SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 811 Title : Conversation 14: Two male students on university life Author(s): N/A Copyright holder(s): SCOTS Project Content label: This document contains strong or offensive language Audio transcription M819: Erm, anyway what have you, what have you been up to over the last few months? M818: Last few months? Er I've just been [exhale] been at uni and stuff and been goin out too much probably, spendin a lot of money and stuff that I don't really have. [inhale] //Er I had to actually get an// M819: //[inaudible]// M818: overdraft extension which isn't very good //[inaudible]// M819: //Yes!// M818: [laugh] Are you all usin it to the //to the max?// M819: //God do you, do you no work?// Do you no work? M818: Whit? M819: Like at Direct Line and that? M818: Oh, do I work? //Oh,// M819: //Aye.// M818: right aye aye ehm, I do, I mean but the thing is, see I worked over the summer last year and erm I got erm like I got extra wages obviously for workin extra hours and em basically like I was gettin paid like a good bit more every month like. But then after the summer they kept payin me the higher wages and then forgot to take it down again, so basically now what they're doing is kinda like, after I let //them know// M819: //They're dockin you// your wages aw! //Aw, that's// M818: //Aye, nightmare.// M819: that's happened to Barnett, right. [CENSORED: companyname] ehm overpaid him, and he he did he he ov- they overpaid him by six hundred quid and he did exactly what I would do in that situation. Right? He turned, he he he just totally turns a blind blind eye, //and says// M818: //I did that an all.// M819: nothing, right? And spends the money. That's the smartest thing you can do. Of course the minute the bastards realise, you know what I mean? M818: [laugh]. Ah, it's a bit [inhale] dodgy, you know, cause it's easy to just kinna like, you know, pretend you didn't realise, you know, but you just, you know, and that's what I did, I just kind of, I didn't actually take any notice I just thought oh, aye, maybe my wages have been increased a wee bit, but you know I'm not gonnae, I'm not gonnae moan about it, you know [laugh] but basically I just kinda after a couple of months I kinda thought er this is a wee bit kind of er, you know, taking the piss po- possibly you know so. M819: The capitalist system has extracted surplus value from //me; I shall do it from it.// M818: //[cough] [laugh]// Aye, exactly. That's the way to go. //Och aye.// M819: //Aye.// M818: You've gottae, as as a good Marxist you've gottae kinda try an negate the surplus labour at every opportunity, by by sittin an readin the paper and stuff like that, you know [laugh] hm, you know, //skivin generally.// M819: //Absolutely.// It's quite it's quite funny cause erm when er the DSP erm sent a camera crew over to Socialism, 2002? //Ehm,// M818: //Maybe.// M819: McCombs erm said, you know, look there are two ways tae try an get rid o erm er surplus value. There's two ways it makes you a worse worker. You're either going to try and squeeze as much out the company as you can, i.e. nick stuff, M818: Aye. M819: right, cause er [CENSORED: forename] when he worked in the hotel always used to go to me, "do you want me to redistribute you a couple of towels?" you know, //like that.// M818: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// M819: //Aye aw right sir.// //Towels are pure pish man, ye know.// M818: //Towels, brilliant man.// //Reb- rebellious towel stealer, you know.// M819: //Erm, er er.// //Oh no no he used to nick all sorts of cr- stuff like, er, we basically went in his flat and his entire, aw of the cosmetics in his bathroom were nicked from the hotel.// M818: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// M819: //[?]Aw he worked that.[/?]// Right? He er he had he had the dressing [?]down[/?], f-... Some of the stuff he was nicking was first class. //But he always argued,// M818: //Nice one!// M819: you know, look look, if I'm defrauding, you know, if I'm defrauding them, right, no if they're defrauding the public, cause what they used to do is they used to sell Scottish beef, right? M818: Aye. M819: And they actually, what they were they were huge boxes of crappy meat from Botswana. M818: [exhale] M819: Right? And they were selling this //[?]Aye, right[/?].// M818: //Dodgy stuff.// //[inhale]// M819: //Sixteen quid of steak,// right, as Scotch beef, //as Aberdeen Angus beef.// M818: //[laugh]// That's breachin the Trade Description Act, is it no? //Or something like that [laugh].// M819: //[inaudible]// //[?]No it does it.[/?]// M818: //[inhale]// Aye you will, yeah. [laugh] I've not worked in a restaurant so I don't know really. I I guess there's some dodgy practices going on, you know, er I don't doubt that for a second. The pub down the road from me, ehm [CENSORED: pubname] - it's a [CENSORED: companyname] pub. They do all that kind of stuff like, I think, they kinda like drop stuff on the floor like kind of like it falls out of the, it falls off the plate and stuff, like bits of steak and just pick it up again, [click], stick it on. M819: I'm always amazed at people who would erm eat in the beer bar at the [CENSORED: name], cause I've never walked past that place without one of the barmen or one of the kitchen staff just havin a ciggie outside. You know what I mean? //It's// M818: //Aye.// M819: obvious they just go straight back in, nicotine-stained hands, woo-woo-woo-woo-woo, make up sandwich, actually naw I eat the [CENSORED: name] sandwiches aw the time so, I've prob- I've probably got about god knows how many ounces of tar on my lungs //from sandwiches.// M818: //[laugh]// //I've got// M819: //You know?// M818: to admit I do kinda go for the QM ones all the time. I just go in to the QM and buy like a sandwich, erm a a flapjack or something like that and get a cup of tea, like they they know exactly what I what I want to order when I walk up to the coffee bar it's like "Tea son? Aye no problem" [laugh] and I'm like "No, I'll have a latte please, actually." //[laugh] Aye.// M819: //Aw.// You know what's quite funny, right em er, when we were at school we used to go to this chippie called the Barbecue, right? Me and my mate Gav and er like em as you know, in Edinburgh you've got the salt an sauce, right? M818: Aye. M819: Gav had been going there for two years, about three, four times a week, right, Gav would go to this place, and I went for about a week, right, and er they they were going up er they were going up to me er, you know, I was arriving at the counter and they were sayin "you havin your usual, son?" //[laugh]// M818: //[laugh]// M819: "It's the pie supper wi salt an sauce an chips, ignore the pie, can o Lilt", "aye, that's the ticket!" //"That's me, eh."// M818: //[laugh]// M819: And eh like Gav er Gav's like "I've been comin tae here for two years and you dinna ken //who I am," you know?// M818: //[laugh]// [laugh] Aye, Christ. It's funny cause the very first time I remember my brother was sayin, my brother Kevin, was like that, em he went through to Edinburgh, like, for a couple of years when he was at uni, he was at Napier. //Aye.// M819: //Oh right, [inaudible]// M818: He did multimedia there, em [sniff] and eh the first the first, one of the first times he was through he went to the chippie, you know, and he went in and he went like that "I'll have a em fish supper, please" and the woman was like that "salt an sauce eh"? and he was like "sorry I" sort of, "what was that?" and she was like that "salt an sauce?", it was like " no, sorry what's that"? and she was like that "where are ye fae?" and he was like that "Glasgow" and she was like "salt an vinegar then, eh"? //[laugh]// M819: //[laugh]// //[inaudible]// M818: //Aye, kinna, the cultural differences// M819: That's pretty compassionate cause er, you don't answer in twenty seconds usually they'll just fuckin throw it on. M818: [laugh] M819: Ehm M818: [laugh] M819: It was so funny, right, I was at the Hibs - St Mirren game and erm like er you know that idea of when people go to different towns, you know, despite the fact that these towns are separated by a matter of hours, by less than, you know by less than like, you know eighty miles, //right?// M818: //Aye.// M819: Erm The er guys that are goin "now," let me tell you something, "now, you'll have to watch when you get a fish supper here because they have this thing called salt an sauce." M818: [laugh] M819: They'll throw it on your chips if you don't //[inaudible] [laugh]// M818: //[laugh]// M819: Well, it was sort o like "aw, this is so cool we're getting treated like the aliens here," //see what I mean?// M818: //[laugh]// The massive kinda cultural divides of like, you know, divi- divided by, you know, salt an sauce and salt an vinegar, you know, //[laugh] [?]How pathetic.[/?]// M819: //Aye, aye.// //[?]sAh but ye[/?]// M818: //It's like s- a- i-// You can tell how seriously Scots take their kinda like em their like chippie food, you know, it's //like// M819: //It's like a culture.// //Chippie culture man.// M818: //Aye.// M819: Cause, I mean, that's just the thing. Right? I find Glasgow quite strange cause what you've got is those god-awful [CENSORED: companyname] places, right, and the chi- chips there //are like plastic.// M818: //Is that the one outside er Buchanan Street underground?// But it might be some [inaudible] //I go I got [inaudible].// M819: //No, no, that// place is, that place is dead expensive that place outside Buchanan Street underground //Are you// M818: //Aye.// M819: talkin about the one that's on the corner with the wee street that leads on to George Square and Queen Street station? M818: Aye Queen Street. //Aye.// M819: //Aye, that's not// that's not er [CENSORED: companyname], there's a [CENSORED: companyname] on the Byres Road next to Boots. M818: Is that the one just along er f- the same side as Barratts? M819: Aye. M818: Aye, it's really nice in there but it's bloody expensive, you know, thr- it's something like four quid for a //fish supper, or somethin like that.// M819: //Aw// //[inaudible]// M818: //Ridiculous. [inhale]// //But you c-, you// M819: //[inaudible] wanna go for.// M818: you could go into the town and just get it for like for like half that or somethin but. M819: Er, well, I don't know, I mean er [CENSORED: companyname], that's another chain, that's alright. M818: Aye. M819: It's alright, erm M818: They do do a good like bag of chips but you know, salt an vinegar an all. M819: I'm addicted to it, I mean I think I, well, it's the most abnormally greasy chippie M818: [laugh] But it's brilliant. M819: [inaudible] well, actually, no the uni take-away takes it, I mean takes the biscuit at greasy, right? //Aye, I'll,// M818: //The uni take-away?// M819: oh aye, cause I mean M818: Oh aye. //[inaudible]// M819: //My my// parents were were through cause we were lookin for somewhere for me to live at the end of ma first year, and er they sort of said, oh my dad sayin "we'll go to this chippy" eh and eh my dad's from Dundee so he never takes sauce. //Right, he he// M818: //[laugh] oh I see.// M819: he thinks he thinks it's for absolute nutcases, he says he's stunned he's got children who eat that, //you know what I mean?// M818: //[laugh]// M819: Erm and erm cause like, in Dundee they're that purist that see see the pies they have, or "pez", in a fish supper they've got in a a in a mince pie supper they've got there, not even deep-fried they're proper pies. M818: [laugh] [?]Fuck![/?] M819: Right, the chippie like goes to the effort of like sort of like getting decent pies in, which I think is a bit sacrilege, if you want s- if you're gonna to have a mince pie supper in a chippie you expect it to be crap. //Know what I mean?// M818: //Aye, it doesn't sound very appealing// //to be honest.// M819: //Drenched// in sauce, you know, tha- that's the idea er like er M818: What do they have in, I mean, do they actually have like any kind of toppings at all, like you know you get salt an vinegar, Glasgow, salt an sauce, you know, M819: Aw //salt an [inaudible]// M818: //er Edinburgh. Aberdeen// has got somethin, I think it's like erm M819: Stovies and everythin. M818: Urgh Jesus Christ! M819: Erm, er //No, I mean eh.// M818: //Bleugh!// M819: I- no, the only, the other thing that chippies really vary on is what they deep fry, cause pineapple is a huge thing down south, right? Another thing that //they sell,// M818: //Deep-fried pineapple?// //Christ.// M819: //er aye pineapple fritters.// //They.// M818: //Uh-huh?// M819: A lot of chippies sell it, down south. M818: Aye? M819: You'd be stunned. Not right in the south but in the north o England. M818: Aye, aye. M819: Right, erm like, I mean in in London in particular I'd never go for a chippie in London, cause there's that many Chineses. M818: Aye, exactly. M819: You know what I mean? Like erm, I was in Leicester Square erm, in er January and erm sorta comin out a club, and you know how that idea if you've had a few to drink? M818: Aye. //Yeah.// M819: //Absolutely// starvin. //And eh// M818: //Munchies.// M819: you know, there was this Chinese buffet offerin for the same price you would get a kebab for in Glasgow, you got this, you know, real mix o stuff just thrown in one of they cartons like you see in the movies that the Americans eat Chinese out of, and a bun- bunch o chopsticks. //It was crackin!// M818: //Aye.// [laugh] M819: You know what I mean, and we thought, and this is a damn sight more healthy //than a kebab.// M818: //Aye!// M819: You know what I mean, no wonder people in Scotland die so //fuckin early, you know?// M818: //[laugh] [inhale]// Aye it's like, you know, everywhere you look there's a fish shop, and not a lot of anything else basically. No but there is, see in Sauchiehall Street outside the Garage there's a noodle bar. //You know?// M819: //Yeah.// //Yeah, that place costs a// M818: //Nood-// //noodle,// M819: //fortune.// //That that that that that place would// M818: //I think.// M819: die after twenty minutes and, it, I mean, you're talkin places in Londo- London are cheaper than this. M818: Really, aye? M819: Aye. //Cause cause, well it's the competition,// M818: //I've I've only been in it a couple of times, but.// M819: isn't it? Cause I mean that that noodle bar place, it's right next to the Garage, it doesn't have to worry about business. M818: Aye, it'll be dead during the day probably, but [inhale] I think it's M819: It's twenty-four hour is it not? M818: Is it? M819: It's, well it's open damn late. M818: Aye it's open till aboot f- at least four anyway so. //It might be it might be twenty-four hour though.// M819: //And it it's open when I go back.// Naw! Cause I doubt it's open in the mornin. M818: I don't, I've not s- M819: Wh- who wants to go for a Chinese //noodle bar at nine a.m.?// M818: //[laugh]// I dunno, not many people I don't think. //Yeah, [?]do they no?[/?]// M819: //No, [inaudible] nutcase.// Erm I'm willin to bet you it's op- er, no I'm willin to bet it's open till like six in the mornin. It'll be open somethin like six till six. //Cause// M818: //Aye.// M819: It's always open when I'm heading back frae uni. M818: Is it? Is that in the evening, aye? M819: Aye, well sometimes even afternoon about four o'clock. M818: Jeez oh. //Cause,// M819: //[inaudible] it's// M818: I mean you would go for a Chinese in the evenin, but I mean it's not as if it's like, you know, it's not abnormal to go for something to eat, but I mean it is one of those places it's like, you'll jump in it after the Garage or whatever, you know, and like you //know, ga-// M819: //Well it is quite popular// cause the food isn't that bad. //[?]I've gotta[/?]// M818: //Aye, I mean aw, tae m-// M819: gotta few quid in your back pocket it's worth it. M818: I go for the kinda cultural combination of like Chine- China and Scotland like as in the sort of like chips and curry sauce kinda thing. You know it's pretty smart, you know. I like it I must admit. M819: [laugh] [?]called[/?] cultural integration //by Eamonn Coyle.// M818: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// M819: //You know what I mean?// //Aye, th-th- the// M818: //Aye, you cannae beat it.// M819: The justification of multi-racial society, oh fu- I'll tell you one thing, right, I was flickin the telly erm the other night, er no, last night and this whole immigration timebomb. M818: Oh fu- M819: [inaudible] hell, man. M818: Er it's M819: Oh god. I can't, I mean, you ca- you can't even watch it, an you, I always used to wonder when erm, you know, I was reading about countries like, you know, Nazi Germany and so on, what the propaganda radio would have been like or what reading Pravda every //day would have been like.// M818: //[laugh]// M819: You know what I mean? You actually [inaudible] //aw you,// M818: //[cough]// M819: you just you just need to, you just need to watch crap like that, //you know what I mean?// M818: //Aye, you ju- no it's just become// kind of like commonplace to hear it every single day like [inhale] oh the [inhale], you know. I remember hearing that guy er Kilroy-Silk who's actually in the the left [inaudible] corner now by the way [inhale]. //Which is good. Legendary.// M819: //Aye, I know, I know.// //[inaudible]// M818: //Er but he he// he was going like that like erm he had launched his new //er, that was really,// M819: //Veritas!// //You know, it's so ba-. I have heard// M818: //lot of shite man.// M819: so many jokes about what that's Latin for, cause like erm //I was in a politics tutorial// M818: //Verit-arse?// M819: and erm er well you know this tutor erm and he he you know is talkin, you know, "And and what what is veritas?" and, you know, this guy Kenny up the back goes "Latin for bullshit", //You know what I mean?// M818: //[laugh]// //Quality.// M819: //[inhale] Erm// M818: Is it quite a left-wing tutorial you've got then, aye? M819: No, Kenny's not really left-wing. //Kenny's, Kenny's// M818: //But he's?// M819: Kenny's more, it would be like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't describe Kenny as M818: But he's not exactly a //reactionary racist?// M819: //Erm er// M818: [inhale] like M819: I don't know, I mean em, no he was no he's not exactly that no I mean he's not the type of person that would even have an iota of sympathy for what we would call the right, you know what I mean, but he's not exactly one of us either. M818: Aye. M819: Erm, I think eh, no, a- as as a tutorial, erm I mean certainly cause it's a nationalism tutorial erm er Jon- Jonathan and I are viewed as being quite strident within it I mean M818: As in, are you are you in the same tutorial, aye? M819: Er, well it's quite funny there's a there's a there's a ten o'clock group and an eleven-thirty group and Jonathan and I always manage to er end up in the other group from each other, cause I usually go to the ten o'clock, //right?// M818: //Aye.// M819: And he usually goes to the eleven-thirty but whenever I've slept in he's he's got up early, //[?]or whatever.[/?]// M818: //Aye. [laugh]// M819: Which is, which is quite good cause we got we got I mean erm. //[inaudible]// M818: //Two socialists in each tutorial.// M819: Aye, supposedly we say a lot of the same things and that that that's //[inaudible]// M818: //[?]bourgeois[/?] nationalist nonsense, aye.// //[laugh]// M819: //[inaudible]// Depends what nationalism you're talking about, //[inaudible]// M818: //Aye.// M819: erm er, I mean particularly the sort o the erm the the Basque, the Catalan and the Scottish //nationalists, like,// M818: //Aye.// M819: we've been the ones sittin in the nationalist corner, you know what I mean I mean that, this is the thing cause I do actually, you know, sit in these tutorials and think, you know, ma biggest barnies would probably go with, I mean, you know, I mean the biggest barnies I've had an that would probably go with other people who would call themselves left-wing but [inaudible] who think that the European Union is a great thing, //you know?// M818: //Aye.// M819: I actually got into a real barnie about er, you know, just cause we were talking about "right, where do you see the world going in the next twenty-five years," and someone tried to argue that this whole Fair Trade thing would change the world and I just //said "Who the// M818: //Oh Christ.// M819: fuck are you kiddin?" //[?]You know what I mean?[/?]// M818: //I hate that kinda// //like// M819: //People,// consumer identity is not gonna to change fuck all. Right? Erm I had to get I had to get very Marxist about it and say "no, look," only when people realise that the power of withdrawing their labour can change the world is the world going to change, that you cannot ultimately at the end of the day, buying one thing is not going to make you powerful, cause you still have to buy stuff, you do not have to work. M818: Aye, wh-. The thing is, but, I mean there's this kind of, sort of, and it really annoys me people like, you know, all these pop stars and people like Bono and all these fuckin tossers goin about like "Oh let's s- save the world by givin money to charity and, you know, let's, you know, throw money at the third world, and you know, i- it's not. The thing is, these, the thing with Band Aid for example is that it's like a lot of rich rock stars and pop stars who, you know, aren't actually redistributin any wealth because they're producin a single which is at no cost to them and they're making ordinary working class folk buy it. I mean and it's like, you know, so you have to, someone who's not earnin that much money goes in and spends three ninety-nine on this single which isn't that good anyway, erm and then they, so they're gi- they're giving their money away, but the the actual people who have most of the wealth i.e. the Bonos and //the Jamelias of this world don't actually// M819: //[inaudible] NME,// they just had a //great one// M818: //But,// M819: for Bono, they just said "look i-" you know, "stop co- ta- stoppin concerts to talk about debt. If you're so upset about the debt why don't you just pay the third //world."// M818: //[laugh]// M819: You know er an //[inaudible].// M818: //Christ I know.// //He could an all, he could pay about three times over.// M819: //No I don't I don't like about it// is it it's quite patronising. Basically I think there's a mentality amongst a lot of people that, you know, they're almost like we all, the, you know, the people of the the mo- the world's most exploited and impoverished countries are actually like erm are actually like erm, you know, orphan children or something. They've got, they can't help themselves. There's enough //[inaudible]// M818: //Aye, it's like, you know, they're kinda helpless an// M819: save themselves and you know this this problem's got more to do with the ch- the fact they're just "behind" us, you know, I actually hate these term-: I hate the term "developing country." //I I I I think// M818: //Aye it is patronising.// M819: Third World's better than "developing country" but erm er I mean they're both as bad terms as each other erm er, but basically erm like erm erm, bas- basically what it implies is, you know, that what we have here in [bang on table] Western liberal democratic Europe and America is absolutely fandabbydosy. Nobody lives in poverty here. //No// M818: //Aye.// M819: way in Glasgow have you got a life expectancy lower than that on the west bank. //You know what I mean?// M818: //Aye.// Shettleston, aye, I know where know where [inaudible] //[laugh]// M819: //Oh no no Glasgow// Glasgow as a whole is now under fifty, no, now under sixty. M818: Seriously? M819: Aye. //Erm// M818: //Christ!// M819: Er I mean erm for men M818: Aye. M819: For men, er for women it's well over sixty, I mean the general life expectancy is in its sixties erm but er for erm You have to remember that wi the exception of really the area around here, //the// M818: //Aye.// M819: life expectancy //[?]only[/?]// M818: //Aye.// M819: fifty across most of Glasgow. Erm an I mean er, one of the things that's quite weird in Glasgow is though that you can't really talk about areas any more, cause a lot of them have just had motorways panned through them or shopping //centres// M818: //[inaudible]// M819: built right in the middle o them, you know? M818: Either that or they've had like been like the Gorbals which is now this kind of, seen by a lot of people as this now sort of aw romantic new town that's sprung up, an it's all nice and, nice and rich middle-class people live there cause there's nice new flats, but aw the poor people just sort of //disappeared. [laugh]// M819: //They've got bloody gates!// //They've got bloody gates!// M818: //[laugh]// M819: So like, they're not flats, they're fortresses. //If you ever, if you ever// M818: //[laugh] Aye.// //They are f-// M819: //take the,// you ever take the bus, the it's the bus that goes to Shawfield, Right? Erm an it's the bus that goes to Motherwell as well, it's like the two-six-seven or something like that, right? You ever take that erm yo- I mean it's like a tour of, it goes out to Rutherglen, so you ever take the bus out to Rutherglen, right? M818: Aye. M819: Erm Er I can remember actually if we're talking about languages right, I can remember, I came through here, I used to pronounce it "Rutherglen". M818: [laugh] Rutherglen? //Rutherglen.// M819: //I got corrected// by so many people "It's Rutherglen". M818: It's like "gln", you don't really //pronounce the kind of// M819: //Erm// M818: the "e", it's like //"Ruthergln"// M819: //Aye.// //Erm// M818: //[inhale] but// M819: I don't, I don't know, I I don't know if that was me being weird or that's just where it comes from. //But if you take that bus,// M818: //Aye, but no, no.// M819: if you take that bus it's like a tour through aw the strangest houses in Glasgow, you know what I mean, cause you go through they high flats in the Gorbals they're gonna tear down //now.// M818: //Aye.// But they, they've called it the New Gorbals now because it's new flats, it, which annoys me //as well, because// M819: //The Gorbals// //the Gorbals as you used to understand it// M818: //the Gorbals is the Gorbals, you know it's// M819: no longer exists. It was bulldozed decades //ago.// M818: //Aye.// //What, Cumberland Street and all that, aye?// M819: //Know what I mean? Aye, I mean.// We never lived to see it but erm, like er just as the Gorbals got used to one set an it's gettin bulldozed into something else I think erm I think I think if you just built a giant bulldozer that would give it a sense of permanence, you know what I mean? M818: Aye. M819: No but M818: [laugh] It would kind of like [inhale] be a ki-, an emblematic gesture. M819: There's a couple, there's a couple o eh high-rises, couple of multis that you can actually see frae ma flat, erm That er M818: Aye, you talking about the, just the high-rise? //ones in the Gorb-// M819: //Aye, the [inaudible] the other// They're right next to the river, th- do you mind the blue ones? They used to get called the wallpaper er windaes? M818: I think I know where you are, I mean you just. //Aye.// M819: //The grey ones.// M818: Just off like where like Bridge Street Underground is and you just go along and you kinda you can see them from there. Kinna thing. I think M819: Er, aye no no no no, like they're much further down the Clyde. M818: Oh right, right. M819: Much further east down the Clyde. I think they're in Brigton. M818: Right, right. M819: I think it's Brigton they're in. Erm I have to say I always think that's so weird though whenever you go to Parkhead. When you walk through Brigton. //[inaudible]// M818: //[laugh]// M819: You you you couldn't put twenty thousand Celtic fans walking through //this area.// M818: //[laugh]// //It's a bit like, you know, like erm [laugh]// M819: //[inaudible] sort of// giant lodge right in the //centre o// M818: //[laugh]// //[laugh]// M819: //Brigton.// You know what I mean, I always wonder how has this no been trashed? M818: It's like West Germany in the middle of like, the sort of like [laugh] //[laugh]// M819: //It's West// Berlin. M818: Aye, that's what I mean West West Berlin, aye. M819: Er but it is quite funny though cause I mean even Denniston, Denniston is quite an orange area. You know? Er I only realised that when I moved intae it. Erm M818: It's funny cause it's, it's probably the more kind of erm sort of middle class area of the east end, you know, it's kinna, it's not quite your kinna Parkhead or your Easterhouse or whatever, you know? It's it's sort of like a kind of a nicer M819: It's pretty rough, Denniston. M818: Aye, it's quite, but you know Alexandra Parade and all that's quite ehm M819: Aye. //Aye. [inaudible]// M818: //It's quite nice.// I'm not I'm not tryin to M819: Aye. M818: I'm not tryin to like M819: Oh no no no. M818: romanticise it or nothin but it's some of it's all right. M819: No, I mean, it's it's nice, [inaudible] what that's like. M818: [laugh] M819: Er I I mean the the Parade that's nice, there's no doubt about it, I mean you've actually got open spaces and stuff like grass, M818: Mm M819: trees and shoppin. M818: Aye, it's always nice to have them, innit? //[laugh]// M819: //Aye.// But, I mean, the pl- place in Glasgow I hate the most is the Forge. M818: The Forge, aye? M819: Er the Parkhead Forge, I can't stand it. I mean you ever go it it's like, I mean, have you ever been to America? M818: No. M819: Right. You don't need to go, just go to the Forge. M818: [?]I'm goin,[/?] I was there when I was wee but that was when I was kinda young and kinda thinking "oh it's cool, it's like a big //shopping centre."// M819: //[?]Government holidays[/?]// Yeah, right, one o these, I mean, go to the Forge as a pedestrian. Right, try to walk between shops. I tried to get from the B and Q at the Forge to the Asda at the Forge. Now, it takes me roughly thirty minutes good day, forty minutes bad day to walk from the Cathedral to Glasgow University. So I'm a pretty damn fast //walker.// M818: //Aye.// M819: It took me fifteen minutes to get from the B an Q, at erm B an Q at Parkhead Forge to the Asda at Parkhead Forge. Right? M818: Jesus! [laugh] //Aye.// M819: //Erm// it took me fifteen minutes, right? M818: What is it, just so many people, just swarmin about the place? M819: No. It's, I mean this was dead at night, this was about eight at night. Right? M818: What, why, why do you hate it so much? Is it just cause it's M819: Why? Cause it's //so,// M818: //Hm// M819: it's c-, so spread out, it's //o-// M818: //Aye.// M819: it's car orientated. There is no way you could access this as a pedestrian. Right? And the shops are huge in order to sell everythin in bulk. Right? So it's an environmental disaster. Right? //An// M818: //Mmhm// M819: y- there is no way you could access it as a pedestrian and that's kind of a piss-take plan, saying it's goin to regenerate and serve the local area in an area where well over eighty percent of the population don't have a car. M818: [laugh] Aye, well. //It- it's// M819: //Right?// M818: stupid but it's just kind of like people who who, people who built the Forge are just, I mean they'll be like the the council would have been like that "Oh yes, let's built this nice". It's like the thing, same thing as the Gorbals, if you build a nice new kind of like shopping centre right in the middle of this impoverished area, it just makes it look kind of, you know, it's all nice an g- rege- regenerated an all that, but it doesn't really take it into consideration the people who actually live there, so. It's not really surprising. Happens all the time. It's like, the [inaudible] Centre as well is a bit like that, you know? M819: Aye. M818: Kinna like M819: Yeah. M818: A pain in the arse to kind of get round, but again I've not been there in years, so so I cannae really speak from recent experience. But. M819: I mean erm I'm tryin tae think, of any situation where that's worked, puttin a shoppin centre, I mean, the big one at, well, cracker example! Right? And this never worked. New Craighall in Edinburgh. Right? M818: Is that where ehm, I think this is the St James' Centre, off ehm M819: Oh that that's smack bang in the city centre. M818: Aye. M819: Smack bang. No no no that's top of the Walk, that is. If you could afford a flat there, I'd be borrowin money //off you, just put it that way, right? Erm// M818: //[laugh] Aye.// M819: No, New Craighall's right next to Niddrie. //Right?// M818: //Oh right, right.// M819: And that has achieved frankly, absolute sweet F. A. //for that area,// M818: //[laugh]// M819: you know what I mean? //It's achieved// M818: //Uh-huh// M819: nothin. They put a cinema, an Argos, a Toys R Us, er, J D Sports, couple o other shops, an that's been there for fifteen year. M818: Mmhm M819: [sniff] Everybody that ever shops there shops [inaudible] by car, right? //Because it's// M818: //Uh-huh// M819: it's a good, it's a, two minutes by car outside proper Niddrie. Right? But, basically it's, basically it's like, if that's a walk, that's a, and I mean if you are, you know, if you've got, if you're pushin a baby in a pram, that's a fifteen-minute walk. Right? And it's a fifteen-minute walk, that, cause it's so car orientated, and I think it was one of the first places in Edinburgh to get a drive-through restaurant. Right? //Erm.// M818: //Aye.// M819: Right? Basically you got a situation where you have just put high-density traffic into a residential area that has a large number of pedestrians because none //of them do own cars.// M818: //None of them own a car, [inhale].// M819: Right? So, M818: It's obviously not gonna work, aye. M819: It's, well, you've increased pollution //I'll be// M818: //Aye.// M819: really interested to know what as-, I mean it's done eh nothin economically for the area, absolutely nothin. Right? I mean, it's, all it's done is prosi- provide low-payin labour for some people locally. //[inaudible] workers// M818: //Aye, for yo- young young people generally.// M819: who are on any kind of decent money come frae outside Edinburgh, M818: Aye. M819: or they come frae Porty. you know, they don't come frae Niddrie itself. Erm, I can remember when I was there, erm wi ma dad. Erm, and he er he met er someone he knew frae Newbattle. Newbattle's in Dalkeith, you know? So, I mean again the the sort of people they're hiring arenae frae the area so it does nothin for the area by puttin money in the back pockets of the people, right? It increases the traffic, it probably increases asthma, it certainly increases accidents, you know? M818: Aye. M819: Does nothin for the area. M818: That's that's the thing, it's just a sort of sort of like nice kind of romantic idea, of a, build a shopping centre here and it will be all nice for the people who live there, but that's the thing, it's not really, is it, I mean it is used at all, is it u- quite well used or is it just lyin dead? M819: What do you mean? //What, New Craighall?// M818: //Is it, is it actually d-d-// does it get used, the this place in Niddrie, does it actually? M819: New Craighall, yeah, it gets //used.// M818: //Aye.// M819: But the people who are shoppin there M818: Are from? M819: are predominantly frae other parts o Edinburgh, M818: Mmhm M819: or they're people who have got cars. M818: Aye. M819: Right? Erm, and er the point is, even if people are buyin stuff there, What's the point of havin extra places to buy stuff if you know you've got nae money, more pollution, //more// M818: //[laugh]// M819: c- rates o car accidents, you know? M818: Aye. M819: erm, I mean er, I I just couldn't think o a more stupid //idea, there's piles an// M818: //[laugh]// M819: piles o cars through a erm through a highly pedestrianised area. In fact, the only thing that probably sells Parkhead well economically is having Celtic Park right near it. M818: Oh that's the thing, it M819: Cause you get, I mean there you've got sixty thousand punters comin in every second Saturday, who have got money in their back pockets, who want to spend it on stuff, and they're on foot so they're actual passing trade. //So they// M818: //[sniff]// //Aye, right.// M819: //the location// o yer business matters. M818: Most of the people who work in Parkhead, in the actual, in the stadium aren't actually //from there, that's the thing.// M819: //Oh no no no I know, I think// it's not a source of employment. It's not a source of employment, but it brings, it brings consumers to the area. Erm But that said I'm tryin to think of a single area in Scotland next to a football stadium that is not a complete dump. M818: [laugh] //Aye.// M819: //Leith.// Actually, Hibs, er of all the s- of all the clubs in Scotland, Hibs probably have the most glamourous //surroundings.// M818: //[snort]// M819: Erm, I mean, no that's the reason why Hibs are able to quite comfortably sustain just under ten millions quid worth o debt. //Right?// M818: //Aye?// M819: Er, the reason for that is that Easter Road is worth a fortune, //cause of the way it is.// M818: //Is it worth that much?// Aye, because it's just in the M819: What, if Hibs sold Easter, well one, right, you wouldn't necessarily need to knock Easter Road down, if you bought it, cause it's got piles o function suites. Ye-, I mean Hibs make a mint off functions. Right? The reason, again one of the reasons why Hibs can survive without the Euro revenue that Hearts get, is because Hearts, it's estimated lose millions a year by not having decent corporate entertainment fac- facilities. Whyte and Mackay in Scotland have their offices in the South Stand Easter Road, so Hibs are makin rent off that. //Right?// M818: //From?// Aye, that's Hibs' sponsor, innit? Whyte and Mackay? M819: Whyte and Mackay. //[inaudible]// M818: //Aye.// M819: Hibs have got several other businesses who just take up office in the South Stand //Easter Road.// M818: //Aye.// M819: Erm, er they've got, I mean, the the the Behind the Goals bar is used as a function suite by every college in Edinburgh. Right? Erm, I mean all the prize-givings, all the first-aid courses, they're all held there, M818: Aye? //Isn't// M819: //cause Hibs// M818: but is Leith not quite a, I've never actually been to Leith, but is it no quite a kind of working-class area, like //or is it quite, is it?// M819: //Aye, Constitution// Street an that, yeah. Erm an there's er but it's really gone up-market. Erm, and the Docks, which is now referred to as Ocean Terminal //you know what I mean?// M818: //[laugh] Jesus. [laugh]// //Aye, it's kind of losin it's identity a wee bit if that's the case, innit?// M819: //Ocean Terminal, right?// Well no, that's the thing it was, erm I mean you've always got the... You know the Manic Street Preachers' song, you know, "We are all Bourgeois now"? //[inaudible]// M818: //Aye.// //[laugh]// M819: //know your enemy, right?// there's no better example than that, than y- havin all these sort of yuppie bars wade into the Leith docks, and declare it an Ocean Terminal, you know what I mean? //I I I m-// M818: //Uh-huh, you just [inhale]// //It's pretty shady, it's like.// M819: //I mean I'm I'm [inaudible]// You know sort of, i- imagine if you deca- if you called Rotten Row a, you know, a a decr- a decaying hospice. Or something like //that, you know?// M818: //Aye. [laugh]// M819: A, or a quaint, eh or or a quaint convenience. //Something like that, you know,// M818: //[laugh]// M819: so yuppies would actually buy stuff in the area. Right? M818: I'm tryin to think of somewhere in Glasgow, like you know, ehm. They have M819: Totally, you know, //pushed// M818: //lost.// M819: that market. //The Merchant City.// M818: //By the need for// Aye, well yeah, that's true actually. 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: 2 Audio awareness & spontaneity Speaker awareness: Aware Degree of spontaneity: Spontaneous Audio footage information Year of recording: 2005 Recording person id: 718 Size (min): 32 Size (mb): 185 Audio medium Other: Private conversation recorded for SCOTS Audio setting Education: Recording venue: Lecturer's office Geographic location of speech: Glasgow Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers Professional relationship: Speakers knew each other: Yes Audio speaker relationships Friend: Audio transcription information Transcriber id: 801 Year of transcription: 2005 Year material recorded: 2005 Word count: 6842 Audio type Conversation: Participant Participant details Participant id: 818 Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1980 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Catholicism Occupation: Student Place of birth: Glasgow Region of birth: Glasgow Birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Glasgow Region of residence: Glasgow Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Draughtsman Father's place of birth: Gweedore Father's region of birth: Donegal Father's country of birth: Ireland Mother's occupation: Primary School Teacher Mother's place of birth: Helensborough Mother's region of birth: Dunbarton Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Dnbt Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: French Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Learned at school - limited knowledge Language: Scots Speak: No Read: Yes Write: No Understand: Yes Circumstances: Participant Participant details Participant id: 819 Gender: Male Decade of birth: 1980 Educational attainment: University Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Secular upbringing Occupation: Student Place of birth: Edinburgh Region of birth: Midlothian Birthplace CSD dialect area: midLoth Country of birth: Scotland Place of residence: Glasgow Region of residence: Glasgow Residence CSD dialect area: Gsw Country of residence: Scotland Father's occupation: Technician Father's place of birth: Dundee Father's region of birth: E Angus Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Ags Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Health visitor Mother's place of birth: Aberdeen Mother's region of birth: Aberdeen Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Abd Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: No Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Only in formal settings Language: German Speak: No Read: No Write: No Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: In all settings