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The Life and Times of Geordie page 2
So.....me Maa hed ter lukk efter the two on uz
Then it waz three 'n then fower.
Me Daa came forst..ganns wi'out sayin'
Then there waz a fight we follered in the bath
If in syam shift we hed ter use the syam watter
The last one in did out else but laugh!
At forst aah waz just on datal
Then puttin' n' hewin' cumm next
Aah got ter knaa what waz meant by 'bad kyavil'
Why man! Nee wonder the arrd chep got vexed.
Then..sivven yeors on me life changed once agyan
For a lass i'the next street caught me eye
'N each time we passed...aah felt true love at last
'N couldn't help given a sigh.
'Twasn't lang afore she wazz ast round for hor tea
Aah cudd see strite away me maa approved
'Dinna say out' sez she,' just lerruz guesse!
Y'ganna cumm in one day
'N a naa watt yer'll say,
Maa.....it's time that yer cooked for one less!'
It's that man again, wrote Bill Walker.
I am sending you p3/4 of The Life and Times of Geordie, bringing back
the memory of the miner and young wife in early marriage and referring to
hard times.....not as in many cases these days when in setting up home a
fully furnished house is part of the bargain. In the 20's and 30's in this
colliery district it was a case of 'living in' with in-laws or odd bits of
furniture in one room.
Here is the next instalment of 'Geordie'
The Life and Times of Geordie cont'd P.3
His mother was right! Geordie started courting :
When forst aah saw thee laughin' eyes
Aah knew thou were the lass fer me,
There wazz summat about thee face
That said it just had ter be!
Thoo 'n me tegither lass
'Twaz plain as it could be.
'N aah think thoo knew....didn't thoo pet?
Thoo thowt the seame as me.
Aah remember...when we waz courtin',
Warkin' hand in hand
Beginin' ter share our secrets
Beginin' ter understand.
Aye...twaz like a flower bloomin'
From bud ter blossom full out...
We tuk our time....we had tee!
But aah knew we'd end up tegither..
Of that there wazz nee doubt.
Oh! When aah think..how we scraped 'n saved
Afore we could get wed...
Even then...ter start wi' ..twaz second hand table
Two chairs 'n a bed.
Then came the day thoo telt uzz
'Aah've gorrus a room of our own!'
Aah thowt that wazz the happiest time
That ahh had ivvor known.
Thoo nivvor had much i'thee porse
We'd oft makk dee wi' drippin' 'n bread,
But thoo said..'aah married fer better or worse
'N that's all that's ganna be said!'
We struggled on fer monny a yeor,
Gorra little bit put by..
Then came the night ahh cumm in the door
'N thoo had a twinkle i'thee eye.
Ee by gox! When thoo telt uzz lass
Thoo wazz ganna hev a child...
Oh! The joy! The excitement!
Nearly drov' uz wild
Diz thoo remember hinny? The months o'waitin'
Remember? Aah made a cot!
Tho' a makeshift we both hated..
A real one...'n a pram...cost maer than we'd got!.
In time...things torned out alreet.....
We gorra colliery house 'n tho' it worr bad
Livin' down near the pit...in a dingy street,
We put up wid!......makkin dee wi' what we had.
We had our Margret....then George n John..
Thoo did them proud thoo did!
Allwaz clean 'n well put on!
Aah wazz pleased ter say...'aye! That's my kid!'
The yeors rowled on...the family wazz grown
Times wazz haard but we managed ter get through
Then...they arrl got married...left uz on our own
Back where we started...two on uzz.just me 'n thoo.
Bill Walker
GLOSSARY>
Kyavil Cavil: A word used by pitmen to describe
the system whereby they drew lots to decide
their workplace.
Gannin's bad The conditions in workplace were bad.
Hoggers Short pants.
Tiabble Table.
Skeul School.
Offiss Colliery office building near pit.
Seun Soon.
Syam Same.
Datal Odd jobbing.
Puttin Putting - pushing tub of coal/aided by pit pony
from the coal face to the flat or station whence
it would be taken out-bye(on way to surface)
by power.
Hewin' Hewing coal at the face. In those days by hand
pick.
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