SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 1613 Title : Conversation 42: Man from Ayrshire, with Italian background, talking about Italy, jobs and Alzheimer's support work Author(s): N/A Copyright holder(s): Prof John B Corbett SCOTS Project Audio transcription M608: Okay, erm well thanks very much for talking to me. One of the reasons er, well there were a couple of reasons why I wanted to talk to you, and one was that my Mum said you've you, you know, were an interesting raconteur. Er, but the other one was that er your name's interesting, [CENSORED: Italian surname]. //and er you obviously// M1163: //Yeah.// M608: come from Italian background. //Can you// M1163: //Yeah, I do.// M608: tell me a bit about that? M1163: Erm, my father was born in Johnstone, //Renfrewshire,// M608: //Uh-huh, uh-huh.// M1163: and my mother, she's Italian. M608: Mmhm. M1163: Er, f- my four grandparents are all Italian. M608: Oh right. M1163: And they all come from the same village in Italy. //The name [CENSORED: surname]// M608: //Right.// M1163: is erm a sort of localised name in Italy. //You'll// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: find that each sort o village in Italy's got a name that is erm sort o more pronounced in that area than other //places.// M608: //Okay then.// M1163: A couple o year ago we went over to th- visit my Granny, when she was was down the south, and I finished up running out the cemetery crying, because I could see //Giorgio [CENSORED: surname],// M608: //Oh God.// M1163: I could see Maurizio [CENSORED: surname], //I could see Amerigo// M608: //Oh.// M1163: [CENSORED: surname]. Er, the names o my family, an my gra-, you know, my parents and that, you know, //er but// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: but that's just the way it is in in //south of Italy,// M608: //Uh-huh.// //I- it and it's the south of Italy?// M1163: //you know?// Well it's down, well they they come from a village called Sa- San Biagio Saracinisco, M608: Okay. M1163: which is approximately twenty miles east of Monte Cassino. M608: Okay, right, that's where the big battle was //of course, in the War, aye.// M1163: //Yeah, that's right, yeah, so// you drive by Monte Cassino up the the the superstrada, //and turn off// M608: //Oh aye.// M1163: at erm a place called, pass, I forget what it's called now. //I think I'm startin// M608: //Aye.// //[laugh]// M1163: //to suffer fae fae memory blanks.// Erm, turn off there and just follow the mountains up. //Then you go into this// M608: //Aye.// M1163: village at the top o a mountain. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: And that's where the the the parents originally came from. M608: Okay. M1163: And my grandfather and grandmother on my father's side, they moved over to to Johnstone in the early nineteen hundreds, //nineteen hundred and two or nineteen hundred and three.// M608: //Oh right, okay.// //But did you find there was a kind of still a strong link with Italy?// M1163: //[cough]// From what point of view? M608: Er, from a family //family point of view. So y- so you were going backwards// M1163: //For a fa-, yeah yeah yeah.// //We all go back// M608: //and forwards?// M1163: and forwards all the time. M608: Aye. M1163: My first ever recollection of travel was erm we stayed in Newmains, and originally I was born //and brought up in Newmains near Wishaw,// M608: //Oh right, okay.// Oh okay. M1163: and erm going down to Motherwell station and jump on the train, and it took you two full days and one night, or else two nights and one day to get to to Rome station, //going back to erm// M608: //Oh God, right, so y- you went all the way by train?// M1163: oh well, maybe train down to London, and then across the Channel, //and at the other// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: side and then you changed in Paris. And I think I was about eight or nine and I woke up this morning and this guy was standing outside on the platform with a machine gun. First day of my life I'd ever //seen a machine gun, this was in// M608: //Seen a machine gun.// M1163: Paris, or Bologna, sorry, //sorry, it was Bologna.// M608: //Bologna?// //Okay.// M1163: //That was the first// time in my life I'd ever seen a real live gun. M608: Aye. M1163: And I was sitting there with the sort o, literally the tongue hanging oot, //and the eyes popping oot// M608: //[laugh]// //Aye.// M1163: //guy staunin with this machine gun, it was incredible.// //But that's how we used to go,// M608: //Aye, so how old were you then?// M1163: you know? //I wa- I was// M608: //How old were you then?// //Seven or eight.// M1163: //aboot seven or eight at the time.// M608: So did you go there for holidays an //you spent what, you w-? Oh okay.// M1163: //Oh yeah, maybe three weeks, four weeks ou-, in a year.// //Aye.// M608: //And you were mixing at that time with, what, Italian kids// //and members of the family?// M1163: //Well there was very// few Italian kids at that time, because they would be at school, M608: Oh right. //Okay. Yeah.// M1163: //you know, and when I would, I would go over.// And then [cough] whether through so-, through erm what's the word I'm looking for here, through coincidence, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: Erm, my wife is Italian. M608: Oh right. M1163: And er so obviously we go over to Italy two or three times, //you know, a year?// M608: //[inaudible]// Yeah. M1163: Apart frae last year, that was, we only went once last year, //first time for a long time.// M608: //Uh-huh.// //And do you always go back to the same spot?// M1163: //So.// To to my wife's place doon the south, or I've got a sister and relations that stay up in Milan on my mother's side. M608: Mmhm. M1163: So we would either go up to Milan for a wee while, //one// M608: //Okay.// M1163: time and the next time, you know, wir sort of main holiday, //we would go down// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: down south as I call it. //Cause you're only// M608: //Aye.// M1163: like five, ten minutes away frae the seaside. M608: Yeah, it's it's it's a beautiful area. M1163: You know, and you just go doon there. M608: When you were growing up, did you have any kind of family traditions that you thought of as being particularly Italian or? M1163: Well. I don't know, erm, I'm no being, I'm no being biased here, I'm no being ignorant but because you were Italians at that time you were not socially erm one of the boys, //shall we say?// M608: //Really?// //Is this, what, in Newmains? Aye?// M1163: //Erm, aye, aye.// Er, I'm I'm no going to use the word, but, and I'm I'm saying this jokingly, but //I'm saying it seriously,// M608: //Mm, mmhm.// M1163: and I was in talking to my mate, Joe, we were oot last night for a couple o hours, and er this guy came in, he's Irish, //so he was talking aboot// M608: //Mmhm.// //Aye, sure.// M1163: //his sort o his, I says, well I says// when I was growing up I a- I always thought my name was Tally B, because that's all you ever heard, //you know?// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: a- and you see all this thing on television at the moment, about this, that and all the other different ethnic minorities, //well I'm sorry,// M608: //Mm.// //Mm. Oh aye.// M1163: //the the abuse and this that that my family, no no just my family, the Italians got,// away back in the the thirties, the forties, the fifties, even into the sixties, M608: Mmhm. M1163: er er it wasnae very nice. M608: No. M1163: Yeah, I made some friends at school but not many, //but, cause I was always the Wee Tally, I was always this, I was always that.// M608: //Uh-huh. Oh right. Uh-huh.// M1163: And yo- you just grew up and you accepted that. M608: Were there many Italians in Newmains, or were you //the only family? Ah. Okay.// M1163: //No there was only two other families, Italians.// And both o us had, well, both the f-, the the parents had businesses, M608: Aye. M1163: you know? But i- it was erm Looking back, I enjoyed it, but it wasnae very nice. //But that that that that was just// M608: //No, no I can I can understand that, cause I mean a lot of// //Mm. Yeah.// M1163: //that's just the way it's been all its all its days,// //you know?// M608: //Yeah.// Yeah. But your family's been here f- from about nineteen hundred? M1163: Well my grandparents yeah //came over, well my my f- my father's side came over in the early nineteen hundreds.// M608: //Yeah, right.// Yeah, yeah. M1163: You know, my mother's parents on bo-, on her side, they never ever, they always stayed on i- in Italy. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: My grandfather on my mother's side, he died in nineteen fifty-four. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: Er so he he died very early. M608: Mm. M1163: And my gran on my mother's side, she just died this year, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: in September, and she was a hundred and one. M608: Good grief, aye. M1163: A hundred and one years, one month and one day. It was incredible, just one oh one, one one, that was the the day she died, //you know, September.// M608: //Yeah.// //Yeah, that's amazing.// M1163: //Aye, it's, you know?// M608: So when did you come through to Ayr? M1163: Er, nineteen eighty-th-, four, //aye.// M608: //And what brought you here?// M1163: I bought a business down the road, the [CENSORED: business name], it used to be the [CENSORED: business name] Hotel. M608: Mmhm. M1163: So I've been in business since erm nineteen seventy-three, seventy-three my father sold his business and retired. M608: What did he do? M1163: Erm he f- at the end o the day he had a hotel, M608: Oh right. M1163: you know, so erm when he sold up and retired, I bought a business in Carluke with my wife. M608: Okay. M1163: It was a newsagents, M608: Oh right. M1163: er just, we were there for quite a number of years, we wanted to extend the business and the Council wouldn't allow us M608: Oh right. M1163: to extend it, so we sold it and I moved back to Newmains and I bought a pub in Newmains. M608: Okay, so you went from kind of newsagent to pub to hotel? M1163: Uh-huh. M608: Oh right, I mean do you find that a difficult transition, I mean, no? //Yeah.// M1163: //It wisnae, it wisnae a problem in the slightest,// M608: Uh-huh. M1163: because when I was growing up my father had a chip shop. M608: Oh right. M1163: So ever since you were, was it "knee-high" somebody say, //that// M608: //Aye.// M1163: I was behind a counter, //you know, you were the only general// M608: //Oh okay.// M1163: public, you were working away. And then it went fae a chip shop tae a general store M608: Mmhm. M1163: tae a licensed grocer's, M608: Mmhm. M1163: tae a pub, tae a licensed restaurant then tae a hotel. M608: Okay. M1163: So I came through all those stages, working away and //and and doing things.// M608: //Mmhm. Mmhm.// M1163: And then when he decided and and sold up, I bought a business in Carluke and it was a newsagent's. M608: Oh right. //Yeah, yeah.// M1163: //So fae there on, it's just been a progress, continuation.// //Mm.// M608: //[inaudible] Must have been a hard life, er the hospitality seems to me always a incredibly// //time-consuming, you're never, you're never off duty.// M1163: //Well people, yeah.// No, that's it. People say to me, you know, "you're a young man". M608: Aye. M1163: Maybe in age-wise I'm a young man, but business-wise or work-wise I feel as if I've worked a long long time, //because we worked seven days,// M608: //Mmhm, aye.// //Aye. Aye.// M1163: //you know, even when wir kids were bringing, were getting brought, bringing them up, we were seven days a week.// M608: Aye. M1163: You know, so, it was only in nineteen ninety-one when I finished up in my own businesses, and I moved and I wor- started working with [CENSORED: companyname]. M608: Oh aye. M1163: That was my first time in my life I ever worked five days a week, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: and I was absolutely lost on a Saturday and a Sunday. M608: [laugh] Really? M1163: What dae I dae? //It's a Saturday,// M608: //[laugh]// M1163: I'm no openin the pub, I'm no daein this, //I'm no daein that,// M608: //Aye.// M1163: you know, and and it was so strange for months and months and months and months, not working on a Saturday and a Sunday. M608: Aye. M1163: And it's just been a sort o levelling off fae there. M608: Mmhm. Did you find that a difficult er th- thing, er not working for yourself but working for somebody else, or did you find that was easier because you'd more free time? M1163: Erm it was difficult to the point of view that if you didnae do any w-, I'll no say, work's the wrong word, if you if you didnae conduct any business you were still getting paid, M608: Aye. M1163: which was strange, //because if you didnae// M608: //Aye.// M1163: work and didnae produce nothing, you never got any money, //so you couldnae pay your bills.// M608: //Aye.// //Mmhm.// M1163: //But// tae turn round and find out that "Hey I just need to go and talk to people and walk oot. I don't need to sell nothing, //and I'm still getting paid",// M608: //Mmhm. Aye.// M1163: you know, that was that was absolutely brilliant, //you know?// M608: //[laugh]// M1163: But then, everything's got its good points and its bad points, //depending what// M608: //Aye.// M1163: way you want to look at it. M608: Mm. M1163: If you're self-employed, and I'm saying that legitimately, you tell the tax man what he's getting. //But if you're employed, the tax// M608: //Aye. Mmhm.// M1163: man tells you what you're getting. M608: Aye. M1163: So if you're quite happy with that, that's fine. M608: Mmhm. M1163: Cause you could have a car, you can have this, you can have that, and you can claim it back on tax, there there there's tax breaks available. M608: Mmhm. M1163: So if you're prepared to use that, then you can have a good life, //as long as you're// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: turning the money over to justify it. M608: Aye. M1163: But for the other side o the coin, you're paying all that tax out, you're paying this, you're paying that, you're dealing with //staff, you've got problems,// M608: //Aye. Mm.// M1163: you've got this, you've got the general public. And th- there's no such a thing as an easy life, //you know, you you've just// M608: //Aye, aye.// //Aye.// M1163: //got to work at it and accept whatever it it throws up// //at you,// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: and be prepared to adapt at the time. M608: Mmhm. Where did you meet your wife? Your wife's Italian? M1163: Right, my wife erm came over here the day England got the World Cup, M608: Sixty-six? M1163: sixty-six, July sixty-six, Scotland got my wife. //My-// M608: //[laugh]// M1163: my wife came over from Italy as an au pair. M608: Mmhm. M1163: And erm at that time it was difficult to come over from any country into Scotland, so the au pair was //the// M608: //Mmhm.// //Aye.// M1163: //the easy option or the easy thing to// put doon on a bit o paper to //say that you were coming over.// M608: //Aye.// M1163: So anyway, she came over to a family in Viewpark, //near Uddingston,// M608: //Mmhm.// Oh okay. M1163: erm, and she was working in a chip shop. M608: Mmhm. M1163: And the first time I ever seen her, and it was nothing at all to do with boyfriend, girlfriend, I was playing football with erm St Bridget's boys' guild in Newmains, M608: Mmhm. M1163: and we were playing St Columba's Viewpark, in Viewpark. M608: Mmhm. M1163: And we beat them but all during the game there was er boys behind the goals, "I'm goin to get you after the game, youse are going to get it", //etcetera, etcetera.// M608: //Yeah. Yeah.// M1163: So after the game was finished, obviously the priests walk you back to the the dressing room, an that was fine, but after that, that was you, you were on your //own, shall we say.// M608: //[laugh]// M1163: So we kept lookin oot and //lookin oot and we// M608: //Aye.// M1163: seen this bus comin, so we'd a run to the bus stop. And here, by the time we got up to the bus stop and the bus came doon, it wasnae the bus we wanted, //you know?// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: So two or three of us just ran across the road into the //chip shop to buy// M608: //Chip shop.// //Aye.// M1163: //sweeties or something, just to try and, you know,// M608: [?]Get on[/?]. M1163: er think these guys were all goin to hit us, //you know?// M608: //Aye.// M1163: So here this girl serving in the shop, she couldnae speak any E- English. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: So a few months later at this time, going back to that time in sixty-six and that, what happened was that this Italian family'd go to that Italian //family this week,// M608: //Oh right.// M1163: and next week you'd go to them, and it was always their business, whether it was a chip //shop or a pub or whatever it was,// M608: //Uh-huh, uh-huh.// M1163: you always went there. So this erm crowd, they were called [CENSORED: surname], erm they came up and they brought these two girls with them. //And here it was my// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: to-be wife and her sister, M608: Oh right. M1163: you know? And I says I says, "I- I've seen you", in er in Italian, she says to my mother and father, "Ah, he was in the shop a couple o weeks ago", you know, //you know, so so that was it, and just fae there// M608: //Aye, uh-huh that was it?// M1163: and so we spoke, and I I spoke [?]her back[/?], shall we say, and we sort o forgot aboot it, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: and it was months later we just decided tae tae go oot. M608: How did you get over the language barrier, cause I mean, did you speak Italian at the time? M1163: Very very basic, //you know, and// M608: //Aye.// //Aye.// M1163: //she was learning English as well, so// we just done that a wee bit as well. M608: And she learnt English faster than you learnt //Italian, yeah yeah.// M1163: //It-, exactly, yeah, well, she's in the chip shop,// //seven days a week, so if you don't speak,// M608: //Aye, that's true, mm.// //You don't get on, aye.// M1163: //you don't get on, and they had an ice-cream van// as well, she'd go oot in the ice-cream van as well, //you know, to// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: to to to pick it up. And there was a women there, Toni, and she finished up marrying one o the brothers, Albert, God rest him. And she told my wife, "We're no goin oot in the van till you learn a new tw-, learn two new words today". M608: [laugh] M1163: So that was the thing as well, she would, she //would learn a couple of words on a daily basis.// M608: //Uh-huh uh-huh.// Aye. M1163: So, you know, so this was erm it was the way you learn it, in't it? //You've got to speak it.// M608: //Uh-huh aye, aye.// M1163: So it, an it just sort o snowballed fae there. //Aye, that's it.// M608: //Mm, so does, do- does she do the interpreting for you when you go back to Italy?// M1163: Yeah. M608: Aye. M1163: Aye, if it, if it's complicated. M608: Aye. M1163: If it's er simple stuff then it's no a problem. M608: Yeah. Do you find that you can read it, or is it M1163: Y- I can read it and I'll pick oot words, //and then you'll,// M608: //Mm.// //Mm.// M1163: //I'll just say to my wife, look, "Does that say, whatever?" and she will say "Aye", or she'll say "No, that word there is because it's in that sentence is// M608: Mmhm. //Mmhm. Mmhm.// M1163: //means this, so it's s- slightly different, but, you know, that's just the way it is.// M608: Mm. You were never tempted to to kind of end up in Italy? //Cause I cause I would. [laugh]// M1163: //[inhale] I I// I I would, I think I'd give it a bash, //but my wife's not,// M608: //Uh-huh. No?// M1163: she's not keen to go back. The same with my mother, she does not want, she widnae go back to Italy to stay //the full time.// M608: //No? Why not?// M1163: I don't know if it's maybe memories of when they were younger //and they they don't// M608: //Oh right.// M1163: think that it would erm, it's changes, would probably assume it's still the //same.// M608: //The same, aye.// M1163: But i- if you erm look at it, my mother's been over here since nineteen forty-eight, M608: Mmhm. M1163: you know, so even ten year ago the amount o years she's over here, she left Italy when she was, well, twenty-six, she would be about twenty-one or twenty-two. //when she got married.// M608: //Aye, aye.// M1163: So she's spent the bulk o her life over here. M608: Yeah. M1163: So my wife was sixteen, so she's spent the bulk o her life //here as well,// M608: //Yeah, yeah.// M1163: you know, sorry, seventeen she was. //[inaudible] So she's// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: spent the bulk o her life here, so to to to go back there, //erm,// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: my ideal scenario would be you go back to Italy maybe for three, four months in the year, //and// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: come back here, //but, you know,// M608: //Mmhm yeah, yeah.// M1163: she's no wanting to do that, so //that's just just the way it is.// M608: //Yeah.// Cause I'm thinkin ahead, my wife's Brazilian, we were thinking, well, are we going to spent some time in Brazil, //some time here// M1163: //Mm.// M608: you know, it's it's a kind of difficult thing to try to figure out. //I think we'll// M1163: //Yeah.// M608: at least spent part of the year when when we retire, er us being over there. M1163: Mmhm. M608: part of the year //here an// M1163: //Well, that's what I would have expected,// well, expected, I would have assumed that we could have done. M608: Mmhm. M1163: But she's not //she's not that keen to go back.// M608: //Not keen, yeah.// Because there are bits, I mean, bits of the south of Italy that are just gorgeous, //just beautiful.// M1163: //Well, this is it,// but my wife says that you go back there, what can you do, //you know,// M608: //Mm mmhm.// M1163: you know, there's only so much you can do, erm, you've got to pay for the doctor's, M608: That's true. M1163: you've got to have transport, //because the bus service// M608: //Mm.// //Oh aye.// M1163: //is nothing like here,// you know, er all the wee bits and pieces //that are are the// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: problem, you go over there and you don't know anybody apart from your own immediate family //so you need to start// M608: //That's right, yeah.// M1163: making new friends, if that's //the word to use, you// M608: //Mmhm aye.// M1163: you need to start erm going about and //networking, is that the the// M608: //Mmhm.// //Yeah, I think, aye.// M1163: //terminology you've got to use? Whereas here// she can jump in her car and go here, go there, go and meet this yin, go and meet that yin, //dae this, dae that, you know?// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// M1163: To me the ideal scenario would be, couple of months every year just disappear, M608: Mmhm. //Aye. Mmhm.// M1163: //you know, or even, you know, two or three times a year,// especially in days wi the cheap travel, //you know, just jump in the the plane,// M608: //Aye, aye, yeah.// M1163: two minutes and you're at the airport. M608: Oh aye. M1163: And and you're away, you know, //six hours,// M608: //Aye, that's true.// M1163: fae house tae house, //you know, that's us in// M608: //Good grief, is that all it is? Aye.// M1163: my sister's up in Milan. And it's er it's five hours, //house to house.// M608: //Aye.// Uh-huh. M1163: You know? So erm. M608: Yeah, it's tempting. //Aye.// M1163: //That's the thing, but// she disnae want to dae it so, well, obviously I don't pressurise her. M608: No no. So you're retired now? //Is that right?// M1163: //Er, in brackets.// //[laugh] Technically.// M608: //[laugh] Aye, yeah, but you're very busy, aye.// M1163: Eh, at the moment, I'm unemployed, I'm looking for another job. M608: Oh, is that the, yeah. //Uh-huh.// M1163: //Eh that that that's what I'm doing.// I've just filled in an application form right there for a sessional worker for a children's home. M608: Oh right. //Mmhm.// M1163: //You know, erm,// //I-I- I'm on the Children's Panel, in South Ayrshire, I do the Children's Panel,// M608: //Mm mmhm.// //Oh right, okay.// M1163: //you know?// Er and since I was doing that I've really enjoyed M608: Mmhm. //It's been interesting, yeah.// M1163: //E-e- enjoyed's not the right word, but I've en-, you know it's been interesting.// And I'd like to do a bit more, //for for for children at that side,// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// //Mmhm.// M1163: //you know,// so the children's home is somewhere that you can have a wee bit o an input. M608: Yeah. M1163: My problem is that I left school at fifteen, M608: Mmhm. M1163: er I've got I think I think I've got a great [?]not[/?] of, a lot of knowledge, M608: Aye. M1163: I do not have this piece of paper M608: Uh-huh. M1163: telling me that I've got an O level, I've got a Higher, //I've got a degree, I've got this or that.// M608: //Mm mmhm.// Yeah. M1163: So, all the jobs nowadays is //your qualifications,// M608: //Aye, it's difficult, aye.// //Aye, aye.// M1163: //and if you don't have any, you've had it, so// //that's just the way the cookie crumbles.// M608: //That's a that's a difficult one to begin with.// How did you get involved with the er, you've been working with the [CENSORED: companyname] Group? M1163: Yeah. M608: Yeah, how did, how did you get involved in that in the first place? M1163: It was a friend o mine, when I when I finished up wi [CENSORED: companyname]. //[CENSORED: companyname] got closed down.// M608: //Mmhm.// Oh that's right. M1163: because their Australian parent company decided they would erm, [tut] legitimately, I'll I'll need to be careful what I'm saying if it's going onto //the tape here,// M608: //Aye.// M1163: legitimately take away a lot of money out of various funds that the [CENSORED: companyname] and the other companies had, M608: Aye. //Mmhm.// M1163: //erm back to Australia, so they closed them down.// So when my friend heard that I was looking for something, he'd mentioned, "Look there's a job going in [CENSORED: town name], it's only three days a week. It'll maybe suit you until you get something else." M608: Mmhm. M1163: So I made a few phonecalls, got the application form, went to this interview, and got the job. M608: Mmhm. M1163: [tut] And it's just it's been there. And I I enjoyed it, //and it// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: it was it was ideal because [cough] I'd started to reach the stage where I'm saying to myself, look do I need this pressure in life, //an// M608: //Aye.// M1163: do I need this and that? because I I've worked hard, and I'm doing this. [says goodbye to a man leaving the room] That's just my son going to work. M608: [inhale] M1163: No a bad time to //start, yeah, half ten.// M608: //No no bad, half ten.// M1163: [cough] Aye, he works in the machines in the pubs and hotels, //you know, the// M608: //Oh right, uh-huh.// //Oh okay.// M1163: //pool tables and// gaming machines and that, //so// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: they cannae go into pubs till this time, //you know, like that, so there's nae// M608: //Oh of course, aye. Mm.// M1163: point they were up any earlier. But anyway, [cough] because I'd worked hard earlier on in my life, erm I could able to sort o step back a wee bit fae the five days a week. M608: Mmhm. M1163: You know, humdrum or six days a week //and// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: got bills to pay here and bills to pay there. I'm saying that very nicely, //I'm not// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: not bein ignorant when I say that. M608: Mmhm. M1163: But, you know, because you work hard one way, you don't have the fun the other way. M608: Yeah. M1163: Er and because you do that and if you if you look after yourself and after your finances, M608: Aye. M1163: then, it's thingwy, and so at the present moment, [cough] I'd like to get a job three or four days a week. M608: Aye. M1163: You know? But I I don't have any erm necessity shall we //say, tae// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: go and take the first job that's //coming so as I need to// M608: //Coming to you.// M1163: pay my bills. M608: Mmhm. M1163: You know, at the moment I've got a wee //bit o savings that I// M608: //[cough]// M1163: can use to to to pay my bills and //just look// M608: //Aye.// M1163: for something that I'm, I'd like to do. Something that I can enjoy doing. M608: Yeah. M1163: But erm at fifty-six years of age, it's it's a young, you know //it's no time to// M608: //Yeah.// //Yeah.// M1163: //to retire, there's still a few years left in me yet.// M608: Oh aye. M1163: But in the same respect, I'm no lookin to work seven o'clock in the morning to seven o'clock at night, five, six days a week, M608: Aye. M1163: you know, it's fortunate, thank //God for that, that I don't have to// M608: //Mm mm.// //Mmhm mm.// M1163: //to go doon that route, you know?// //So.// M608: //Can you tell me a bit more about// the kind of things you've been doing with the [CENSORED: companyname] Group, cause my Mum tells me a bit, //but// M1163: //Aye.// Erm I started off wi the, being a volunteers' coordinator. M608: Mmhm. M1163: So you'd to go and look for volunteers, that would go into people's homes, or take them for a wee drive, or take them for a walk in the summertime or that, M608: Mmhm. M1163: [cough] So you had to erm select the people, meet them, go through a sort of screening process, M608: Mmhm. M1163: pick out the ones that you felt would be suitable, M608: Aye. M1163: then drew up a training package, //trained them,// M608: //Mmhm.// //Aye, yeah.// M1163: //put them through that, done the Disclosure Scotland,// //all that, yeah, you know,// M608: //Got, everybody's gotta go through Disclosure now, haven't they, aye.// M1163: match them up wi the person, take them oot to meet the people, let them see if you like them, they like you, M608: Aye. M1163: and then arrange a time that suits. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: And you just keep erm keep record o their visits, ask them to fill a form out, M608: Aye. M1163: after every visit, //send their expenses in on a a regular business and pay their expenses.// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// So you were working more with the volunteers than with the Alzheimer's patients //themselves, yeah.// M1163: //Yeah, yeah, that was my initial// //remit.// M608: //Aye, uh-huh.// M1163: And they had [CENSORED: forename], [CENSORED: forename] [CENSORED: surname], she's the service manager, she had an idea o group work with them, //you know?// M608: //Aye.// M1163: So, well she's very football //orientated,// M608: //Okay.// M1163: you know, and I mean football orientated. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: Erm so she thought about a football reminiscence group, //erm,// M608: //Ah right.// M1163: she asked me if I would take it, and I //said yeah I would// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: take it, and it's just snowballed frae there. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: And we've had, we got a bit in the Scotsman about it, M608: Uh-huh? M1163: [cough] and then we got a phonecall from a woman down south in Northampton, M608: Okay. M1163: it was, a bit was put in the Physio-, Physiotherapist Weekly, or //something, the magazine for all the physios, and// M608: //Oh right, mmhm.// M1163: she was asking a few questions about it. M608: Mmhm. M1163: And at the end of the questions, she says "And how long do they play in each half?" M608: [laugh] M1163: You know, and I says, "Well", I says, "considering we're talking about people in their sixties and their seventies and //their eighties and// M608: //Aye, aye.// M1163: that, you know, and quite a few of them are not erm mobile tae tae tae walk a distance, never mind play football." "Oh, I thought yous played football as well". I says "No, we don't play football." M608: [?]Silly[/?]. //Aye.// M1163: //So that's what it's been an// now [CENSORED: forename]'s got a new job, she's leaving, //erm, at the end o the week.// M608: //Oh right, yeah.// Mmhm. M1163: And we don't know what's happening. //The new manager's// M608: //Oh right, okay.// M1163: be put in place and it's up to the new manager to decide what she's wanting to do. M608: Mmhm. M1163: We'll need to a- advertise for a project worker as well, M608: Oh right. M1163: because the manager runs a service in Irvine. M608: Okay. M1163: And she won't be able to have the time to run this service, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: so she'll need to, well [CENSORED: business name] will need to advertise for a project //worker.// M608: //Aye, aye.// M1163: And because they're looking for a project worker, they'll be looking for people with qualifications an //an SVQs an// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: what do I no have? //You know? So that just the way the cookie crumbles.// M608: //Aye, qualifica-, yeah, aye, aye.// Do they not er count experience against that though, I mean, no? //Depends.// M1163: //Depends.// It's like everything else in life, //if it suits,// M608: //Aye.// M1163: it does, and if it doesnae, //it doesnae.// M608: //Aye.// //But you've got experience// M1163: //Aye.// M608: on the ground with the people already? //Aye.// M1163: //That's, that this is the thing, but// will that be taken into consideration, M608: Aye. M1163: that a a a manager, //er, it's human nature,// M608: //Yeah, yeah.// M1163: if you you know somebody that would be good at a job, //you can interview people// M608: //Aye.// //Aye. Uh-huh.// M1163: //and you can manipulate them, I'm saying that nicely,// the the the the interviews with the people for that person to get the job, //you know?// M608: //Oh aye, aye.// M1163: So if this new manager comes in and she knows somebody that she wants to be put in place as her project //worker,// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// M1163: then that's what it'll be, //you know?// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: And again because of the circumstances at the moment, I don't think I'm in in the running for //it, even if I did get// M608: //Mm.// //Yeah. Mm.// M1163: //an application form.// And even if I did get an interview. //Cause I don't have the bits// M608: //Aye.// //Aye.// M1163: //o paper, and everybody's all running scared the noo.// //I don't have any// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: qualifications, yo- you know, if something happens, you're this, that and the next thing. //You know?// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: If I get the opportunity, I'd, I'll definitely do it. M608: Mmhm. M1163: But I I'm definitely not holding my breath, //you know?// M608: //Uh-huh, yeah.// //Mmhm.// M1163: //And that that's a fact o life, that's just the way the cookie crumbles.// M608: Yeah. M1163: You know? M608: Yeah. One of the things I found, I I attended a carers' group for Alzheimer's with my mum, and it was just in- incredible the, for me, er to see what people were coping with in their everyday lives. //Cause it kind o opened up my eyes, really, quite// M1163: //Aye, it's// //It-it- it's it's huge.// M608: //quite quite yeah.// //Yeah. Have you been organising things like// M1163: //It is.// M608: pub quizzes for them, or or quizzes? //Quizzes. Uh-huh.// M1163: //We do quizzes at the the lunch club,// //you know?// M608: //Aye, how does that// how does that go, cause that struck me when I first heard of it, it's a kind of strange thing to be doing with Alzheimer's patients, with people with memory problems, doing quizzes with them. Do you find that works, or? M1163: Well, a certain person on your left-hand side can either shake her head or //nod up and down to say it works or not works.// M608: //[laugh]// //Yeah.// M1163: //You know? [third person in room laughs]// It works because erm, [cough], I I just pitch the questions, //it's not, it's not a a// M608: //Aye.// M1163: a brainy level, shall we //say.// M608: //Uh-huh.// //Aye.// M1163: //I'm saying that nice-, you know obviously// there's some fun in it, there's some joking in it. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: Erm but the majority of people, they can remember back, I don't ask what happened //yesterday or last week, it was// M608: //Uh-huh.// //Oh aye.// M1163: //sort of five year ago,// ten year ago, twenty year //ago, what// M608: //Aye.// M1163: what's this, what's this capital, what's //that?// M608: //Uh-huh.// //Uh-huh.// M1163: //All the different// things, and if they want a wee help, instead of getting a point, they'll get half a //point, but I'll gie them some// M608: //Uh-huh.// //Aye.// M1163: //clues.// And some of them can be quite funny as well, //[inaudible]// M608: //But you choose your questions carefully, do you?// //Aye, aye. Aye, aye.// M1163: //Yeah, oh aye, oh you've go- you've got to, you know, it's just// erm just go through the Internet and pick out bits, pieces, here, there and just cobble things thegither, if I see something interesting in the newspaper, or I was speaking to somebody the other day, and "Oh that's a good idea", I just go back home and type it into the sheet and M608: Uh-huh. M1163: use that at the next quiz. M608: Yeah, yeah. M1163: You know, this is, it's just all, it's all, [cough] because I've been dealing with the general public, I think I've got a fair idea of wh-wh- what's needed and what's required, M608: Aye. M1163: and erm [tut] [cough] without blowing my trumpet too much, it seems to have worked. //because I I I think the causes are// M608: //Oh aye.// M1163: are good and, you know, some people are looking forward to it more than others. M608: Well, certainly my Dad enjoys //it, aye, yeah.// M1163: //Aye, there's a lady from Troon,// erm er she's the carer for her husband, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: you know, er [CENSORED: forename] and [CENSORED: forename]. M608: Mmhm. M1163: [cough] "You're no havin a quiz?" This was at the the last, erm, //lunch club,// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: in December. I had arranged for a keyboard player to come in, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: erm and just play some songs and have some c- dancing, just to //have a thingwy.// M608: //Aye.// M1163: "You've no quiz? That's no fair. I was looking forward", and she's so so much looking forward to these quizzes. //She's very competitive,// M608: //Aye.// //[laugh]// M1163: //you know?// So what I dae wi wi [CENSORED: forename] is erm I always have a sheet wi some tough questions, M608: Aye. M1163: because I know her and her husband are, you know, //they're a wee bit educated better than me.// M608: //They've r-.// //[laugh] Aye.// M1163: //So I make sure that I've got some tough questions in there, because if they start// you know, if they're running away wi the quiz, //[cough]// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: you just give their team a few tough //questions, you know, to just// M608: //Questions, right.// M1163: bring them back again. //Because I always just// M608: //Aye.// //Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.// M1163: //there's only usually a point, or something, two points at the end of the day, so that's what it's all aboot, it's having a bit o fun, but again,// because you sort o realise just what's going to be, //you've got to be prepared for it.// M608: //Aye, uh-huh.// //Aye.// M1163: //There's another// family, they they've been in a few times in the summer, especially when the schools are on holiday. They bring their grandchildren with them, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: you know, and erm I personally didnae like that, //because er// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: it's no for kids, //you know, but they all [?]need tae[/?],// M608: //Yeah, yeah.// M1163: so that was [inaudible], so again I was doing the same there, I was bringing in some tough //questions,// M608: //Questions, aye.// M1163: you know, because one of them, he thought he knew everything. M608: Aye. M1163: Well, y-y-, I'm I'm no being disrespectful, but you had to put him in his place, //you know, because// M608: //Aye, aye.// M1163: it was this, that and the next thing, and you know if they're running away wi the quiz, well //you know, it's no fair, and and somebody's got to turn round and say// M608: //Aye, no, it's no f-, it's no fun for anybody, aye aye.// M1163: "But how come, you know, they had their grandchildren with them, so //they knew this, that and the next thing."// M608: //Aye, mm.// M1163: So again you've got to be //prepared, for// M608: //Prepared, aye.// //Yeah.// M1163: //for for what to do and that, you know?// M608: Is, are pub quizzes something you do yourself outside then, no? //Cause, just when you were saying// M1163: //N- never.// M608: today you were preparing for "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" M1163: Aye, that's just for the, for Christmas, because my my son just got engaged the other week there, //[cough], so his// M608: //Oh right.// M1163: future in-laws to be are coming down. [cough] so erm I just got that, because [CENSORED: forename], [CENSORED: forename]'s her name, she wanted to play it. M608: Oh right. M1163: [cough] So we had to do, so we just //trying to make sure I've seen some of the quizzes, be prepared.// M608: //[laugh]// //Aye.// M1163: //You've gotta be prepared.// M608: Aye. M1163: [tut] But erm, och that's what it is. //But I don't go oot// M608: //Mm.// M1163: last night I was oot, that's the first day I've been oot for months and months and months. Was only oot for a couple of hours, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: for a, you know, I just don't go oot and socialise. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: A, I'm no uised to it, //because// M608: //Aye.// M1163: when you're growing up you're in a pub environment, you've had enough o that. //[cough], B, I don't// M608: //Aye.// M1163: I d-, I take a a drink but //it's just a social drink, I don't, you know?// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// M1163: Erm, and C, I grudge the money //that you pay in pubs nooadays.// M608: //Mmhm aye.// M1163: Cause there last night it was f- nearly six quid, five pound fifty or five pound sixty for two gin and tonics. //[cough]// M608: //Aye, I know, it's-.// M1163: A couple of rounds of drinks and you could be able to buy a bottle of gin and half a dozen bottles o //tonic, you could have// M608: //Aye, that's true.// M1163: sit in your hoose for a week, //well, the way I drink it could be a fortnight, having a couple o gins every night,// M608: //Aye. [laugh]// //Aye, aye.// M1163: //you know,// I I just //grudge it, you know, I'll go oot// M608: //Grudge the money, aye.// M1163: occasionally, wi wi if somebody asked me, that's fine, but I just don't go oot on a regular //basis.// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: I'd rather go to Aldi's or Lidl's or somewhere and //buy// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: a dozen bottles o cola, //something and// M608: //Mmhm.// //Yeah.// M1163: //just sit in the hoose and get the same satisfaction.// M608: So you've got a big family celebration planned for Christmas then wi the //engagement?// M1163: //[cough] At the moment there's only thirteen// //coming,// M608: //Ah, thirteen. Mm.// //That's, uh-huh.// M1163: //which is a wee bit disappointing. Usually there's// a lot more than thirteen, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: you know, but again, people grow up //and, you know, other// M608: //Oh aye.// M1163: you know, and relations have other things to do and that, //you know?// M608: //Aye.// M1163: Supposed to be getting my sister over fae Italy, but her husband has got some overtime //that he didn't expect to get.// M608: //Oh okay.// M1163: And it's quite good overtime he's getting, //so// M608: //Mmhm.// M1163: that's three that are no coming. They're just going to stay in Italy. //[inaudible]// M608: //Okay. So she lives in Italy now?// M1163: She stays in Milan. M608: Ah right, okay. M1163: I had a brother, he's over in Phoenix, Arizona, and //my sister, she's in Milan.// M608: //Oh okay.// //Uh-huh. Is that permanent, there in Phoenix?// M1163: //You know?// Oh aye, he's been there for thirty year. M608: Aye. M1163: Aye, he worked wi Motorola //then// M608: //Oh right, okay, aye.// M1163: well he went to Zambia initially, when he //qualified as an accountant wi// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: Coopers Lybrand I think //it was at that time.// M608: //Uh-huh.// M1163: He was in Zambia for a couple o year. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: Then he came back to Yeovil, and then he moved up to East Kilbride, M608: Uh-huh. M1163: through Motorola. [tut] And at that time they were looking for people to to go to to Phoenix. //So,// M608: //Aye, a change in climate anyway!// M1163: oh that's it, and er he's been there ever since. M608: Mmhm. M1163: Erm but, that's just the way it goes. So we we go there, we've been there the last few years for a a couple o weeks. //over tae Phoenix, as well, aye, it's// M608: //Yeah, how do you like Phoenix? I've never been there.// M1163: erm again it depends if you like, well obviously it's desert, it's //a it's a valley,// M608: //Mmhm mmhm.// M1163: you know, so you're guaranteed the heat. M608: Mmhm. M1163: Erm and again there's no public transport, so you need a car. You go to a shopping mall because it's //too hot tae tae walk aboot ootside, an// M608: //Too hot, aye.// //Aye, it's a different kind of life.// M1163: //it's a// well, [cough], I I wouldnae like it. M608: Aye. M1163: It's, were you brought up in it, you know, //you- you've got to// M608: //Aye.// M1163: life in it, then that's fine. M608: Uh-huh. M1163: You know, but he's been there for thirty year so he's used to the way o life and his kids are used to the way o life as well, obviously. But I took my wife over, the first time we went over and she said "Don't like it" and the second time we went over she says "Don't like //it",// M608: //Mm.// //Yeah.// M1163: //you know, and to me it's// //great for a holiday, it gets you away and// M608: //Yeah.// M1163: you see something different, you know, I've been to the Grand Canyon, //and I've been to// M608: //Aye.// //Aye.// M1163: //Tombstone, I've been to [?]the galas[/?],// you know, you can see things, and that's what I like, //to see different things.// M608: //Yeah, yeah.// M1163: But it wouldnae be my //cup o tea to stay for for, you know,// M608: //No.// //No.// M1163: //a a home, shall we say?// M608: I'm the same. My sister lives in the States, but, it's great visiting her, but //I don't see myself ever living there, no.// M1163: //Mm, aye, no,// //for some reason, it's just never appealed to me.// M608: //Yeah. Mm.// This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 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Information about document and author: Audio Audio audience Adults (18+): For gender: Mixed Audience size: 2 Audio awareness & spontaneity Speaker awareness: Aware Degree of spontaneity: Spontaneous Audio footage information Year of recording: 2006 Recording person id: 608 Size (min): 32 Size (mb): 156 Audio setting Private/personal: Recording venue: Front room of private house Geographic location of speech: Prestwick, Ayrshire Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers Family members or other close relationship: Known via mutual acquaintance: Not previously acquainted: Speakers knew each other: No Audio transcription information Transcriber id: 718 Year of transcription: 2007 Year material recorded: 2006 Word count: 7659 Audio type Conversation: Participant Participant details Participant id: 608 Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1950 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Protestantism Occupation: University Professor Place of birth: Ayr Region of birth: S Ayr Birthplace CSD dialect area: Ayr Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Bridge of Weir Region of residence: Renfrew Residence CSD dialect area: Renfr Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Insurance Broker Father's place of birth: Auchinleck Father's region of birth: S Ayr Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Ayr Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Dental Receptionist Mother's place of birth: Ayr Mother's region of birth: S Ayr Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Ayr Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: In most everyday situations Language: Portuguese Speak: Yes Read: No Write: No Understand: Yes Circumstances: When trying to communicate with my in-laws Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: In domestic/activist circles; reading literature Participant Participant details Participant id: 1163 Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1950 Age left school: 15 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Catholicism Occupation: Presently unemployed / retail, hotel trade, insurance, social work Place of birth: Newmains Region of birth: Lanark Birthplace CSD dialect area: Lnk Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Ayr Region of residence: S Ayr Residence CSD dialect area: Ayr Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Retail - self-employed Father's place of birth: Johnstone Father's region of birth: Renfrew Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Renfr Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: In business with father: pubs/hotel/chip shop Mother's place of birth: San Biaggio Mother's country of birth: Italy Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: Italian Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: No Understand: No Circumstances: Basic