Interlinear glossed textmc_english_london01_b| Recording date | 1985 |
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| Speaker age | 61 |
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| Speaker sex | m |
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| Text genre | personal narrative |
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| Extended corpus | yes |
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| | | Translation | And then there was a great big spurt and a bang in the water. |
| | | Translation | And the pierman, who was employed by the PLA, he said, Well, oh, there were a lot of things that dropped in there. |
| what'sintrg_other:pred=cop
| | Translation | Oh, crumbs, what's this? Mind of it. |
| | | Translation | Then, once again, as I said with the skipper, I was shocked, because he didn't go after the barges. |
| concernedv:pred
|
|
| concern | -ed | | concern | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | But when the safety of their boat was concerned, and he'd say, Alright, we can't lay here, we can't leave the boat -- which they could've done -- no-one would have blamed them. |
| | | Translation | So, we upped, we all cast off, and we all went our ways. |
| | | Translation | Or our other boat was there by that time, the Vanuk, and Percy Green was the skipper. |
| | | Translation | No, Percy Green was the mate still then, and Stan Terson was the skipper. |
| | | Translation | And we ran down to Knights Roads, which was abreast of Lyalls, where the Victoria Dock is. |
| | | Translation | And, I say, and the Germans came back. |
| silhouettedvother:pred
|
|
| silhouette | -d | | silhouette | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And we were in a silly position really, but they hung on there, and the bombs were dropping close, and we could see the dock, an absolute ball of flame silhouetted against the air. |
| | | Translation | And on our boat, we had the scuttle open, which was the sliding hatchway to the after-cabin, and there was the Scotsman sitting there rocking back and forwards with his son in the dark, he wouldn't have the light on, and the mate and the skipper were sitting up on the wheelbox and that, and we knew we had no water, so I said, Well, I'm going across on the other boat, for water, which I did do. |
| gasometersrn_pn_np
|
|
| Levens | Road | gasworks | | Levens | Road | gasworks |
invother:pred
|
|
| silhouette | -d | | silhouette | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And I looked up at the skipper, Uncle Jim Chew, and he could see the gasometers in Levens Road gasworks silhouetted by a ball of flame behind them, and his house was a couple of streets behind that. |
| | | Translation | I could see him now, and I really, you know, admired the man there, you know, sitting there. |
| | | Translation | I mean, his wife was there and his child. |
| | | Translation | And I went over in the other boat, and down below they were playing cards, they were all cockneys, and they had the light on, they were playing cards and all the rest of it and they couldn't care less. |
| | | Translation | So, I stayed there. |
| | | Translation | It was a bit more cheerful, and in the end, Fred Smith come over, got me, I thought something happened to me, because I was gone so long; so, we took the water back, made tea, and we'd got too bad then, so I forgot what time of the night it was, but we cut and run, and we went down below to Plumstead, and moored up there. |
| | | Translation | And next day, we came in up, which was the Sunday; it was, like a scene from H. G. Wells', Things to Come, after the war. |
| concernedv:pred
|
|
| concern | -ed | | concern | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | You couldn't see any sign of life on the shore; I mean, as far as we're concerned, we were the only people alive. |
| | | Translation | And smoke and barges drifting about everywhere. |
| | | Translation | And, then, as we passed Woolwich, we'd just see a lorry going on, because, I think it's Church Road. |
| | | Translation | It's up high at Woolwich. |
| Blackwallpn_np:g
|
|
| Blackwall | Pier | | Blackwall | Pier |
| | Translation | And we went back to Blackwall Pier, and we tied up. |
| downpn_np:l
|
|
| Slimmer's | Road | | Slimmers | Road |
bottomln_np.h:poss
|
|
| grandmother | ='s | | grandmother | =POSS |
grandmother'sother=other:predex
turningpn_np:s
|
|
| Rosenblatt | ='s | | Rosenblatt | =POSS |
| | Translation | And then, we walked home, because Jim Chew lived in this general direction which I did and, we parted, and as I walked down Slimmer's Road, and at the bottom, my grandmother's turning, there's Rosenblatt's, Jewish bakers -- that was flat. |
| | | Translation | And, I walked around the corner and, knocked at my own house, and I could hear them crying indoors, because they didn't know what happened to me. |
| | | Translation | And, that was it. |
| outpn_np:obl
|
|
| Culloden | Street | | Culloden | Street |
| | Translation | But my grandmother was there -- my father's mother -- she'd been bombed out from Culloden Street. |
| | | Translation | And, that was the start of the blitz. |
| | | Translation | And, of course of a night-time, we had no shelter; we were privileged in the sense that my father had bought a second-hand Ford car before the war. |
| oldln_adj
|
|
| straight | backed | | straight | backed |
straight-backednum_np:appos
| | Translation | I forget what one it was -- the old straight-backed one. |
| | | Translation | I think sixty pound it cost. |
| youncother
|
|
| ag | agitate | d | | NC | agitate | PCTP.PST |
| | Translation | And the milkman taught him how to drive, and there was no driving test at the time, and, my father used to get very agitated and, first day we went out, he used to wear his stiff celluloid collar. |
| | | Translation | He didn't have a bowler hat or nothing, but the stiff celluloid collar. |
| neighbours'dnp.h:s=lv_aux
|
|
| neighbours | ='d | | neighbours | =would |
| | Translation | And all the neighbours would stand outside and the milkman with his wife and mother and four children in the car. |
| andother
|
|
| agitate | -d | | agitate | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And, of course, he didn't give it enough throttle and he kept -- CHUNK! along the street he was getting more and more agitated along the street. |
| annp:p
|
|
| Anderson | shelter | | Anderson | shelter |
| | Translation | Then because of the car, we had a side entry down the bottom, and he built a bit of a lean-to, that was a garage; so we had no room, to put an Anderson shelter. |
| | | Translation | At that time, there were no, they did have shelters you could put inside underneath the table, steel mesh. |
| familynp:pred_l
|
|
| family | shelter | | family | shelter |
| | Translation | So, we was all in the family shelter next door, the Lovelands. |
| Firstpn_np:other
|
|
| First | World | War | | First | World | War |
| | Translation | So, husband and wife, and he hadn't worked for years; he was gassed in the First World War, and (he) had sort of form of palsy, and we could hear this ratting on his gas mask case. |
| Firstpn_np:other
|
|
| First | World | War | | First | World | War |
hevother:pred
|
|
| deteriorating | | deteriorate.PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | And, yes, after he came out of the war, Loveland, after the First World War, and he started deteriorating, because he was gassed; the men carried him for as long as they could -- they carried him for years. |
| | | Translation | He was a stoker, in the gasworks until they couldn't cover him anymore. |
| | | Translation | And of course, he never worked after that. |
| | | Translation | He had two children, two boys and a girl. |
| Andersonnp:l
|
|
| Anderson | shelter | | Anderson | shelter |
| | Translation | And of course, we were all stuck in this Anderson shelter. |
| | | Translation | And Iris was a baby, in arms and that was it. |
| | | Translation | And, then when things got bad, my aunt, her nerves went, and she went down to Woodford, which is only a part of London, but there was no bombing there at Woodford. |
| belongingvother:pred
|
|
| belong | -ing | | belong | -PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | And, they used to go down there every night, and then my mother went there, and I started going down there, but then you sort of got immune to it and, we went into the shelter belonging to a family, the Stamps. |
| | | Translation | In fact, the grandson was Terence Stamp, the actor. |
| | | Translation | If you'd like to hear about that family... |
| | | Translation | [INT] Let's leave that for another occasion, shall we? |
| there'sother=other:predex
| | Translation | Yeah. Anyway, we're in Stamps', there's Bobby Stamp, he had one eye, and Johnny Stamp and his sister. |
| | | Translation | His father was a donkeyman, he went to sea. |
| | | Translation | And, so there was room in this shelter, and we used to go over there. |
| | | Translation | And, then, when the intensity of the bombing declined, we just used to stay in bed, and then you just wouldn't, take notice of it; you just got immune to it. But the beginning... |
| | | Translation | [INT] What, what sort of work were you doing through this period? |
| | | Translation | Well, just doing my normal work. |
| | | Translation | But also, we did a mine patrol once a week. |
| lighteragenp:a
|
|
| lighterage | firm | -s | | lighterage | firm | -PL |
annp:appos
|
|
| overtime | payment | | overtime | payment |
thenp:s
|
|
| minesweeper | -s | | minesweeper | -PL |
| | Translation | Various lighterage firms shared it, and we got paid a payment, but an overtime payment, but it was compulsory so that , as they started dropping mines, like the acoustic mines, there up the river, you had the, minesweepers used to go up and down. |
| | | Translation | H. P. Herbert used to serve on those, on the Water Gypsy. |
| lighteragenp:a
|
|
| lighterage | tug | | lighterage | tug |
| | Translation | But the lighterage tug used to patrol the sections of the river, to stop them landing, coming down on parachute and report them. |
| navigationnp:p
|
|
| navigation | light | -s | | navigation | light | -PL |
| | Translation | And you weren't allowed any navigation lights, which a bit hairy. |
| there'sother=other:predex
navigationnp:p2
|
|
| navigation | light | -s | | navigation | light | -PL |
| | Translation | Except when there's full moon, when you could see well, and then they would allow you little navigation lights, but they were, were screened. |
| | | Translation | And similarly, with the bridges, the bridges of a night-time they're got two orange lights, which'd signify the middle of the working arch. |
| | | Translation | So, there might be two or three arches like that. |
| | | Translation | But of course, they were hooded, and they were very hard to see. |
| | | Translation | And, so, everybody just did their normal work in the blitz. |
| | | Translation | You went to work, and you came home, and if it's firefighting, that'd be on, go up to the roof, incendiary bombs along the street, because they couldn't get to it. |
| explosivenp:pred
|
|
| incendiaries | | incendiary.PL |
| | Translation | And, that was until they made explosive incendiaries, and then of course it was dangerous. |
| | | Translation | They're more dangerous then. |
| | | Translation | When you went to tackle incendiary bomb, it'd explode. |
| thenp:obl
|
|
| stirrup | pump | -s | | stirrup | pump | -PL |
| | Translation | But in the first instance, they'd just come down in clusters, and you could get a stirrup pump or dowse them with sand with the stirrup pumps. |
| | | Translation | And then the street itself, we organised our own voluntary watch of a night-time, a fire-watch, and we did two hours, and I used to go with my father. |
| | | Translation | And then, someone else would come along and relieve you and then we'd go through the night like that. |
| thepn_np:other
|
|
| First | World | War | | First | World | War |
| | Translation | They did fetch in compulsory fire-watching at factories, but my father was a socialist, and also he detested Morrison, because Morrison was a conch in the First World War, and, when they said, he had to go and fire-watch at a factory over in Mile End somewhere, he said, I'm not! He said, I'll go prison! |
| conchy'snp.h:a=lv_aux
|
|
| conchy | ='s | | conchy | =be.PRS.3SG |
That'sdem_pro:s=cop
|
|
| that | ='s | | DIST.SG | =be.PST.3SG |
| | Translation | He said, No conchy's gonna tell me what to do! That's it and he wouldn't. |
| | | Translation | But we did the fire-watching in the street. |
| | | Translation | So that, life carried on more or less as normal. |
| there'sother=other:predex
wasvother:pred
|
|
| disturb | -ed | | disturb | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | You just did your work, and, if there's an air raid, you was disturbed at night. |
| | | Translation | That was it and you went to work next morning -- wherever it was. |
| lorry-drivingv:pred
|
|
| lorry | driving | | lorry | drive.PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | By that time there was very little work in the docks for dockers and stevedores; my mother's brothers were gone lorry-driving and things like that. |
| emergencynp:p
|
|
| emergency | port | -s | | emergency | port | -PL |
| | Translation | And then later on, of course, when they got the emergency ports of Mersea and, Loch Ryan and Gurrock, they asked for them to volunteer to go and work in these ports, and they went to various places. |
| | | Translation | My uncle John went down to Cardiff, I know, down there, working as a stevedore. |
| | | Translation | But, there was still a bit of lighterage, although in the first incident when the ships couldn't get through E-boat alley, because it's much, too much too dangerous on the east coast. |
| | | Translation | They started making the tug crews a week on the labour, a week off. |
| | | Translation | So you was a week on labour, a week off. |
| | | Translation | And, the, the lightermen, of course, they was on the labour all the time. |
| | | Translation | Excuse me. It was still a reserved occupation. |
| | | Translation | And, then a few ships started coming through, and then they started fetching stuff through Bristol, and piping oil up across to, to Windsor and place like that. |
| | | Translation | So, our small tug, because there were two of what they call dock tugs -- the varlet and the vassal, colloquially known as toshers. |
| | | Translation | Not those two but that type of tug up to eighty horsepower was called a tosher, its nickname. |
| | | Translation | Just a two-man crew, a skipper and a mate. |
| | | Translation | And they would do the work when they're not towing in the dock, and perhaps come out and tow up the creek and back in the dock again. [CUT IN RECORDING] |
| | | Translation | But one of those went on the long run and that, from upriver down to Teddington and we did go up and pick craft up from Teddington and work. |
| concernedv:pred
|
|
| concern | -ed | | concern | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | So there was, the work did spring up again as far as lighterage was concerned, but not to the same extent. |
| drivinglv
|
|
| suppose | -d | | suppose | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And, getting towards the end of my two years, when you are an unlicenced apprentice, the labour master, Sid Stayden, old Sid Stayden, said, Right, we'll have to get you driving, because you're supposed to have experience driving under oars, when you went up for your test. |
| drivingnp:s
|
|
| driving | job | -s | | driving | job | -PL |
| | Translation | And, so there weren't many driving jobs, he gave me one. |
| | | Translation | I went with a chap, and we was gonna drive out of Chelsea Creek and go up to Hammersmith. |
| | | Translation | But by the time we go outside, the boat was waiting for us. |
| there'sother=other:predex
| | Translation | And there's another one, where we was going to drive up to the Victoria Dock, up along to Rotherhithe, but once again we were only gone for about half a mile, and the tug picked us up. |
| | | Translation | But, of course, when you went up for your twos, you had to say that, you had experience of driving under oars. |
| | | Translation | I had, but not enough. |
| Watermen'spn_np:dt_s
|
|
| Watermen's | Hall | | Watermen's | Hall |
| | Translation | But then, of course, they asked you questions about sets of tides and things like that and, it was quite awe-inspiring, the Watermen's Hall; it's a very old hall, and all the court would be sit berobed. |
| apprenticedv:pred
|
|
| apprentice | -d | | apprentice | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | A little high table in front of the window and you'd go in with your master, in this instance my father, apprenticed to my father, and then the boy had to step forward, and they'd address you as the boy. |
| | | Translation | And various members of the court asked you questions. |
| | | Translation | If you failed the test, your master could ask for them to get a barge, whether they did it in wartime, I don't know, but pre-war, and you would drive the barge under oars, with the beadle of the company rowing behind to observe your performance. |
| | | Translation | But, it never came to that. |
| | | Translation | I got my two-year licence. |
| | | Translation | And then, I went as a lighterman on the craft then. |
| Bowpn_np:l
|
|
| Canning | Town | Bridge | | Canning | Town | Bridge |
Bridgenp:pred
|
|
| headquarter | -s | | headquarter | -PL |
younp:pred
|
|
| reporting | place | | reporting | place |
| | Translation | The last part of my first two years, I went around to what they called the New Wharf, it was a railway wharf up Bow Creek, by Canning Town Bridge, which, was the headquarters if you like, it was our reporting place for the lightermen of Volkins, because we contracted for the LNER, which had that wharf there. |
| | | Translation | And, so the boy would be there, and you'd get sent out to assist lightermen, but you'd mainly at the wharf, sweeping up barges and things like that. |
| restrictionsnc
|
|
| restriction | -s | | restriction | -PL |
| | Translation | But once you got your twos, you was out on your own then, you were at a lesser rate than the freemen, certain restrictions on night work, but, to all intents and purposes you worked as a freeman. |
| apprenticesnp.h:p
|
|
| apprentice | -s | | apprentice | -PL |
apprenticesrn_np.h
|
|
| apprentice | -s | | apprentice | -PL |
| | Translation | And because pre-war they'd tended to use a lot of apprentices, because they was cheap, as the unions got more power, it imposed a quota of apprentices to the number of freemen a firm could have and... |
| regulationsnc
|
|
| regulation | -s | | regulation | -PL |
regulationsnc_np
|
|
| regulation | -s | | regulation | -PL |
| | Translation | [INT] When was that, then, that the specific regulations were brought in? |
| nineteennp:pred_other
|
|
| nineteen | thirty | nine | | nineteen | thirty | nine |
thirty-nineother
|
|
| nineteen | forty | | nineteen | forty |
| | Translation | It was I suppose about nineteen thirty-nine, nineteen forty, as they were getting more power. |
| | | Translation | I couldn't say exactly, but, it started. |
| | | Translation | Similarly 'round about that time, they'd got meal hours paid for the lightermen, because lightermen, you could say, tow up to the New Wharf, for instance, we... [CUT IN RECORDING] |
| | | Translation | ...past twelve, you've had no lunch, and they'll say, Right, well, that one's gotta go out! You see? And, of course, it's the tide. |
| | | Translation | So, that, the men, when they felt their feet warm, I mean, they've come out of the depression, they started refusing to do that, and then they've brought a meal hour in, so you could change straight over, and you'd get paid for an hour's overtime. |
| | | Translation | And, but as soon as you'd finished that second job, now you had to have your meal hour. |
| | | Translation | Charged for a meal, but it didn't work out that way so much. |
| onpn_np:l
|
|
| Victoria | Dock | buoy | | Victoria | Dock | .buoy |
| | Translation | You could come out the Victoria Dock, and you'd missed the boat going up, and you'd be stuck at out on Victoria Dock buoy. |
| | | Translation | The only way to get ashore is by watermen. |
| | | Translation | The watermen by that time were very few and far between, particularly in the war. |
| | | Translation | Or you'd get a police-boat to put you ashore. |
| | | Translation | And you used to get -- I think it's half a crown -- it was the waterage fee. |
| | | Translation | And you either gave it to the police-boat or the watermen or someone stepped you ashore; then you just walked in and that was yours. |
| | | Translation | But if you couldn't get ashore, you're just stuck there. |
| concernedv:pred
|
|
| concern | -ed | | concern | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | Well, as far as you was concerned, you was coming out, you was gonna tow up somewhere and you'd get ashore. |
| | | Translation | But you would be stuck there. |
| | | Translation | And you'd have nothing, nothing to eat or drink. |
| | | Translation | You might be there for six hours' time the boat, if he'd gone right up along, waited for it to come along to pick you up. |
| | | Translation | I mean, you got paid, didn't you, if you did that, but you had nothing to eat or drink. |
| | | Translation | And that was it. And... [TAPE INTERRUPTED] |
| | | Translation | ...a sandwich, you'd take a sandwich with you in your pocket, and that was it. |
| thenp:a=lv_aux
|
|
| museum | ='s | | museum | =have.PRS.3SG |
| | Translation | All you had in the barge's cabin was a stove -- and I don't know if the museum's got a barge stove -- but they are a particular stove; they're peculiar to barges, in the shape of them. |
| | | Translation | And the front was open. |
| | | Translation | And to start the fire, you made a blower yourself, out of newspaper, so, it was rectangular stove. |
| | | Translation | And then, it conical at the top, and then your funnel went up, generally to the deck level. |
| inclinedlv_v
|
|
| incline | -d | | incline | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | Now, this would be inclined to be smoky, so, if you got a rattan mat, you'd make an extension to your funnel with a rattan mat or cardboard anything like that, to, to give it sort of a bit of draught. |
| | | Translation | So, there was the bars at the bottom for the fire, and then it was just open at the top, and you'd put newspaper around the rim and get it tight and make a blower from that, and it'd take the smoke away and get, your, your fire going properly. |
| providedv:pred
|
|
| provide | -d | | provide | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | Coal was not provided in that instance; you used to pinch your coal. |
| | | Translation | When you got alongside a coal barge, you coaled the barge up, then it became a question of... [CUT IN RECORDING] |
| | | Translation | And you had the stove, the fire in the cabin and then the locker, which was just a wooden bench. |
| thenp:dt
|
|
| Huddis | plate | -s | | Huddis | plate | -PL |
thenp:s
|
|
| configuration | | configuration |
| | Translation | If you visualize that the Huddis plates, the configuration of the barge sloped down, forward and aft. |
| | | Translation | Aft, the cabin was always aft. |
| | | Translation | And they'd matchline the cabin a bit. |
| | | Translation | And then in between the two, if you like, artificial walls, they would be the lockers; so there'd be a bench, and although most of the barges didn't have a locker underneath, it carried the name on, when it used to be a sort of a cupboard underneath there. |
| | | Translation | And this is where you stayed. |
| | | Translation | And the lifebelt on the barge was a round, pillow shape, and, of course, you would use that for a pillow, if you was sleeping aboard the barge. |
| | | Translation | The cabins weren't unpleasant, except if you got a barge that was rat-infested. |
| | | Translation | Then you could, you could smell them; you could hear them. |
| thenp:p
|
|
| rat | dropping | -s | | rat | dropping | -PL |
| | Translation | ...you could see the rat droppings everywhere, and then you could, smell them, and, smells like that you never forget. |
| | | Translation | You can describe it, and it's similar, when -- going back to my childhood -- when we had the shop, and when things were still a bit hard, people used to let rooms out. |
| | | Translation | And we had a young couple, let a room out to them, and, I don't think they was very clean, because I remember my father come into our bedroom, once looking over the wall -- I didn't know what he was looking for -- it was bugs. |
| | | Translation | And, when this couple finally moved, well, in fact, we wanted the room, because we were growing up by then. |
| | | Translation | And, we went in, and where the bed had been on the far window, we started stripping the wallpaper, my brother and I, and there was a mess of bugs. |
| shovellingv:pred
|
|
| shovelling | | shovel.PTCP.PRS |
bugrn_np
|
|
| bug | infestation | | bug | infestation |
| | Translation | We was shovelling them up and running them down, and I tell you, I know what the, a bug smells like, or a bug infestation, but I couldn't describe it. |
| indescribableother:pred
|
|
| indescribable | | indescribable |
| | Translation | Not because it's indescribable; it's like trying to describe, the difference between roast potatoes, roast chicken, and apple pie. |
| | | Translation | It's difficult, so, with a rat-infested barge, you smelt it as soon as you went on. |
| werev:pred
|
|
| fumigate | -d | | fumigate | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And some barges -- it don't matter how often they were fumigated, and they would fumigate them, when they went on the barge yard. |
| | | Translation | They, they would come back again, the rats. |
| | | Translation | And, live aboard the barge. |
| | | Translation | And that was that. |
| | | Translation | So, that was aft; your cabin was aft, and down forward -- because there was no toilet -- was where you found the brown-handled knives. |
| thenp.h:dt_a
|
|
| barge | repairer | -s | | barge | repairer | -PL |
andrn_np.h
|
|
| barge | builder | -s | | barge | builder | -PL |
| | Translation | So, you'd either have a piece of sacking, and you went to the toilet there, and you would throw it overboard, but if you didn't have sacking or newspaper, then, of course, it was left there and, until such times when she went in the barge yard for the overhaul, and then the barge repairers and the barge builders, they cleaned it out. |
| | | Translation | But, that was the forward. |
| | | Translation | On the tug they had a toilet, but, you weren't allowed to use it, the lighterman, just for the crew. Yeah. |
| | | Translation | And, if you were towing up, behind the barge, behind the tug, as I say, the lighterman could go aboard for a cup of tea, and that was it. |
| | | Translation | That was your lot. |
| | | Translation | So that in lighterage, you learnt, in the first instance, by being with people as a two-year boy, and then you were on your own, you still learnt. |
| listeningvother:pred
|
|
| listen | -ing | | listen | -PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | I learnt quite a lot by sitting and listening. |
| stevedores'llrn_np.h=lv_aux
|
|
| stevedore | -s | ='ll | | stevedore | -PL | =will |
| | Translation | Now, dockers and stevedores'll say that lightermen and probably working men in general, they always talk about work. |
| | | Translation | That was their main topic of conversation. |
| | | Translation | Work, then women, then betting and sport, and way, way down. |
| downgradedv:pred
|
|
| downgrad | -ed | | downgrad | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And after television came in, television became the prime one, and, the work went down one, and then everything was downgraded one then in that order of priority. |
| describingv:pred
|
|
| describing | | describe.PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | But you could sit and listen, and the men'd be describing an experience -- and there was a couple things I learnt which, amongst others, helped me in later time. |
| that'sdem_pro:s=cop
|
|
| that | ='s | | DIST.SG | =be.PST.3SG |
tidev:pred
|
|
| counterbalance | -d | | counterbalance | -PST |
| | Translation | And then, remember once, one of them saying, that's when he was coming out of Barking Creek, the wind into the creek was stronger than the tide and the barge, being a light barge, empty barge, it was catching wind more, and the lighterman just got some gratings from out of the barge, tied them to the light and dropped them overboard and that, few gratings in the tide counterbalanced the wind and out she went. |
| | | Translation | And, another bad place was the eastern basin of the London Dock. |
| | | Translation | It's the walls, the quay walls were high. |
| Shadwellpn_np:g
|
|
| Shadwell | entrance | | Shadwell | entrance |
thepn_np:g
|
|
| East | India | Dock | | East | India | Dock |
| | Translation | You'd come into the Shadwell entrance, and then go through into the East India Dock, get locked up. |
| | | Translation | And then you had to shoot across, try and get way, with barge. |
| | | Translation | Barges used to be equipped with a pair of paddles -- that was the oars -- and a hitcher, which a long, long boat pole, with a hook on it. |
| | | Translation | But, the paddles came from Sweden. |
| fingernailnp:other
|
|
| fingernail | lighterage | | fingernail | lighterage |
| | Translation | And of course through the war, they dried up, and they were a few and far between, so, we were down then to what they called fingernail lighterage. |
| fingernailsnp:p
|
|
| fingernail | -s | | fingernail | -PL |
| | Translation | You'd use your fingernails. |
| Shadwellpn_np:l
|
|
| Shadwell | Basin | | Shadwell | Basin |
thepn_np:obl
|
|
| East | India | Dock | | East | India | Dock |
| | Translation | So that when you came out of that lock, in the Shadwell Basin to go past the East India Dock, you used to try and get as much way across you to trade across. |
| There'sother=other:predex
| | Translation | There's peculiarity of the wind there sometimes; you get in the middle, and you just go 'round and 'round. |
| | | Translation | And, I remember someone telling me once that, got the funnel from the stove, which was cast iron, and they were chained; they broke the chain, tied the end to the rope, and just dropped down the forward and that. |
| | | Translation | And pulled it either side, and it got a bit of way on the barge again, to get that way. |
| | | Translation | So, you learnt by doing things. |
| listeningvother:pred
|
|
| listen | -ing | | listen | -PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | And you learnt by listening and, and watching others, then you got like a thing like that. |
| | | Translation | Oh, another one was that, with a tug sometimes, you got a terrific wind, if you had a terrific wind, and you would always round into the tide, the tide would act as a brake. |
| | | Translation | Sometimes you couldn't get downhead to the wind. |
| | | Translation | If you went around stern first, full speed, you could come back to where you want to. |
| that'sdem_pro:s=cop
|
|
| that | ='s | | DIST.SG | =be.PST.3SG |
| | Translation | But that's another thing that we're in good stead with later on when I was in the army. |
| nineteennp:other
|
|
| nineteen | forty | one | | nineteen | forty | one |
| | Translation | And, so, I got my twos, and then, shortly after that, I became a registered man, because, in the first two years, you were unregistered, although the scheme come in nineteen forty-one. |
| | | Translation | So, shortly before I got my twos, the scheme started and I became a registered man. |
| yorthnp:obl
|
|
| youth | organization | | youth | organization |
youthpn_np:appos
|
|
| Young | Christian | Workers | | Young | Christian | Workers |
| | Translation | And, I belonged to a youth organisation -- Young Christian Workers -- it was a catholic workers' organisation. |
| himvother:pred
|
|
| reserve | -d | | reserve | -PTCP.PST |
| | Translation | And, I'd been elected national president and then the national secretary -- they couldn't get him reserved, and he'd gone into the army. |
| Patrickpn_np.h:appos
|
|
| Patrick | Keegan | | Patrick | Keegan |
| | Translation | Pats, Patrick Keegan, he was a Wiggan hod. |
| nineteenrn_np
|
|
| nineteen | forty | two | | nineteen | forty | two |
thenp:obl
|
|
| correspondence | | correspondence |
arrangenp:p
|
|
| conference | -s | | conference | -PL |
m-vother:pred
|
|
| reserve | -d | | reserve | -PTCP.PST |
atrn_pn_np
|
|
| Blundell | Sands | | Blundell | Sands |
| | Translation | And, they asked me if I'd go, so I went in the June of nineteen forty-two to Liverpool, and, I was national secretary, used to edit the magazine, and, deal with the correspondence, arrange conferences and whatnot, until December, and they couldn't get me reserved also; thought I'd come out of reserved occupation, and, I was called up, and joined the east Lancs for the six weeks initial training at the camp at Blundell Sands. |
| | | Translation | It'd been a holiday camp. |
| | | Translation | And, once again it was about December, winter, and, oh, it was freezing. |
| | | Translation | There was no heating in these flimsy chalets. |
| | | Translation | And there were three men to a chalet, and we did our initial training there. |
| | | Translation | And there was a chap there who was a bus driver, he came out of the backwoods, if you like, in Lancashire; and I had to cover for him. |
| | | Translation | I remember we went to his place, and he kept getting stomach cramp, and we thought he was swinging the lead. |
| | | Translation | The doctor said he was swinging lead. |
| | | Translation | But the poor bugger had perforated ulcers. |
| | | Translation | He told them when he came in the army he had ulcers. |
| | | Translation | And the doctor gets more towards he's swinging lead, and, he went one day, reported sick, and he spewed up black, and they rushed him to hospital, and he was dead, within about a few hours, in the army. |
| that'sdem_pro:s=cop
|
|
| that | ='s | | DIST.SG | =be.PST.3SG |
Blundellpn_np:l
|
|
| Blundell | Sands | | Blundell | Sands |
| | Translation | And, so that's our six weeks training there at Blundell Sands. |
| | | Translation | And then, you went to the various regiments, according to your trade or your inclination, because they had this, psychologist who did the test. |
| Royalpn_np:g
|
|
| Royal | Engineers | | Royal | Engineers |
Cardiffpn_np:l
|
|
| Llandaff | Cathedral | | Llandaff | Cathedral |
| | Translation | And, I went into the Royal Engineers, the lighterage, and then, went down to Cardiff, just outside [UNCLEAR] Cardiff, by Llandaff Cathedral, for the sapper's training, you know, in demolition and stuff like that. |
| Dockspn_np:obl
|
|
| IWT | Inland | Water | Transport | section | | IWT | Inland | Water | Transport | section |
| | Translation | And then, from that I went up to the Surrey Docks, there was Nissen huts put in the Surrey Docks for the IWT, Inland Water Transport section of the Engineers. |
| | | Translation | And, from there, after the initial training, went up to Cairnryan to the army camps there, because that was a military port by then. |
| | | Translation | And, the thing I remember from there, more than anything else, was the fact that the water came out of the taps brown; it was peat. |
| | | Translation | First I met this. |
| | | Translation | And the fact that, being Adams, A in the alphabet, I always got put first into things. |
| | | Translation | And once -- and this is no exaggeration -- I went to three different units in three days. |
| artesiannp:g
|
|
| artesian | works | company | | artesian | works | company |
wasnp:pred_other
|
|
| fire | picket | duty | | fire | picket | duty |
| | Translation | We was with the Engineers, and we were sent to an artesian works company, it was a couple of camps down before, but that last night I was on fire picket duty for the night. |
| | | Translation | Security duty the next night, and then we marched around the loch to join the company we were gonna form, PFB company, and I was on guard the first night again, three nights on the trot. |
| | | Translation | That was that, being A. |
| Portpn_np:p
|
|
| Port | Floating | Equipment | company | | Port | Floating | Equipment | company |
| | Translation | So that, we did just sort of general duties there, and then we formed this Port Floating Equipment company, 969 PFE, and we went to Cairnryan. |
| Islepn_np:pred
|
|
| Isle | of | Whittle | | Isle | of | Whittle |
| | Translation | Now, from Cairnryan we went around to a headland, but the nearest place was the Isle of Whittle. |
| Mullpn_np:pred_l
|
|
| Mull | of | Galloway | | Mull | of | Galloway |
| | Translation | It's on the Mull of Galloway. |
| secretnp:p
|
|
| experiment | -s | | experiment | -PL |
thepn_np:obl
|
|
| Mulberry | Harbour | | Mulberry | Harbour |
| | Translation | And a bay near us, Rigg Bay, we started the secret experiments for the Mulberry Harbour. |
| breakwatersnp:other
|
|
| breakwater | -s | | breakwater | -PL |
| | Translation | And the first one was the, the first idea rather, was great big concrete cassoins, the floating barges, which would be flooded, with a road going between them, and they got pioneers winching this roadway up and down, and this was too cumbersome, and they abandoned it, but then, they used these cassoins as breakwaters in Rigg Bay, because it really used to be fierce there, the weather, on the Scottish coast. |
| supportingvother:pred
|
|
| support | -ing | | support | -PTCP.PRS |
| | Translation | And, then they hit on the idea with the pontoons supporting flexible bridging, which was the main thing. |
| | | Translation | And, when they decided this was what they was gonna use, we then moved down to the Isle of Wight, and we started training on this stuff. |
| | | Translation | Because we were afloat; we got up the Navy's nose, because they, see, said no. |
| | | Translation | They were gonna tow them across to France. |
| | | Translation | And when their bods came and looked at them, they said, We're not gonna go next, because it was just a section of floating roadway -- six spans on pontoons, which were not facing the direction of port, but athwart. Across the direction of port, resting on it. |
Text view • Utterance view
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