LATEST MOAN FROM YOU AND ME - 2022

We used have a coal man deliver to us when I was little. Ours was dodgy. We suspected for a while that after delivering coal he'd sneak back and nick some of it back, so my dad waited one time after he'd delivered, gave him half an hour, then hid in the coal shed. As suspected, the back gate quietly opened and there was the coal man come back to nick some coal back. There was a right row when my dad popped out from where he'd hid and confronted him. I can't remember any bother after that and we still got coal for a while so they must have sorted it out I guess. I was little, I didn't really give it much thought beyond telling all my little buddies about my dad catching the coal man pinching.

It wasn't so long after that that our area got declared a smokeless zone, much to the apparent frustration of the grownups. We got a gas fire fitted thus ending our open fire. We were never warm in that house again. I know it's extremely unhealthy, but I love the nostalgia when you visit a village where they still burn coal in winter, and there's that distinct acrid smokey smell and a slight sting in the eyes, and the way the street lights are diffused by the haze left over from the smoke.

 

I remember being told to go out and count the bags brought in, if it wasn't 20 for the full ton I'm not sure what would have happened but it was always right.

We were never rich enough to get 10 tons at a time, and it was always bought in the summer, (cheaper), and paid for on a card that had 5 shillings a week put on it.

 

Unfortunately dogs do it when they feel like it, do you get taken for a walk every time you need to relieve yourself, or for that matter hold it until someone does.

 

That's madness. I can understand letting the dog out but then cleaning up after it immediately, but the poor pooch still needs at least one decent daily walk out. But leaving it home while going for a run, that's insane. Sure if someone doesn't have time to do two separate outings, then they could surely combine the two. Unless the dog is very old I'm sure it would love to go for a run.

Years ago, a friend of mine confiscated a dog off one of his acquaintances. The owner lived in a flat with a tiny back yard. No room at all for anything really. The owners never took the dog out once, just banished it to the yard to do its business. My friend knew this because he was sharing the flat at the time. When my mate got his own place he just told them he's taking the dog. When they objected he offer to ask the RSPCA what they thought. His flatmates, not wanting any kind of authorities sniffing around because of other things they might notice, reluctantly agreed. The dog was so much happier with its new life.

 

Lockdown dogs all around here, I hear them whining most mornings where the owners have gone to work, some walk them first, others play with them in the garden, but its still not ideal.

 

One of my mates worked at the pit and got his free coal. As the winter wore on he was running short so one nightshift he asked one of the drivers to drop a ton of coal in the street outside his door and he would shift it at 6 am after his shift. The driver went up to the hopper asked the guy for a ton of coal and went off for his cuppa. On his return, he drove round to the house and dropped the load in the street. Except, instead of a ton there was about 10 ton on the lorry. Luckily he had the savvy to chap up the guy's wife who went round the neighbours (a miner's row) and got them out to shift it before someone passing reported it. The whole street ended up with extra coal that winter.

 

Hmm....coal anecdotes....my parents had a coal bunker built against the adjoining fence with the next-door neighbour. He and my Dad played together in a danceband. Come November 4th, mini-Noisette had created the most magnificent Guy, ultra realistic, and sat him on top of the aforementioned bunker to await his fate. Bad move! When Father and neighbour returned from a gig at 3am, well lubricated, as all good musicians should be, it was a toss-up whether they had cardiac arrests or set upon the 'burgular' trying to escape the scene of the crime. Laugh?? They nearly did....once they saw him in daylight

 

Does anyone think Liz Trust sounds very convincing.
Always appears a bit vacant to me, as to Rich man Rishi he talks the talk but but changes his mind too much.

I'm thinking we are stuffed.

 

Rishi had the purse strings previously and see what happened.