her, because she's only hauf a wean."
"In the name o God", he says, "Look, she's a the wean she'll ever be.
She's got all her fingers, and all her toes, and all the other bits." He says, "But she was a, she was a twin and she was the one that survived",
//but.// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
So this was it, she was only hauf a wean,
[laughs] half o a set of twins [laughs]. My father says, "I don't know what some folk use for brains!"
[laughs], ah Go-, but, think about it. |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
How could anybody think that up?
She's [inaudible] how could anybody be ha- I'm sayin, "How could anybody be hauf a wean?"
So I decided I'd ask my daddy.
I said, "Can you be hauf a wean?"
'What are you talkin aboot?', he says. I was aye askin questions about things, you know. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
'Hauf a wean. What are ye talk- I says, "Uncle Willie says El-El- Eleanor's only hauf a wean."
'She's all the wean she'll ever be'. [laugh]
oh you got some dilly- you got some wonderful stories when we all tried to fathom out how it was, if we saw nurse thingmibob, the district nurse, she wore a nav- I remember she wore a dark, I think it was a dark blue Burberry coat, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And she tended to wear thon thi- you know the the sort o wimple thing that, |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
you know, that comes right through fae the way people dressed in the Bible.
Right through eh nuns wore it and then, it wa- at one time it was nuns that were eh the the the only people that nursed; they had hospices
//beside// |
| F632 |
//uh-huh// |
| F646 |
their places, and they wore the thing like this, and the stiff bit like that. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
Well she used to have a thing like that, navy blue like that, that was across here.
And every time, we found, every time she came, along the street, eh, carryin this bag, somebody had a wee brother or sister. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And I hated her.
See when she was walkin towards our close, I prayed and I'd say, "if she stops at our close I'll kill her." |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
Cos I loved my brother that much, I didnae want to share our Sam wi anybody. |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
You know? Anyway, she always manages to walk by our close, but we figured out, and we're sayin, "Aye", says the wee boy we're playin wi, he says "She brings them in that bag". |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
And somebody says, "Can't be in a bag, [inaudible] suffocate in the in the bag".
'What do you mean she'd suffocate?'
He says, "because my cousin got a wee puppy and she carried it home in a bag and the the man that gave her it told her just, not to close the bag completely, because the pup would suffocate. "Cos it wouldnae get any air, you see?
And ach he says, "don't be daft," he says, "she's got holes punched in it |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
tae let the air in." Ye know.
[click]
That's why I say, you you should talk to kids, because they'll speculate on their own |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
as to how things fathom
//but// |
| F632 |
//all sorts//
of bizarre stuff. |
| F646 |
So, every time she came with it, it was a a Vanderbilt bag thing she carried her gear in, you know,
So, she carried the bairns in that bag.
And I used to pray, she was comin up the street, and got near our close, I'd be saying "pa- keep goin, keep passin, keep passin, keep passin, keep passin." |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
I wasnae wantin her to go up to our door, chap it and hand in anythin.
//Because// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
because I didnae want to share my brother wi anybody. |
| F632 |
uh-huh. aw that's cute. |
| F646 |
[click]
But, oh no I loved him that, I would have been awful jealous, I know I would,
//Having// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
another one in our house.
oh I loved him dearly.
[swallow]
I've pinned boys to the wall, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
Willie Brown,
in the next close, when we stayed in wee Gordon Street.
His folks had a contractors' business at n- eh, he had a couple of lorries
things, but he he kept one of them, one of the horse and cart things.
Now what they did the-, was they contracted to deliver goods in them, you know? |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And eh, our Sam was in tears this time and I says, "Who hit you?"
And my mother just missed me, she was grabbin me goin oot the door. And I doon the stairs, and when she ran doon the stairs at my back, here's Willie Brown, now he must've been a good two years older than me, and here's me, I wasnae old enough to be at school, and she says, to my father, "she had him pinned up against the wall by the throat!" |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
He says, she says, "and I'm draggin her off" and she's sc- she says, she's shoutin "did you hit our Samuel?"
//[laugh]// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
[inaudible]. Because boys didnae hit lassies in those days; it was unfair really, you know. |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
My mother had to drag me off him. He'd hit our Samuel. |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
And anybody that hit our Samuel had the mark o Cain on them as far as I was
//concerned, you know.// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
Willie Brown, oh God. We'd some marvellous times.
The th- the things you thought up.
I was gonnae marry Angus McVicar. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
Who stayed, just down the stairs, only they stayed in a room and kitchen.
And we used to play under the table, and, the big chenille cover, and wee Angus and I got on great.
We were just about ages. We werenae old enough to be at school, but Mr McVicar was tellin my mother, she told me years later, she says, and he says, "My wife and I", he'd a lovely Highland voice, "My wife and I, we sat there and we listened to them", she says, "and they were getting married, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
But, they were going to have a big house;
they were going to have a two-room and kitchen, |
| F632 |
mm |
| F646 |
and eh, they've already made up their mind, it's, "we're going to have, we'll have it up the hill". |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
You know.
And he says there they're chaffin away [?]crattlin[/?] these toy cups and saucers under that table, and they'd it all planned. It was gonnae be a two-room and kitchen up Radnor Park. |
| F632 |
uh-huh? aw |
| F646 |
I [laughs] old enough to be at school. I mean, but see, I think Angus and I were pretty inseparable when we were, we were kids,
//eh// |
| F632 |
//uh-huh// |
| F646 |
[swallow] oh aye, we were gettin married. |
| F632 |
aw. |
| F646 |
When we got bigger, we were gettin married, Angus and I.
I don't know what happened to them at the blitz.
I know his older brother Archie turned out to be a bit of a waster. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
But Angus was nice.
They were a nice family altogether.
But the words we learned, the swear words we learned were beuch. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
See, they kept this horse and cart for this old boy that worked for the family,
for, and he come back from the First World War |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
wi a peg leg from under the knee. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
It was a wooden, a wooden attachment he had, and he used to sit in the cart, and he would dunt the horse, like that wi his |
| F632 |
Wooden leg? |
| F646 |
wi his wooden- aye!
And then, there was a bit sort of round the corner and there was a s- it was like a garage, but that's where he kept the, the cart |
| F632 |
uh-huh. |
| F646 |
and the horse. |
| F632 |
mmhm. |
| F646 |
And, we used to watch him as he brought the the horse along, and he was backin it in s- in the shafts, and the language was absolutely
My mother was gonnae thump me because, I learned all these words off by heart.
But one day my father was comin home from work, and it was rainin, so we were sittin on the stairs inside,
and the game we were playin was to see how many swear-words you could say. |
| F632 |
mmhm. |
| F646 |
Before you had to take a breath. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
Without repeatin any,
and I remember it. There was a hand went down the collar of my coat and I got run up the stairs. [laugh] This is my father takin me inside, and I got a penny lecture. |
| F632 |
mmhm. |
| F646 |
And, and I says, but we were only playin a game, "well that's a game I don't want you playin at any more". |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
So that was it. And then, did I tell you about the time we got the photograph taken? |
| F632 |
ehm |
| F646 |
And they took the spool over and got developed.
And Dalgleish the chemist says to my father co- to to you see. I'll show you your snaps, Sam,
[click]
He says, "I showed them to the wife", he says, "and she's in convulsions through there".
We're all standin there, see we're goin out some place, I think it was a Sunday-School picnic or something,
and we'd on the wee frocks and the boys had, were tidy wi the |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
wi things to go to the the Sunday School, and we're all standin there.
And the yard at the foot of Wee Gordon Street, the wall bit was was big sleepers, railway sleepers
//up and// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
doon the way, you see. And they went round; there was a gate that that thingmibob, but the, what it was for, was that part at the side of the of the canal, the barge, there was a barge used to come up, and it was a a builder that used it and it used to unload sand, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
and bricks and things into that yard.
But anyway, we're standin in front of this thingmibob and it wasnae, nobody noticed it, cause it'd been there that long, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
And it, when it was developed, we're standin, Adam McBride, Barbara McBride, that's cousins, there was our Sam and I, and we're standin there four of us, and up a- painted in great big chalk letters on it was S-H-I-T-E,
//[laugh]// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
was written on the sleepers, and it had been there that long, nobody, and he clicked the camera, and here we were standin and it said "shite" right
across the top of the
picture. [laugh]
[laugh] ah, we'd a happy life, when you think aboot it. They all got, all these things got thingmibobbed in the Blitz you know, we lost all these things in the Blitz. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
But, oh my God, and then the wife in the bottom clo- her husband eh was the the sort of, watchie at this yard. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
And they were a weird couple. He had a kind a humphy back, you know, he'd kind of |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
And stran-, never spoke much to anybody, you know, and his wife was awful funny; she was practically bald. |
| F632 |
urgh |
| F646 |
Her hair was that thin |
| F632 |
mm |
| F646 |
she really was, she was practically, her hair was that thin all over,
she was practically bald.
and, anyway, somebody kicked our Sam's ball and it hit the wood and over into the yard, and he was a crabby old sod, if he got yer ball so-, he would, nine times out of ten, you didnae get it back,
and our Sa-, it was a new ball, and I loo- our Sam was nearly greetin, so I "I'll get it". |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
So I goes marchin in, chaps the door. Now I was bein very civil
//here.// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
So the door opens and she, she comes to the door and she says "Whi-", she says, "Well?"
I says, "Excuse me Mrs Mowdy, could I have S-, could I please have Samuel's ball?"
Well my mother nearly died, cause she was doin her brasses on her door up the stairs, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
And she, the door got slammed in my face. And my mother came down and she says, "What did I hear you sayin there?" I says, "I was only askin Mrs Mowdy for [laugh] |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
"For Samuel's ball." "Her name isn't Mowdy".
See the boys used to call him, "See him, he's a, that's old mowdy, old mouldy", and oh no, they didnae like him. Old Mou- old Mou-.
Well I didnae know her name wasnae Mowdy, so I
//went to the door// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
[laugh]. And it turned out her name was McFarlane,
And eh "Please Mrs Mowdy we- could I have Samuel's ball?" oh dear God.
My mother says, "It's got to the stage where I'm frightened I'm frightened to go doon the stairs." [laugh] |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
oh dear, well I really didnae know. I'd never heard them called anything else, but "oh, go, run, here comes the Mowdy", you know. |
| F632 |
uh-huh. |
| F646 |
[inaudible] the Mowdy, [click]. But the man wi the ca- horse and cart, oh the sweary words that he knew werenae canny,
//you know?// |
| F632 |
//uh-huh.// |
| F646 |
I had to get stopped, I mean I really did have to get stopped there.
And then I shaved myself one day and cut my face wi my, corner of my eye, right down to here wi an open razor. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
[laugh] Because my uncle, my uncle Adam was givin my dad a haircut, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
before they went to the football match in Kilbowie Park. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And eh he had been usin an open razor against a comb to to run doon the back, tae thin this bit out at the back. And he just closed it and stuck it in his waistcoat pocket. Now his waistcoat was hangin hangin over the back of a chair, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
and I had taken it, and I decided that I would sha- I would have a shave, you know.
And I drew, but I I didnae draw, I'd drawn it doon that way. And, my mother says, "ye came over me there and", she says "I think I'm biddin". |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
My mother says, "when I looked at her", my father says, "I'll never forget it either," he says, "yer mother ch- changed about three shades o white." [laugh] |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
"I I, he says,"'I'd to sit her dou-", she says, "All doon the front of yer wee frock at the side,
//there was// |
| F632 |
//mmhm?// |
| F646 |
there was blood drip, drip drippin off yer face all over it "I think I'm biddin" [laugh]. He says oh God! I carried a scar. My my, he wouldnae take me to the doctor. |
| F632 |
No. |
| F646 |
He was scared, he didnae want the doctor puttin stitches in. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
He says, "Because if he stitches that, she'll carry a scar for the rest of her life doon her face." |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
So, he he cleaned it, butt-ended it like that, put a wee d- and taped it, all the way doon tight like that. And it, the flesh knitted by itself, but for quite a while when I was a kid, if, I'd awful rosy cheeks in the cold weather, there would be this thin white line |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
doon ma cheek, but as my, as I got older and the skin got tougher, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
you know, the layers of skin came over, it disappeared.
But my mother didnae have her sorrows to seek. My brother, eh, did I ever tell you about the time I I broke the thingmibob off of my brother's nut? |
| F632 |
No! |
| F646 |
Well, he was in bed, and the there was a s- the chair.
This was the, sort of, fire-place and this was a chair wi its back up against the thingmibob, the the woodwork of this bed he was in.
Now it turned out he'd he'd somethin up wi him, like tonsillitis, or or somethin. He was in bed anyway, and I was talkin to him and he didnae answer me. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And my mother had been bakin. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
So, I I I didnae, I hi- boinged him on the t-, and I hit him that hard that s- know know the bit you hold to roll it? The handle came off. |
| F632 |
uh-huh? |
| F646 |
On his h- [laugh]
//[laugh]// |
| F632 |
//Off the rolling-pin?// |
| F646 |
The rollin-pin [laugh] and the wee soul's lyin there greetin. [laugh] [inaudible]
This great big lump's comin [laugh], my mother said, "And what did you do that for?" I says, "Well he did, he wouldn't answer me." My father says, "It's a damn good job she didnae hit him any harder, he'd never've answered anybody else either!"
But eh, I was upset, mind you, when I realised I'd hit him so hard, you know. But, cause I always remember, we had that right up till the Blitz, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
Because my father, where the handle had come off, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
there must have been cracked or somethin, surely! But, when it came off, he he sanded, he thingmibobbed it all the way doon to it was smoo-.
My mother used to use it to mash tatties and things wi, you know. But I'd used it before that to mash my brother. |
| F632 |
[laugh] |
| F646 |
See kids
//nowadays,// |
| F632 |
//[laugh] I//
thought you loved him? |
| F646 |
I did! But he wasnae speak- he wouldnae answer me! So I gied him a tap wi the thingmibob, but, ach, I doubt it must of had a crack in them, crack in it or someth- for the handle tae come |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
Co- ha- be hangin off, you know.
He was as gentle as a May mornin.
There was a wee Sunday School doon our, in the next close, to us, there was our house and they had, they had a wee Sunday School in it.
And he comes in sayin, "I I'm no goin back. I am not going back to that Sunday School if she goes."
And my mother's sayin "Why?" He says, "because, ye know the polished bench," he says,"'they had." Ye know, wooden, wooden b- benches wi backs on them. He says, "she spends her time", you know, it's highly polished, "slidin up and [laugh] doon the, slidin up and doon the seat." [laugh]
//[laugh]// |
| F632 |
//[laugh]// |
| F646 |
So, my mother kept me back and let him go on his own, you know. |
| F632 |
aw. |
| F646 |
I was bored about half-way through. As long as they ke- they were singin songs, singin hymnsy things, I was as happy as Larry, but eh, the rest of it over, right over my nut.
Aye it was great, it was that highly polished you could, you could slide.
You know, you could you could lie on your stomach or your back and catch the end of the bench and drag yourself up
//up.// |
| F632 |
//uh-huh.// |
| F646 |
And then slide back doon and drag yourself up again. So [laugh] I'd got checked for it and he was affronted. [laugh] |
| F632 |
aw |
| F646 |
So, he wasn't goin back, "If she's goin back there I'm not goin back."
So that was that.
[laugh]
[inhale]
But when my hair fell out, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
eh, ma- I think I must've been about nineish when [inaudible], and eh,
oh I can remember it.
[inaudible] It started to come out in patches. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
It was a form of alopecia,
and eh it eh I nev- I wasnae near as outgoin after that.
//I got very quiet.// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
Because when people, when you go to school and people jibe at you for things like that, you you you don't really, [inhale] you don't really get over it. It takes you, all your assurance disappears,
//you know.// |
| F632 |
//mmhm// |
| F646 |
There's nothin worse than the people sniggerin, or laughin at you, you know.
Some of the things my father got, they got s-, my mother got stuff in the Western Infirmary; the doctor sent her up there for them to see what they could find out.
And they gave her a bottle s- I mean, see, my father had to, sort of rub it into the bald bits.
But, whatever it was, it rose it and it blistered. |
| F632 |
eugh |
| F646 |
And, I used to cry myself to sleep. My father says, "I I'm s- I'm no usin that." He used it two nights and he wouldnae use it again.
But then they discovered it was eh, it was electric treatment I got. |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
This, you had to sit on a a chaise-longue thing, |
| F632 |
mmhm? |
| F646 |
wi arms like that; then there was two brass sort of handle bits stuck out, like that |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And they came in, and they had a, it was like a, if you could picture a long w- long rod like that, wi electric wire goin along it, and, at the end of it, there was a thing shaped like a, it was almost like a sort of pear-shaped, flat-on-the-bottom, eh electric bulby thing, it looked like. |
| F632 |
oh right. |
| F646 |
And they used to plug that in,
and I had to hold onto these bars.
If you l- If you took your hands off the bars a wee bit, like that, you could feel a funny, thingmibob feelin in your hands,
and there was, it was the same feelin on your scalp. |
| F632 |
Prickly? |
| F646 |
Aye, it was the electrics eh thingmibob that was comin through; but it worked. |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
Eventually, it worked.
The hair started comin in again. |
| F632 |
uh-huh, must've stimulated the
//hair// |
| F646 |
//Aye.// |
| F632 |
follicles. |
| F646 |
But, eh anyway, the hair come back in again, thank God, but eh
I'll never forget it.
That's what I'm sayin, you should never jibe at kids, you used to hear them sayin to, if a if if a kid had to wear glasses at school, you always got some smart-Alec, generally it was boys. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
Christened them "old four eyes" and things like that, you know, and it's it's no nice, it really isnae.
Should never, should never hurt anybody's f- I think you'd be better, you'd be better to hit somebody, |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
than hurt their feelins,
Mean, you hit you hit somebody, you can always rub it, kiss it better.
But you hurt somebody's feelings and eh, you cannot kiss it better. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
So, my grandpa's favourite phrase was k- "Hold your tongue between your teeth!" |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
oh, he was a character.
The things like, "I don't know, gossips!"
You should always make sure you've swept the shit off your own doorstep before you start lookin for muck on somebody else's.'
oh he'd a saying for everything.
And eh it was pithy.
It was it was it was p- I mean it was was right. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
[sniff]
Heard a a thing, a wee thing the day
Dulcie.
You know, Dulcie, you know, a girl's name? |
| F632 |
Really? |
| F646 |
I means "sweet". |
| F632 |
hm |
| F646 |
As as in, it must be, as in "dulcet". |
| F632 |
uh-huh |
| F646 |
You know how they talk about "dulcet tones", when somebody sings. |
| F632 |
mmhm |
| F646 |
And, I didnae know, I didnae know that; I thought it was just one of these names folk picked up, but it turns out Dulcie means "sweet". |
| F632 |
oh right? |
| F646 |
[swallow] |
| F632 |
I wouldnae call my kid that. |
| F646 |
No, I don't think I would either. |
| F632 |
mm |
| F646 |
There's funny enough names goin the rounds these days. |
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