SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 354 Title : Conversation 07: Ayrshire woman on her career Author(s): N/A Copyright holder(s): Prof John B Corbett SCOTS Project Audio transcription M608: Okay, erm, I mean you were, you were born and brought up in Ayr, weren't //you? Yeah.// F643: //Yeah, uh-huh.// I was, I was actually born in Irvine Central M608: oh, right. F643: Hospital, which has always been a bit of a bugbear for me, cause I like the concept of being born and brought up in Ayr, //so that wee// M608: //uh-huh// F641: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// F643: //technical glitch is a bit of a problem,// ehm and er, I lived in Ayr till I was seventeen, so. M608: Yeah, and your dad's French? F643: My dad's French, //yes, uh-huh.// M608: //Yeah.// Did he speak Fre-, I mean you, did you speak French as a kid? F643: This was always a, a point of contention, erm, [tut], when I was, apparently when I was young, //I was bilingual.// M608: //mm uh-huh// F643: And when I went to, ehm, s- primary school, I was, I was told w- befo-, just before my dad died that I had actually managed to speak fluent French as a child. M608: mmhm F643: But, and I have no recollection of this, but apparently I was asked to speak French in class once, wh- when a visiting teacher came, I, but I blotted it from my mind and that caused me a lot of distress and got me a lot of teasing. //And// M608: //oh, right.// F643: I came home from the incident and said to my dad that, oh, I didn't want to have a French father, I wanted to be just like everyone else and, erm, I didn't like being set aside from everyone else //in school// M608: //mm// F643: and, erm, that that was basically shut-down time, M608: mmhm F643: [tut] I have one or two vague recollections of actually learning French, M608: mmhm F643: ehm, but when my dad tried to pick it up again, I was at the silly giggly stage, M608: Yeah. F643: and ehm couldn't take it seriously. But I do remem- I do remember, ehm, being upstairs and him, like, indi-, you know, pointing out to things in the room, M608: mmhm F643: and eh naming them, and I was to repeat it, and, you know, when we were out for a walk and things like that, he would actually talk to me in //French and I was to converse// M608: //[cough]// F643: back, so at some point I must have been bilingual. //[sniff]// M608: //mmhm// F643: But it would be, you know, toddler talk //bilingual as// F641: //[cough]// F643: opposed to adult talk bilingual. I'm no use in business //nowadays.// M608: //Yeah.// F643: [laugh] //Yeah.// M608: //So when you come// to, came to study French at school, did you find it easy, //or? Yeah. [inaudible]// F643: //Yeah, very easy. So it, it must// be in my genes, erm, [tut] I could, but I think, I think the biggest problem I've had with French is, is lack of eh vocabulary, and my vocabulary goes very quickly. M608: mm F643: I seem to have a kind of understanding of it when I'm over there and particularly the Bordeaux dialect, which makes //sense,// M608: //mm// F643: because my father was from Bordeaux, M608: mmhm F643: and the only other person who I've had a, a friendship with who's been French is a, a girl called Catherine and she was erm also from Bordeaux. M608: mmhm F643: She taught a class at Aberdeen University in erm [tut] Business French. M608: oh right! F643: And I went along for that just to kind of brush it up a wee bit, M608: mmhm F643: ehm, but it's, it's very very rusty and it would, I I have absolutely no confidence in it whatsoever at all, which is shocking. M608: mmhm F643: And it takes quite a wee while of relaxing before I g- I get wound up and I feel as if I can actually, you know, converse in it. M608: //Yeah. Did your mother ever learn French?// F641: //uh-huh// F643: No, she didn't! She was actually, she was very, ehm, [tut], she trie-, well, I mean she must have, because I did find in the loft after they both, both passed away, I found an absolute mountain of French books from about the //nineteen-forties and fifties [laugh].// M608: //[laugh]// //Right.// F643: //So she// must have given it a go, and it wasn't for lack of //intelligence,// M608: //[inaudible] mm// F643: because my mum certainly was capable of, of ehm, she read a //lot and she, she// M608: //Yeah.// F641: //[cough]// F643: would probably have got a handle on it, but I don't think she had any confidence in it, ehm, in her [tut], my mum had me when she was forty, so there was quite a big age gap between us, M608: mmhm F643: and in her childhood, they left school when they were fourteen or fifteen and went to work, //so she would never have had the opportunity to// M608: //Yeah. mm// F643: even get a grounding in it at school. M608: mmhm F643: erm. She apparently went over to France once with my father, before I was born, and she, eh, didn't really cope terribly well with the language, she was too shy //to attempt to// M608: //mmhm// F643: speak it, and of course with the Bordeaux accent, M608: mm F643: ehm, she was completely thrown. M608: mmhm F643: [tut] [inhale] But m-m- I went over after my father died to visit an uncle who, eh, at that time was in an old folks' home in Arcachon. And I went with my friend Shona who's the lawyer from Aberdeen, and of course she has been taught French and has had extra French because she works for French oil companies. So we went, eh, down to visit him. We stayed in Bordeaux for a couple of nights and we went to stay to see him. And it was really weird because I could understand what he was saying, M608: mmhm F643: ehm, although I didn't always have the vocabulary to reply. M608: mmhm F643: but Shona couldn't understand very much of what he was saying because she had Parisian French, if you like, or the equi- equivalent of //the Queen's English,// M608: //oh right. Yes.// F643: ehm. And, [tut], th- there was one or two things like, I asked him, ehm, how many people, how many people were in the old folks' home, and he said [?]'cinq'[/?]. M608: mmhm F643: Now, I knew that was a hundred - //'cent',// M608: //oh right.// F643: but Shona picked it up as five, //and she// M608: //Yeah, [?]I heard that[/?].// F643: was sitting going 'one, two //three, four'. [laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: She could count more than five biddies //sittin on [laugh] benches, [laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: just from, from viewpoint, so //she was quite confused.// M608: //ah right.// F643: But it, it's, it was just the, the difference in accent //but it's,// M608: //Yeah// F643: I know that since she's gone to live in France and she's obviously, she's working there, and she's coming across people from all over France, //she's getting more used// M608: //uh-huh// F643: to the accents from the //various different// M608: //Aye.// F643: //regions, [sniff].// F641: //mmhm// F643: //So she's not so thrown by it.// M608: //mm Yeah.// Yeah. F643: [inhale] But, ehm, the only times I've ever been, I was there with Shona, I've been in Paris a couple of times on business, other times I've been, ehm, the south of France, eh, a place called Coulli-, Coulliore. //And then// M608: //mmhm// F643: another place called [?]Culoris[/?], oddly enough, both similar names. F641: mmhm F643: But I found that once I was there, and maybe my blood got a wee bit //used to the,// F641: //mmhm mmhm// F643: the sort of atmosphere and //everything I found// M608: //mmhm// F643: I was, I got better. //I wasn't so// M608: //Yeah.// F643: scared, //to talk it, yeah.// M608: //mm// mm F643: [sniff] So? M608: And then you went to Glasgow School of Art to do Textiles? F643: Yes. I we-, I went to Glasgow School of Art to annoy my parents, //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh] [inaudible]// F643: because at the time I think I had an off-, an offer of something like a lab technician and I had a, an offer of nursing and, erm, I can't remember what the other thing was, but there was, there was four things I was offered //to go and do.// M608: //mm// F643: And art school was the most wayward one, and the one they didn't want me to do, //so that of course// M608: //mm// F643: was the one I chose. M608: mm F643: Plus I thought it would be the least hassle and the most fun. //ehm// M608: //mm// F641: //mmhm// F643: I went to Glasgow School of Art in nineteen seventy-seven, M608: Yeah. F643: and, eh graduated in eighty-one. M608: mmhm Did you go specifically to do Textiles? F643: No, and I hadn't clue what I wanted to do, ehm, when I was at school I specialised in portrait painting, //and// M608: //mmhm// F643: //drawing people.// F641: //mmhm// F643: And I had a kind of thought I would, I would stick with that idea but [sniff] I was very much conscious that I certainly, if I was going to invest four years and some kind of degree, I wanted to be able to work at the end of it. M608: mmhm F643: And when we got there and we did a, a general one-year course, I realised that I would have to choose a design subject because it was the only way you would get a job. M608: mmhm F643: So I thought the the the textile course was one where you could do a bit of everything. M608: mmhm F643: You could do, ehm, graphics or illustration, you could do a bit of embroidery, weaving. //You could do proper// F641: //mmhm mm// F643: printed textiles or printmaking. //It was a nice// M608: //mmhm// F643: course, so you could actually get quite a lot of experience in different things. [sniff] And we also did clothing design M608: mmhm F643: and, ehm, fashion. //And because I// F641: //[inaudible]// //mmhm mm yeah, sure.// F643: //because I could sew already and, eh, you know, make up patterns or alter patterns, I thought that would be, you know, a good one to do.// //But I enjoyed the course.// M608: //mmhm// //mmhm// F643: //It was very good.// M608: How do you find that kind of bohemian lifestyle, cause that's always my view of art school, that it's kind of, full of F643: Bohemian types? M608: Yeah. F643: ehm. //I think there's a lot of// M608: //In the [?]eighties[/?].// F643: people aspiring to be bohemian types. //I don't know if they, they truly// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: were. One, one of the things I particularly remember was, ehm, the, the amount of people, I mean obviously I, I come from a, a very working class background although my father was, was a s- skilled working class, //[sniff]// M608: //mmhm// F643: but there was a lot of people in Art School who were seriously upper class, M608: mm F643: and they were also serious Communist lefties by their way of it. //But all th- only// M608: //mm// F643: as long as father was putting the cheque in the bank //every month. [laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: [inhale] And there was, there was quite a few, ehm, aspiring bohemians, //[inaudible], you know.// M608: //Aye.// F643: It was, it was a fun place to be. One of the, one of the things I found was that it was so different from Ayr, //at the time, I mean Ayr circa// M608: //mmhm [inaudible]// F643: nineteen seventy-seven to eighty-one. [inhale] ehm. I was up in Art School, we used to p- particularly in, in Textiles, it was a trendy place, it was very trend conscious. //[sniff]// M608: //mmhm// F643: ehm. We couldn't afford the trends of the time obviously, clothing-wise, so //we created// F641: //mm// F643: [clicks fingers] eh trends, and one of the things we very often did was we wore vintage clothes. //ehm.// F641: //mmhm// F643: And I spent a great many times in my youth going round obviously the charity shops, //which, at the// F641: //mmhm?// F643: in Glasgow weren't so, it wasn't such a a //a normal thing to have charity shops.// M608: //[?]Aye, that's true,[/?] mm.// F641: //mmhm// F643: And also going to jumble sales down here. But I particularly remember one time I was, eh, I had, I was affecting a nineteen-fifties look at the [laugh] time, //[laugh],// M608: //[laugh]// F643: and I had come down on the train from Glasgow with a pencil skirt and original nineteen-fifties shoes, er, with the little stilettos, and a little boxy jacket and a wee fifties shirt and a handbag! //[laugh] And I was,// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: I think I had my hair in a, a chignon or something. It was up in sort of fifties //style.// F641: //mmhm// F643: And I was mincing down Ayr High //Street [laugh].// M608: //[laugh]// F643: [inhale] I, it was the comments I got were along the lines "oh, look at the state of that! //Who does she think she is?"// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: So I, I very quickly learned that I had to change. //I had to come,// M608: //mm// F643: get down to Ayr, or change in Glasgow with an Ayr outfit //that was very// F641: //[laugh]// F643: jeans and t-shirt //and normal.// M608: //mm// //mm// F641: //uh-huh// //[inaudible]// F643: //And and// the, the Art School stuff was very much kept for, ye //know,// F641: //Art School!// //[laugh]// F643: //Art School!// [tut] ehm. But it was quite good fun. We had lots of, ehm, I I I don't remember much of, I don't remember much hard work. It seemed to be an awful skoosh and there was an //awful lot of// M608: //mm// F643: being able to leave things to the last minute, M608: mm F643: and //all-night// M608: //Yeah.// F643: staying up, bashing out designs and things, so the discipline was about zero. [laughs] M608: [inaudible] was easy, [inaudible] //[laugh]// F643: //[laugh] uh-huh, yeah.// F641: //uh-huh// M608: and some [inaudible]. F643: It was, but I remember lots of the parties we had and, ehm, [tut] you know the, the Victoria Cafe, eh, was always where the, the trendy discos were held and e- and we always had themed discos //or// M608: //mmhm// F643: parties, F641: mm F643: ehm, so I remember things like, ehm what is it an, an eh, thirties erotic, erotica or //vintage erotica,// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: where people had to make things and, ehm, och the usual, eh, I I think we had a Rocky Horror Show. M608: //oh aye.// F641: //Yeah.// //[laugh]// F643: //Inevitably,// //we had a Rock- Rocky Horror Show// M608: //Yeah.// F643: one, and then it was usually per era. I remember a movie star one as well //where everyone was all,// M608: //mmhm// F643: but it the the thing about Art School for these parties, it's bad enough, ehm, I would think in normal life, but in Art School it was like twenty times bad because you had to really, you had to really be excellent. M608: mmhm F643: You know, if you were going to do yourself up as, yeah, I don't know Lauren Bacall or, or //Ava Gardner,// F641: //mmhm// F643: you had to just look exactly like them //and everything had to be perfect// F641: //[laugh]// F643: because there was so much criticism went on about your efforts. F641: hm F643: So it was, it was quite, it was quite interesting, ehm, so I enjoyed my time there, yeah. //mmhm// M608: //mmhm// F641: //mmhm// F643: Got a degree and, eh, did actually work as a designer, //which// M608: //mmhm// That was for Apollo Blinds? F643: eh oh no, I had, //I had two// M608: //Or was that later?// F643: two contracts before then, I d-, I did, eh, childrenswear clothing //for six months,// M608: //oh right.// F643: and I did ladieswear clothing for six months with a company that, that supplied Marks and Spencer's. M608: oh right. That //was in Glasgow, was it?// F643: //[tut] mmhm// Yeah. Two factories, so I went I went from Art School to Jordanhill, //and I lasted// M608: //mmhm// F643: a week and a half. F641: [laugh] //Was it teacher training, you were?// F643: //[laugh]// Teacher training. I was out on my first, ehm, //teacher-training experience// F641: //[laugh]// F643: and I thought "I can't do this. I'm going to kill a child". //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: I just knew! //It was, it was, oh!// F641: //You would be in jail for the rest of your life!// F643: The- there was a, a kind of slightly posh young girl getting bullied by another young girl in front of me, M608: uh-huh F643: and that was red rag to a bull, //and I// M608: //uh-huh// F643: very calmly sorted it out with them, but I think they could tell by my [possibly facial expression] M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: that there was, ooh, scary lady, so I thought "got to get out of this". And the job, a job came up at a factory working, I think it was something like eight o'clock in the morning till half-five at night! [laugh] It was grim! [laugh] And I think I got paid, er, the equivalent of three and six. M608: uh-huh F643: But it was it was silly money, it was //only about// M608: //oh yeah.// F643: two thousand pounds a year or something. It was pennies. //In,// M608: //Yeah.// F641: //mm// F643: in the early eighties which was, it was rubbish money [sniff] but it was only for a short while, and ehm I, I worked reasonably hard but a- one, one of the hardest things was going from the lackadaisical attitude in an art school to a factory, M608: //mmhm// F641: //Yes.// F643: and the discipline, and they expected me to just churn, churn, churn, churn, churn designs all day, M608: mmhm F643: ehm, so it was a bit odd because I'd, I'd nothing to measure it by. I'd only ever worked in shops and things like that. I didn't know //how I was meant// M608: //mmhm// F643: to be behaving. M608: mmhm F643: er. But I kind of got through it, it was okay. //I did a lot of design.// M608: //Were you part of a department, or?// F643: mm? M608: Were you part of a department, //or? [?]tell you what to do[/?]// F643: //I had a// corner of the factory floor. M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: ehm, and it was, it was, ehm, the sample, the sort of design and sample area, so //I would, I would// M608: //uh-huh// F643: do the designs and, eh, the guy bought in fabrics. I, I was there when the, the fabric people came, and I would, eh, supervise which fabrics were coming in. [tut]They also sent me down to trade fairs and so forth so that //I knew what// M608: //oh right.// F643: the kind of forthcoming trends would be. And then I would, //I would create for// M608: //[inaudible]// F643: a particular manufacturer a range of proposald-, proposals and I had a couple of ladies that would make the samples up for me, but I did the design and the pattern cutting. //mmhm// M608: //That's coming back to me now.// //I remember you doing this, aye.// F643: //uh-huh// And then ehm, F641: Sounds quite a lot for two thousand a year! [laugh] F643: eh? F641: Quite a lot, quite a lot of, of work for two thousand a year. //[laugh]// F643: //Yeah.// Yeah, it was, it was far too much work for two thousand a year, ehm, not a good way to start because I thought "if this is what [laugh] working life is [laugh] //like, I don't like it," [laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: erm, so I did an awful lot of designs for them; erm, my best seller was an, a, a pinafore which, ehm, was the most hideous-looking object in the world but it was a crimplene M608: [laugh] F643: pinafore for children, ehm, in I think it was like a soft green, a soft blue and a soft pink, with a little embroidered motif on it. But it was, it was very plain, very simple, very cheap to make, M608: mmhm F643: and it sold millions in BHS. F641: [laugh] F643: And it was, it was odd because it was the simplest things that actually did well. M608: Yeah. F643: And it was a- the time of the beginning of the influence of Princess Diana, M608: oh right. F643: so everything had to have little fluted ruffs and puffy sleeves and that kind of beginning of the princess look as it was then. M608: Yeah. //[?]I bet, uh-huh.[/?]// F643: //Gross. [laugh]// Would you dress your weans in this? //No.// M608: //[laugh]// F643: ehm. So that, that was the first contract and then I was on the dole for a few months, ehm, and I did, I did clothing for a friend who had a shop at the time. M608: That's //right, that's up on the where the vegetarian restaurant used to be, uh-huh?// F643: //That's right. ehm, yeah, uh-huh.// Morag had a shop there and I did one-offs for her, and then I got a contract with a, a ladieswear, but it was awful, cause it was away over, ehm, it was easy to get to the place that I worked; I could walk from where I lived to the, the childrenswear factory, but it was like two buses //and I started at eight o'clock,// F641: //mmhm// M608: mm F643: ehm, for this other factory, it was o-, away over in Polmadie, //wherever that is now, I don't even know// M608: //oh right, yeah.// F643: the logistics of it, but, ehm, it was a horrible job because I was in with quite a number of other pattern cutters, and I did a lot of pattern cutting and grading, you know, for the //different sizes,// M608: //oh right.// F643: because apparently I was, I seemed to have a natural talent for it. M608: uh-huh F643: And it was like 6H pencils sharpened to a needle point that you had to grade collars for shirts //and things in.// F641: //mmhm// F643: But it was a, it wasn't a nice place to work, and there was an awful lot of a- atmospheres and so on and so forth, so I was actually quite pleased when they said - I did a lot of designs in my six months and some of were taken up by Marks and Spencer's, but after that I w-, I was really quite pleased when they said 'no'. M608: mmhm F643: And then I was back on the dole for a while and, erm, then I got the job with Apollo window blinds, M608: mm F643: and I did textiles and graphics and you know, eh, helped the guy with the shop interior designs and all the presentation M608: mmhm F643: materials and everything; it was really good fun! M608: You were there for quite a while, //weren't you?// F643: //I was there for three and half// //years, uh-huh// M608: //Yeah.// F643: I basically designed myself out a job, because //I had// F641: //[laugh]// F643: designed ahead all the, all the plain colour ranges, all the Venetian slats and roller blinds and, ehm, I'd brought in festoon and Austrian blinds and started up a wee production line and everything. But they didn't change their pattern books that often, and having put in place something that was gaunae perc- perceived to run for the next three or four years, there was nothing for me to do. F641: [tut] oh, aye. F643: //And,// M608: //uh-huh// F643: they offered me, ehm, a job as a p- a new product manager or something, but it was the same s-, it was, I was to stay at the same salary for the next three years, which at the time was only seven and a half grand and, eh, to, to prove myself in the post, F641: [tut] //[inaudible]// F643: //and I thought,// no, and I had, I, I'd started doing a diploma in Marketing at night scha-, at night school, //courtesy of them.// M608: //[inaudible]// uh-huh F643: And I took the plunge at the time, I thought, well I'll go back to college full-time and I'll do a diploma in Management Studies, ehm, cause a friend had done it and felt it was worthwhile. So I jacked in my job, jacked in my flat, moved to [laugh] Aberdeen [laugh] and //eh// M608: //oh, right?// F643: and did that. M608: So is Aberdeen Coll-, where, where did you do a F643: eh Robert Gordon's //Institute at the time. It's noo// M608: //ah Robert Gordon. mmhm// F643: Robert Gordon's University. //uh-huh// M608: //Sure. mm.// And from that you went on to Grampian? F643: No, no, ehm, again no, when I, when I qualified with that one, it was Aberdeen was going through a bit of a low pitch and I, I couldn't get a job over the summer holidays. I eventually ended up working for a, ehm, it was a safety training company but they wanted someone to draw cartoons. M608: [?]Right?[/?] [inaudible] //[inaudible]// F643: //And,// I had to draw slips, trips and falls and all, //you know,// F641: //mm// F643: various cartoons, M608: mmhm F643: for, and i- it was, it was a contract job, I got paid by the hour, but there was a lot of work and it was the richest I'd ever been. //I mean I was// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: money was com- and I couldn't believe I was getting paid for, to draw, for drawing silly cartoon pictures. It was just the best job in the universe. But what happened I I w- worked there for about a year and a half or two years, and then I felt as if I wasn't using my diploma in Management Studies, M608: uh-huh F643: and a job had come up at ehm Aberdeen En- Enterprise Trust, eh as a business councillor-cum-manager of the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust and I applied for it and I got it, M608: uh-huh F643: ehm, so I worked there for about two and a half years. M608: mmhm F643: And ehm that was interesting because I, I mean thinking in terms of accents, when I'd first been in Aberdeen I wasn't really too ehm 'bithered', //as they [laugh] say up there [laugh],// M608: //[laugh]// F643: by the people I'd met, because everyone was, their accent was fairly moderated. But when I worked in Aberdeen Enterprise Trust there was people coming down from Fraserburgh and Peterhead and they really had a very strong accent, and trying to te-, you know, trying to counsel them in business F641: [laugh] F643: things and it was, there was almost like a delayed reaction from when they said something and my brain unscrambled it! [laugh] [laugh] And then I could go "yes, okay right, now" and you know it it it //took a while// M608: //mm// F643: for me to get an ear //for the,// M608: //Yeah.// F643: for the Peterhead accent, //particularly.// M608: //Goodness.// Did you find Aberdeen different from Glasgow? F643: Very. M608: mmhm F643: Colder, //ehm,// M608: //[laugh]// F643: mu- much colder, much less friendly M608: uh-huh F643: //ehm,// F641: //mmhm// F643: in the way that in Glasgow you could stand at a bus-stop and folk would talk to ye. M608: Aye. F643: ehm I mean I have many memories of of the the journey from eh Byres Road area to where the the Apollo Window Blinds factory was and I had to go through Govan. M608: Aye. F643: //I had to go through Govan// F641: //mmhm// F643: bus station of a morning. And it seemed to be the time ehm where they were chucking out the guys that had been kept overnight in the jail. //And there was an assortment of characters// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: used to appear in the morning with cuts and bruises and //bashes and things.// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: And they would come up and kinda leer at the bus queue, //obviously trying to freak people out.// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: And there was one guy in particular that always started off his conversation with "I didnae kill my wife missus, honest." //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: But th- there was quite a lot of a- amusement there, but //there was always,// M608: //uh// F643: you know, there was, there was that kind of friendliness which I still think you get in Glasgow. M608: //mmhm// F641: //mm// F643: ehm but Aberdeen I found to start with was more like eh Edinburgh. M608: mmhm F643: //I mean I remember// F641: //mmhm// F643: being in Edinburgh once visiting friends and standing at a bus s- stop and asking the lady next to me when the bus was due and she, she visibly backed off to the other side of the shelter, you just didn't talk to people in Edinburgh. So Aberdeen was a bit like that but it was also very oddly, because if you think in terms of the amount of culture that was there with the oil industry, M608: Aye. F643: they were also very much ehm, if you're from Aberdeen, you're okay. If you'd gone to, particularly amongst the men, if you'd gone to Robert Gordon's School, you're okay. If you're, you know, an outsider, ehm very difficult to get ahead in business. M608: mmhm F643: And I found, ehm, the glass ceiling if you like was put there. You kn- there was only so high you could get in business in Aberdeen if you weren't from Aberdeen. M608: mmhm F643: That was very obvious. But eventually th- I think the people were quite friendly but it they took longer to warm up than, than Glasgow, //I would say.// M608: //mmhm// F643: ehm. I've, I've still got a lot friends from there. Obviously I've got //Shona's// M608: //mmhm// F643: I'm still friendly with, and Jane and I've got quite a lot of people I met //while I was there// M608: //[throat]// F643: that I still keep in touch with, so, M608: mmhm F643: it was good. Social life was excellent. M608: mm F643: So I worked at Aberdeen Enterprise Trust and then, ehm, I was head-hunted for a job with a, a marketing company which I foolishly took, and although it gave me experience doing marketing plans, ehm, [tut] the company went down, well they started to go down the tubes and there was five of us got made redundant on the one day. //But I had had// M608: //[inaudible]// F643: we had all seen it coming. We were good marketing forecasters. //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: So everyone had already been for interviews for jobs and I had a job interview set up the very day I was getting made redundant, and it was with Grampian Television, //and// M608: //mmhm// F643: when I went for the interview they said, you know, "why do you want to leave your job?" and I said "well, when I wrote the application form it was because I thought I might be getting made redundant but I got made redundant at lunchtime today so that's why I'm here". And they sort of went "oh my God, oh my God", you know, "want a cup of tea, are you su-", //you know, "are you alright?// M608: //[laugh]// F643: Are you in shock?" "No I'm fine!" you know, it was a relief! ehm So I got the job, I think partly because I just had gone ahead and turned [laugh] up for the [laugh] interview and hadn't batted an eyelid, ehm, and eh, that was, that was a strange job because I don't like asking for money, and I was a sponsorship manager and I had to ask people //for money for// M608: //oh right.// F643: TV sponsorship. And the other side of the job was merchandising, producing videos and tapes and books //and// F641: //mmhm// //[cough]// F643: //the back-up material.// //And I loved that bit.// M608: //mmhm// mmhm F643: So I very often asked people for money for the back-up materials [laugh]. Cause that was the good way I could get round my, my thing. Working there was great fun. //ehm// M608: //mmhm// F643: It was before eh STV took over, and it was a kinda jolly place to work, I mean //I don't// M608: //mmhm// F643: ever-, it was very mañana. Everybody was very relaxed. There was lots of time spent in the canteen having cups of tea, ehm. There was lots of time spent in the subsidised bar having whiskies and social nights, and it was, I had really good fun while I was there. //There was a// M608: //mmhm// F643: a group of people I hung out with, M608: mmhm F643: and we went out, we went clay-pigeon shooting and //you know, we used to// M608: //[?]ah[/?]// F643: go off and have jaunts //out to various// M608: //mmhm// F643: places just to, M608: mm F643: to, to make sure we did stuff, ehm, [tut]. And the work, I was very fortunate work-wise because just when I was thinking "oh God, my monthly report's due in to the board", you know, the angel of [laugh] abundance would shine on me and I would suddenly come up with a little bit of sponsorship [laugh]. So I, I was very lucky from the point of view of I seemed to always manage to get something new in M608: mmhm F643: to cheer them up every month for my report. //Some form,// M608: //So how// how did you find sponsorship, did you kind of, who did you approach? //Or how do you do that?// F643: //[inhale]// Well Grampi-, the way it worked was Grampian television produce a number of programmes, //and// M608: //mmhm// F643: you can put these up for sponsorship. //So that you get// M608: //oh, right.// F643: you know, the sponsor gets //to put a// M608: //[throat]// F643: a tag on the front the, //the advertising// M608: //uh-huh// F643: break and the end of the programme, but the ITC code was very strict at the time, ehm, because sponsorship was just coming in to the UK and you couldn't have someone who was advertising a product show the product on the actual sponsorship trailer. [tut] //[inhale]// M608: //mm// F643: So it was like, it was like getting money two steps removed. You had to think in terms of what a company's P.R. strategy would be, not their advertising strategy, M608: mm F643: and you had to link the values that they would try and put across in the P.R. sense M608: mmhm F643: to the values the //programme was presenting.// F641: //uh-huh mmhm// F643: So, for example, ehm, [tut] Grampian did a programme called "The River" which was about the river from its source down to the the seaside, and Shell sponsored it and the the back-up material, //the, the, the production of// M608: //mm// F643: a booklet and ehm a video, [phone rings] //[phone rings] which was, was sold.// F641: //mmhm// F643: And [phone rings] they ehm [tut] sponsored - excuse me a minute //just to// M608: //Sure.// F643: [phone rings] [answering machine recorded message] Just turn it off, oh we'll get a big message [phone rings] coming through. [phone noise] ehm They, they [phone rings] so they sponsored a booklet and they sponsored a video and they, they were allowed to sponsor it and it tied in with their environmental policy or their, what they were trying to //put across was that// F641: //uh-huh// F643: "we are an environmentally-friendly oil company". M608: mmhm F643: //you know, and// F641: //uh-huh// F643: but the only, the only slight bit I had a wee bit problem with was, ehm, the end obviously ended up on the shoreline of Aberdeen, M608: mmhm F643: and //that had to just be minimal,// F641: //[inaudible] [laugh]// F643: because if ever Shell ha- had a spo-, you know, an oil spill, it would be seen as a bit too contentious. //uh.// M608: //[laugh]// F643: So that was okay, I had, ehm, there was another programme called [CENSORED: programmename] and the- there was four artists doing //crappy pictures.// M608: //oh right.// //[laugh]// F643: //[laugh]// This is going down for posterity. //They weren't very good pictures, but we had got// F641: //[laugh] [laugh]// F643: a limited edition prints made, ehm, and I had to get them sponsored and [CENSORED: company name] sponsored them, M608: mmhm F643: because they were trying to up their appearance in Aberdeen and they like to sponsor the arts so they, they got their corporate logo on every print and //we had a// M608: //mmhm// F643: big opening and a big art, a big exhibition and they, they came along to that and did lots of yadeedah stuff, [laughs] and erm, I'm not rea- I'm too sceptical for all this kind of thing, ehm. What else did we do? We, I had a, a programme called, eh, och it was the usual, eh, hills and glens and sheepdog trials. //oh I mean Grampian's selection of programmes at the time were dire,// F641: //[laugh]// [laugh] F643: ehm, and there was things like the sheepdog trials, o- and there was a kind of "One Man and His Dog", a trail up, round, round about and I managed to get, eh, Jansen Pharmaceutical to sponsor them. //It was, it was// M608: //mm// F643: kind of two steps removed because to, to Joe Public they wouldn't have known who the company was, but to farmers they knew they were //suppliers of// M608: //oh right.// F643: drugs for, I don't know, //bugs,// M608: //Sheep?// //oh right.// F643: //sheep bugs and things like that.// So it, it linked in with s- but without actually showing any products. M608: //mmhm// F641: //mmhm// F643: And they came up and we went away up and we watched the programme getting made and all //the rest of it,// M608: //mm// F643: so it was quite good from that point of view. //I also got// M608: //mmhm// F643: the weather sponsored, which my predecessor hadn't managed so that was a major, a major, M608: Coup? //mmhm// F643: //Yeah.// //Coup on my, my side.// M608: //mm// F641: //mm// Of course was that um- umbrella makers, or? //[laugh]// F643: //Aye, it was, it was,// I can't even remember who it was now! F641: [laugh] F643: ehm, it's changed so much since then. But the job was a contract job and, ehm, I worked in it a year, er no, two years, and then I had a contract for a further year, but they told me at the end of that year I wouldn't get my contract renewed cause, ehm, STV were taking over sponsorship for the whole of Scotland. M608: mmhm F643: And my job was basically not going to exist, so I, my mother had died and I decided I would come back down to Ayr. My dad wasn't well. M608: mmhm F643: And I managed to get a job locally in Ayr. And, ehm, I worked, I worked there. I came, I moved back down to Ayr and, ehm, worked there for a while. //It was a// M608: //mmhm// F643: a a graphic design and marketing company. And I was a project manager, which meant I had to walk the thin line between what the client wanted and what the designer said the client was going to have. //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: Which was quite hilarious because there was lots of egos and //[inhale]// M608: //Yeah.// F643: fractious things and oh dear! It was, it was quite a strange job. But quite enjoyable and it was nice to be back down and coming back from, I I quite often used to go from Ayr back up to Aberdeen on a Sunday night and drive down in there and go "What on earth am I doing in //this city?"// M608: //Right.// F643: You, you didn't get, you know one of the things I, I used to think was weird about it was no sunsets, and the I got so used to obviously living in Ayr and getting the sunsets over Arran, M608: Yeah. F643: and you get gorgeous sunsets here and you just didn't get sunsets in Aberdeen. If you got //up// F641: //Because of// course you're on the other side. F643: uh-huh, you're no, if you got up early enough there was one or two okay sunrises. M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: But I I didn't, I thought this was just a thing I had, ehm, until I met someone who lived in Saltcoats at a, an oily do one night, and that was the thing he lamented to me was the lack of decent sunsets. [laugh] //[laugh]// M608: //mm// F641: //[laugh]// F643: So once I came back to Ayr, ehm, I felt really, I'd been and, and wandered albeit in a //very// M608: //mmhm// F643: kinda conservative way, //but I// M608: //mm// F643: I I felt very much at home here and I didn't //particularly// M608: //mm// F643: want to move away again. M608: mmhm F643: And I don't, I don't have any desire to go to, back to Aberdeen or, or to move to Glasgow again, I'm, I like //the size// M608: //mmhm// F643: of this town and I like that you can get down the beach and you can go away up the country and stuff like //that so,// M608: //mmhm// F643: yeah. M608: And you're moving into massage now? F643: Yeah! Life's a strange old thing. I mean like how many skills do you have to have? ehm, I've, I have, I have been working the past while with, eh, Ayr College and I got made redundant in August so I've, I've always been in-, well I w-, I was interested in the early nineties in, erm, alternative therapies. //Complementary// M608: //mmhm// F643: therapies because I was unwell myself, M608: mmhm F643: and, ehm, I learned reiki, M608: mmhm F643: really just to try and get myself better, and I've always been interested in that ever since then. I've done one or two wee workshops and I decided since I'd been made redundant yet again, third time, that you get to the stage where you think "Well," you know, "how many employers can offer you security?" and they can't, so I thought "Well I'll, I'll learn some skills which are kinda cash-rich", //ehm,// M608: //mm// F643: I mean massage takes about an hour for a full-body masssage and the going rate in Ayr's about twenty, twenty-five quid M608: mmhm F643: for a full body massage, ehm, Indian head massage is about, I think it's about forty minutes and it's about twelve-fifty to fifteen pounds //for that.// M608: //mm// F643: Reiki, again twenty-five to thirty pounds depending on your level, ehm. So th-th- there's, you can make money and I, I thought, well if I even if I end up working in a bar or //in a// M608: //mm// F643: part-time job somewhere I can always supplement it with, with the therapies. M608: Because it's becoming very popular, I mean I, in Brazil you see it in the shopping centres. //They have the// F643: //uh-huh?// M608: the eh, they have the special seats and people have things like a five-minute massage //before they go shopping.// F643: //oh yeah, uh-huh.// Well, when I did, I did the Indian head massage, they used the they're called on-site massage chairs and people //sit and put// M608: //Yeah.// F643: their head through //like a polo-mint hole thing.// F641: //mmhm// M608: That's right, yeah. F643: And ehm, yeah, we actually worked up the back and round the head just with them. And it's, it's actually it's, it looks weird but it's a really comfy position to sit in. M608: //mmhm// F641: //hm// F643: ehm //and// M608: //You e- you even// see rows of them at the beach //in// F643: //uh-huh?// M608: in Rio. F643: Gosh, that's incredible. M608: //Aye,// F641: //Yeah.// M608: you can do it on Ayr beach. mm //[laugh]// F643: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// F643: //oh God!// //[inhale]// F641: //[?]You'll get blown[/?]// //[?]away[/?] [laugh]// F643: //I can't quite imagine that.// I can't quite imagine that. ehm. But one of the things I mean when I, when I s-, I decided I would, I'd started my studies and it had been interrupted for a variety of reasons but I, I decided I would get it, get it done over the summer holidays and I had asked a lot of, ehm, the lecturers from Ayr college to come M608: mmhm F643: for a free massage cause I can't, I can't, eh, charge till I'm qualified, but I've, I've only had a few. M608: mmhm F643: but I must say, ehm, of all the jobs I've done it's, it's immensely satisfying because what I did notice was people would come in from work, usually about back of four or five o'clock, //yabbering,// M608: //Aye.// mmhm F643: gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, gabble, absolutely off their heads with stress, not quite sure what was going to happen but once I explained it and went upstairs and I had my soothing music on and everything was very serene, and I would, I would work away on them, work on their back and by the time I'd finished they were just like gaga, M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: and they just had this glazed expression and most of them commented that they'd, they'd forgotten what it was like to feel relaxed, M608: mmhm F643: ehm, so they, they were all relaxed. But I I know from experience that sometimes you can get too relaxed and I think some of them felt it was something that they would keep for a holiday, //but they didn't want to be that relaxed in// M608: //mm [laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: the middle of the week, cause they had something else to do the next day. M608: [inaudible] F643: ehm, I think if, ehm, on- well, once I get qualified if there's still no job in the offing, I would maybe look at trying to take a premises somewhere. F641: mm F643: //In town,// M608: //mmhm// F643: maybe one or two days a week and, but the, the it's strenuous, it's very strenuous, //and// M608: //Very much so.// It is. F643: Aye, and when I, I originally started trying to learn massage a few years ago when I was unwell and I just didn't have the stamina for it. M608: mmhm F643: And some of the moves twist your back //and// M608: //mmhm// F643: are awkward for you to do, so M608: Yeah. F643: ehm, I think I'll have to step up the old keep-fit syndrome. //I'll have to go to// M608: //Yeah.// F643: yoga and try and get flexible, F641: mmhm F643: myself so that I can do it. M608: Do you find there are centres, cause in, in Bridge of Weir there's a centre which is, I think it's four or five F643: mmhm M608: masseurs or F643: When a friend of mine who lives across the lane, ehm, her and I both learned reiki at the //same time.// M608: //mmhm// F643: And when we learned reiki, eh, it was about the late eigh-, ehm, i-, the late nineties, maybe about ninety-six or ninety-seven, the guy who taught us was based in Peebles, and came highly recommended, I think he was the first reiki master to, to do reiki in Scotland. Excellent guy and he wanted to come through to Ayr and do a reiki workshop through in Ayr so, ehm, he asked me to try and set one up for him and I couldn't get enough people interested. //There were three,// M608: //Really?// F643: and he wouldn't come through for three, he wanted //a minimum of ten.// M608: //mm// //mm// F643: //And// ehm, I checked out all the various places we could and venues, ehm, and tried to drum up some interest and there was, eh there was nothing. //But// M608: //mm// F643: now twice a year in Ayr there's the alternative health fayre and it's //chock-a-block and there's so many// M608: //mm mm// F643: people do reiki that there's hardly any demand for it. M608: uh-huh F643: And, eh, lots of people are attuned either to level one or two. There's not so many reiki masters in town. But there's also, I mean we've got, there's a alternative health place in Garden Street, and they do everything from osteo- osteopathy, chiropractor, //I can't s-, I can't pronounce them.// M608: //mmhm// F643: ehm, Indian head massage, massage, reiki. M608: mmhm F643: You name it, they do it, ehm Jan de Vries has also opened up a clinic in Wellington Square. He doesn't do reiki cause I d-, I think he doesn't believe in it, but he offers just about every other kind of //therapy,// M608: //mmhm// mmhm F643: including colour therapy which I've had twice and which is ace! M608: [laugh] F643: It's amazing. M608: What's colour //therapy?// F643: //Colour// therapy, ehm, it's it was, there's evidence been found that it's actually been done away back in Egyptian times and it's thought it if ex- A- Atlanta, Atlantis ever did exist it's thought it was used way back then. It's a mixture //of using// M608: //[laugh]// F643: crystal lights //and// M608: //uh-huh// F643: shining, ehm, a pulsed light through it so that the vibration of the light interacts with the, the colours of your, your chakras, if you like. F641: mm F643: And it sounds weird, you know, //it sounds, like, totally// M608: //It definitely sounds weird.// F643: //bizarre,// F641: //[laugh]// F643: but I have never had such a [clicks fingers] reaction. M608: mmhm? F643: I, I went just //after I got// M608: //So, so// do you watch this or do they F643: Just lie there and you have little coloured lights sh- shone on your various chakra points. It's Jan de Vries's daughter that does it. //She's// M608: //mmhm// F643: been, she's been trained to do it and they, they, it's almost like little spotlights but there's filters over them and there's little, //ehm,// F641: //mmhm// F643: containers that the crystals are put in, M608: mmhm F643: so that the c- the light shines through. And the light pulses. And, however it works, I don't know how it works but I mean I, I went to her feeling very kind of down, cause I knew I'd been made [inaudible] and I was exhausted. M608: mmhm F643: and I was, I was lying, ehm, on the couch and she had a couple of spotlights placed at one or two of my chakra points, and she primarily put red and orange in for some odd reason. She just felt that that was the colours I needed. M608: mmhm F643: And it was the most bizarre experience. I felt as if, ehm it was almost like there was a, a big, kind of realignment happening. //I could// M608: //mmhm?// F643: I felt this kind of shunk shunk, shunk, shunk, all the way down and it was just as if everything was getting put back into place the whole way down //my body,// M608: //mmhm// F643: and then I felt absolutely brand new. I was high as a kite! [laugh] //And it was// M608: //[laugh]// F643: only like forty minutes lying there with a couple of lights shining on me and I felt brilliant. It was just amazing. M608: mm F643: So it was quite the most peculiar experience I've had //yet.// M608: //I've ne-, I've// never heard of colour therapy. //mm// F643: //No, it's, it's// ancient. I- it was actually the very very first thing I ever read up on, M608: mmhm F643: and that was back in the early eighties, M608: mm F643: ehm, when I was at R.G.I.T. I came across a book on colour therapy. I was, we had to give a presentation on, ehm, behavioural aspects of management, M608: mmhm F643: and because I'd come from a design background I wanted to do something that was easy. I'd written an article for a magazine on, on colour trends and so forth, and I dug that out, doctored it a bit M608: mmhm F643: and ehm did a bit about colour in the workplace. So I'd studied the effects of colour //for my// M608: //mmhm// F643: presentation. M608: mmhm F643: And I was it was the very first therapy if you like that I actually read up on //but then// M608: //mm// F643: I kinda forgot about it for a very long while. M608: mmhm F643: And, and this was the first time I'd experienced it and it was superb so I've been back for another go. M608: mmhm F643: But [?]Tertia[/?] doesn't give it out very often. She kind of, she's very kind of I think she's a very psychic person, and you can go and say "mm, I think I need another shot of the colour therapy", and she's, she's like, "No, you just need a good sleep." [laugh] //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: So she kind of, she's very sparing about how often she'll, she'll give you the colour //therapy.// M608: //mm// F643: Not that it's, there's nothing harmful in it, M608: //uh-huh// F641: //mmhm// F643: but she's very good in intuiting whether you actually need that or whether you need, ehm, a dose of herbal medicine or whether you just need to //calm down.// M608: //mm// //Yeah.// F641: //mmhm// F643: So she doesn't always give you it. So that, that would be one I would like to learn eventually, M608: mmhm F643: //erm// F641: //mmhm// F643: because I think I'm drawn to it obviously from my design background and //the colour side but,// M608: //mm// F643: all of the courses I've checked out are hideously expensive, ehm F641: Must be, yeah. F643: I mean it's, all, all of these alternative therapy courses are, are getting pricey //because// M608: //mmhm// F643: accreditation is becoming very important now M608: Yeah. //mmhm// F643: //for insurance// purposes and, the more places spring up the more they expect you to be qualified in //a given// M608: //Aye.// F643: a given therapy. M608: Yeah. I notice that Borders bookshop in Glasgow offers massage one evening a week. F643: Really? M608: You go to the, you go to the bookshop and you get a massage in Borders. F643: I wonder if Ottakar's would do that? M608: oh is that, that's in Ayr? //Yeah,// F643: //That's in Ayr.// M608: did you do you have a, go along to them and say F643: I could. F641: Yeah. F643: uh-huh F641: Why not? //mm// F643: //Yeah.// I suppose. I think anything at all that would, I mean I, I'm M608: Cause they see it as bringing in the punters obviously. F643: uh-huh, of course, uh-huh. I mean I'm, I'm not too troubled about when I'll get a job. I know something will crop up eventually, M608: mmhm F643: and it may well be that this has all happened because I've got to get off my butt and start up my own business which I've been thinking of doing for so long and it's just never got around //cause there's always// M608: //mmhm// F643: been a job that's come and saved my soul //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F643: and my bank balance. But, ehm, I know that certainly that [CENSORED: forename]'s more anxious about my lack of, eh, work than I am. I mean he, he was quite traumatised when I got, ehm, made redundant. M608: mm F643: I think he thought for some odd reason that I would expect him to keep me, //which is just not// M608: //uh-huh// F643: true, you know, I'm, I'm //perfectly,// M608: //mmhm// F641: //mmhm// F643: and also I think it was just the concept because he's worked as a teacher for thirty-odd years and has never ever done anything else, M608: Aye. F643: and he could not perceive himself of how he would react to getting //made redundant;// F641: //mm// F643: he wouldn't know what to do. M608: Aye. F643: whereas I've, I've chopped and changed that much //that I// M608: //Yeah.// F643: just thought "Okay it's an opportunity to do something different, //again",// M608: //uh-huh// F643: ehm, but I must admit I'm getting to the stage where I would like a, a reasonable M608: Income. //[laugh]// F643: //In-, well, aye, income but// F641: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// F643: //something// kind of reasonably stable, M608: Yeah. F643: because I don't have a pension to speak of, M608: oh right. F643: because of all the various jobs I've had I //don't have a pension so// M608: //Of course.// F643: that was another reason for the massage and alternative therapies cause I thought, well, even if I retire, //I can// M608: //mmhm// F643: always still earn money, //if I'm fit.// M608: //mm// F643: enough to, M608: mmhm F643: //you know do// F641: //mmhm// F643: massage or, or therapy, so it's my pension plan. //[laugh]// M608: //[laugh]// F641: //[laugh]// F643: as much as anything else. M608: [inaudible] F643: Yeah. So. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Audio Audio audience Adults (18+): For gender: Mixed Audience size: 3-5 Audio awareness & spontaneity Speaker awareness: Aware Degree of spontaneity: Spontaneous Audio footage information Year of recording: 2003 Recording person id: 608 Size (min): 41 Size (mb): 156 Audio medium Radio/audio: Audio setting Private/personal: Recording venue: Home Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers Friend: Speakers knew each other: Yes Audio speaker relationships Family members or other close relationship: Audio transcription information Transcriber id: 631 Year of transcription: 2004 Year material recorded: 2003 Word count: 8821 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: 641 Participant Participant details Participant id: 643 Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1960 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: mix of protestantism and catholicism Occupation: unemployed Place of birth: Irvine Region of birth: S Ayr Birthplace CSD dialect area: Ayr Country of birth: Scotland Region of residence: S Ayr Residence CSD dialect area: Ayr Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Toolmaker Father's place of birth: Bordeaux Father's region of birth: Dordogne Father's country of birth: France Mother's occupation: Housewife Mother's place of birth: Kinross Mother's region of birth: Perthshire Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Kinr Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Day to day Language: French Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: On holiday