| F826 |
So, how was your journey here tonight, son? |
| M827 |
[laugh]
We've done this bit already.
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
Yes, decent place to start, isn't it? |
| M827 |
No, misty thing. |
| F826 |
Dangerous? |
| M827 |
It always is when I'm driving.
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
//Mmhm that's true, yes [tut].// |
| M827 |
March; in like a lion, out like a lamb.
It's the same every |
| F826 |
[tut] Oh right. |
| M827 |
It gets to the seventeenth and you get two hot days and, "[inhale], it's quite warm here, it's quite clement," and you think it's fantastic. |
| F826 |
In fact there was the hottest day since time began in Aberdeen the other day, wasn't it, the hottest night or something. |
| M827 |
Was it? |
| F826 |
Yeah, was the hottest March night since records began. |
| M827 |
Ah right, okay. |
| F826 |
I think it was last Wednesday. |
| M827 |
News to me, I've obviously stopped reading local press, people keep telling me things that have been happening and I know nothing about it. |
| F826 |
[laugh] |
| M827 |
So, so you're probably not meant to eat grapes, are you? |
| F606 |
No. |
| M827 |
No. |
| F606 |
Not meant to eat anything. |
| M827 |
Not allowed to eat anything at all? |
| F606 |
No! [laugh] |
| F826 |
//Not even fidget with// |
| M827 |
//Entire minutes!//
//[laugh] [cough]// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
[tut] I was interested in what you were saying about coughs coming over very loudly, |
| M827 |
mmhm |
| F826 |
because at school the, one of the third year science classes has been going around measuring decibels all round the building, |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
and there's one teacher who has a very loud strident laugh, |
| M827 |
[laugh] |
| F826 |
and her laugh came over as making more decibels than the bandsaw in the techie department. |
| M827 |
Ah? |
| F826 |
It was the loudest sound in the whole school. |
| M827 |
Mm, interesting. That'd be on account of decibels being a logarithmic scale, yeah. |
| F826 |
Would it? |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
[tut] I see. |
| M827 |
[laugh] |
| F826 |
[tut] You know a lot about decibels, do you?
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
//Not really no, I just know the right things to say at the right moments.// |
| F826 |
Good.
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
//Sorry I'm all distracted by the fact I can't eat a grape for another nine minutes.// |
| F826 |
It was sitting there in front of you,
//waiting to be eaten, yes.// |
| M827 |
//Aye.//
That's what happens eh, you put constraints on people and that's what they wanna do. |
| F826 |
Yeah, you could hammer it with that screw you've got in your hand of course, couldn't you? |
| M827 |
Could do.
//Aye, put the screw down.// |
| F826 |
//mmhm// |
| M827 |
[laugh] |
| F826 |
[tut] So anyway, this flat you're going, hoping to get, it's quite attractive, is it? |
| M827 |
Ehm, mm
I suppose he's not here, is he?
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
It's alright it, [sigh] ach I mean [inaudible], they're all awful, they're all a rip-off, it's all a joke.
None of it should be allowed mm, as I'm sure I've said before, |
| F826 |
Yeah. |
| M827 |
you know?
//But// |
| F826 |
//You have to pay that vast amount//
just for somewhere to live. |
| M827 |
Yeah, aye, there isn't, were you to wait to try and find somewhere that you'd actually like to live, I'd still be looking for a flat in about three hundred years' time. |
| F826 |
mm |
| M827 |
Cause it's just not gonna happen, the chances of getting the flat that you want coming on the market are just so slim. |
| F826 |
Especially at a price you can afford, yeah. |
| M827 |
Aye, well, since we started looking at them there's been sixty or seventy flats that have just sat there and nobody will buy cause they're all the dodgy ones and they're |
| F826 |
Yeah. |
| M827 |
waiting for someone to be desperate and buy it then there's five or six good ones come on every week, most of them sell long before they even get on their website,
//so// |
| F826 |
//right// |
| M827 |
so it all goes to inside deals and solicitors being dodgy and, "Oh, that's a really good price, oh I'll get that for my mate's daughter", |
| F826 |
Yeah. |
| M827 |
you don't actually get a chance. |
| F826 |
No.
//But there's also// |
| M827 |
//So it's not so much that//
this flat is actually that great
//cause it's// |
| F826 |
//No.// |
| M827 |
really not, it's just again the backst-, background of less great flats. |
| F826 |
Yes it's reasonable, it's acceptable it doesn't have anything that's too awful
//about it.// |
| M827 |
//Yeah.//
And obviously cause you guys want to be able to resell it when I inevitably do something stupid, mm. |
| F826 |
Like leaving the country, |
| M827 |
Aye, well, who knows? |
| F826 |
or who knows, yes. |
| M827 |
um then it makes sense to just buy one in an obvious place. |
| F826 |
Yes somewhere that's not got too bad
//a reputation.// |
| M827 |
//Aye.//
[CENSORED: streetname] Cresent being that, got trees on it and things so |
| F826 |
It's got trees, has it? |
| M827 |
Well, one end. |
| F826 |
mm! Doesn't have trees all the way along that you have to try and park between, does it? |
| M827 |
No it has wheelie bins instead. |
| F826 |
//Oh right [laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
[CENSORED: streetname] Crescent was where the one guy nearly caused the entire of Aberdeen to not have any wheelie bins. |
| F826 |
What by refusing to have one? |
| M827 |
No, he took the council to court and said, "That's my parking space, |
| F826 |
Oh right. |
| M827 |
that's part of my council tax, I pay for that, you'd better reimburse me". |
| F826 |
And did they? |
| M827 |
No, I don't know what happened, cause he essentially won the case but they ultimately decided that his opinion wasn't enough to change everything, or something like that. |
| F826 |
Oh right, it was just his one case that didn't apply to, universally. |
| M827 |
Aye, so, but I mean it is true, filled up Aberdeen with wheelie bins and stopped seagulls coming round and eating everybody's detritus, but it does mean that there are, you know, probably ten thousand less parking spaces. |
| F826 |
They that big? |
| M827 |
Well they we-, aye they were, but the way they put these silly metal things in
//that hold them// |
| F826 |
//Oh right.// |
| M827 |
so that you can't open them up too wide |
| F826 |
oh I see
//it's not just those ones you, yeah.// |
| M827 |
//you know what I mean? Yeah, you only get them open//
wide enough to put a bin bag through it, but it's not wide enough that you could put something
obtrusive in it
//or// |
| F826 |
//A body//
//or something, yeah, or a three-piece suite or some- [laugh].// |
| M827 |
//aye or, or l-, or leave it open [inaudible]//
well it's so you can't leave it open.
//or anything, they've all got locks on them and stuff so, aye.// |
| F826 |
//Oh right, it snaps shut.//
people lose their hands and
//[inaudible]// |
| M827 |
//They've a habit of putting them//
back-to-back and stuff, |
| F826 |
Oh right. |
| M827 |
put little lines round them, so inevitably you just steal a parking space on every street, |
| F826 |
Oh right, I didn't realise that. |
| M827 |
soon adds up to being a lot of parking
//spaces.// |
| F826 |
//Yes,//
mm, they're difficult to get, aren't they?
If you got a flat there would you qualify for a parking space? |
| M827 |
Probably, I'm sure you have to pay for it.
//It's the grape [laugh].// |
| F826 |
//Yes, that's true.//
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh] Go on,//
//eat it!// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
//[laugh] Keep//
idly picking up this grape and putting it down. |
| F826 |
You can look at it. |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
mm |
| M827 |
I don't know, I would have thought I would never get a parking space there anyway, when I've driven down that street before at sort of six, seven o'clock, once everybody's home and people now park beside the wheelie bins
//and just kinda// |
| F826 |
//Oh right.// |
| M827 |
half block the street
cause there is nowhere else to park. |
| F826 |
Right. |
| M827 |
So, I can't imagine I'll ever be parking anywhere near there
//to tell you the truth.// |
| F826 |
//No, no//
Oh so time you get home everybody's there already?
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
//Yeah, aye, the chances of there being a space at that time of night are non-existent.// |
| F826 |
You might arrive just as the early shift people leave, of course. |
| M827 |
Aye, maybe, aye. |
| F826 |
The possibility's there, yeah. |
| M827 |
Oh that's the worst part of getting a flat for me just have to attempt to have a life which I've been going out of my way to avoid
//for a long time, so.// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
I suppose I'll have to get to know myself, be honest and admit to things. |
| F826 |
That sounds dangerous! |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
Mm
//you mean like// |
| M827 |
//Well the rest of you all seem to do it//
without even thinking about it, so I can't imagine it's that difficult. |
| F826 |
You mean like what colour of walls you like and things like that? |
| M827 |
Stupid stuff like that. |
| F826 |
Yeah and
having opinions about interior decoration. |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
Ooh dear |
| M827 |
Being unhappy when things aren't the way you want them. |
| F826 |
[inhale] Expecting more from life than black plastic bags and a sleeping bag
//to sleep in.// |
| M827 |
//mm//
//Having standards.// |
| F826 |
//[tut]//
//Yes, cleaning the bath.// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| M827 |
Aye, having a shower every day,
keep thi-, I just keep reminding myself that I'm doing everybody a favour by only having a shower every three days, |
| F826 |
Well, it's certainly |
| M827 |
kinda balance it out, it's gotta have an effect, it would appear the fashionable thing now is to be having at least two showers a day. |
| F606 |
mmhm |
| M827 |
You've got to be having a shower before you go to work, you may well squeeze one in at lunchtime, you're definitely having one after you get home, even if you're not going out. |
| F826 |
Really? |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
That's what young people do now,
//do they?// |
| M827 |
//Aye,//
//shower all the time.// |
| F826 |
//[laugh]//
yeah
//[?]Some[/?]// |
| M827 |
//So if I keep showering//
once every three days I'm balancing it out for a wee while, |
| F826 |
You are,
//you're helpful.// |
| M827 |
//delaying the effect.// |
| F826 |
Yeah, you think that all that water's purified too. |
| M827 |
Aye.
//Is it?// |
| F826 |
//Cause it all,//
well it all comes from the same source, doesn't it, nowadays? |
| M827 |
[laugh]. The toilet.
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
//[laugh] No, I mean there's not like in our young day when there used to be mains water and non-mains water// |
| F606 |
//[laugh]// |
| F826 |
//in the house.// |
| M827 |
//Aye, yeah.// |
| F826 |
The mains water was one tap you could use as
//drinking water and all the rest wasn't,// |
| M827 |
//Aye, aye.// |
| F826 |
Nowadays because we know that people will drink their bath water and their shower water and things it all has to be
//the same// |
| M827 |
//Aye.// |
| F826 |
standard, doesn't it?
//[tut] Difficult business.// |
| M827 |
//Doesn't stop them saying,//
"Don't drink the water", when you get there though, does it? [laugh] "Don't drink the water here [inhale]".
[laugh] |
| F826 |
Really? Is that one of the things above the door, yeah? |
| M827 |
Aye.
//[inaudible]// |
| F826 |
//"Don't drink your bath water."// |
| M827 |
Well they say it all over the place, don't they? Go down to London, "Don't drink the water",
//and Oxford, "Don't drink the water here"// |
| F826 |
//Yeah, that's true,//
yeah.
//and if you go abroad [exhale]// |
| M827 |
//[inaudible] you're not allowed to drink the water.// |
| F826 |
yeah. |
| M827 |
An it amazes me that everybody in Aberdeen now drinks bottled water. |
| F826 |
Really? |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
but don't they just fill it from the tap? |
| M827 |
There are some people that do that but predominantly people don't |
| F826 |
So they buy bottled water
//all the time?// |
| M827 |
//Well even people who are//
very poor |
| F826 |
Really? |
| M827 |
buy bottled water,
which I find really really really odd an it just, it just, oh just snuck in and swept through society,
//you know, it's just one of the// |
| F826 |
//Yeah.// |
| M827 |
funniest things ever, the amount of money that people spend on water now, |
| F826 |
Yeah. |
| M827 |
but
//there you go.// |
| F826 |
//Especially when there's been//
so many tales on television and the radio about how it's actually produced, the bottled water,
[cough] you know stories about ehm restaurants where they ha- fill it from the tap |
| M827 |
//Yeah.// |
| F606 |
//mmhm// |
| F826 |
//[inaudible]// |
| M827 |
//How would you know,//
//eh how are you ever gonna possibly be able to tell// |
| F606 |
//[cough]// |
| F826 |
//Yeah.// |
| M827 |
//so.// |
| F826 |
And of course then there's a hundred and one different varieties of bottled water,
//and people// |
| M827 |
//Aye.// |
| F826 |
claim to like one rather than another as well. |
| M827 |
Aye. |
| F826 |
An then there's all the flavoured ones too which are becoming very popular. |
| M827 |
How awful! |
| F826 |
Yeah. |
| M827 |
In my meagre opinion. |
| F826 |
Yes. |
| M827 |
[inhale] |
| F826 |
They have quite a lot of after-taste, don't they? |
| M827 |
Ah I never drink them anyway, they're all carbonated nonsense! |
| F826 |
[laugh] Yes. |
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