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Trump and Clinton In an alternative reality

Aa can mind me Mutha puttin' Wor Auld Chep's bait up,when a was as young as aboot six![characteristically,because of the abscence of any bait-boxes!] The bait sammidges were wrapped in newspaper,and put in a string-tied "sandshoe-bag",which me Mutha wudda med,oot a bit o' aad cloth. Nae flasks....just a bottle of caad tea,in a Muter's pop bottle. A can see him clearly,wi he's pit mack on,[a broon one],bottle o' tea in one side pocket,bait-bag in the other side pocket.[nea biscuits or crisps for a snack!!] But earlier than that,[mebbe aboot 2 1/2-3 yrs aad,] a can clearly mind him lifting me on top of a big hessian sack of coal,which was draped owa thi cross-bar of his aad pit bike,wi him pushin' it up thi back of Storey's Buildings,and which he had picked of the Low-Pit heap at Choppington.[which a lot of pitmen did in them days,before concessionary coal was agreed upon...not "FREE" as folk always used to grouch about,but in lieu of a reduced wage,and so forming part of a wage in kind...[like a company car].When we got in the hoose,he aalwis had a jam sammidge from he's bait,wad he kept ..."fo' thi bairn.."!] So when aa started at thi pit,[High Pit]aa had me bait-bag as weel! Noo,cloth bait-bags were aal reet........until ye came ootbye,sowkin' wet....up ti thi eyes o' clarts,absoloutely buggaad.....,and when ye went ti get ya bait oot ya "Bait-bag" [ex-army gas-mask satchel!],and a haaf-duzzen fat mice jumped oot in aal directions,it wasn't sae funny! Noo,mice or nae mice,when aa wuz starving,the mice were lucky ti escape!..me bait wud hae aal the corners of the sammidges chewed away,as they dae,like,but aal a did was yank the chewed bits off and hoy it doon for thi poor little hungry mites!,and eat the rest!!! From me starting the pit thi forst day,a tuk six sammidges,["Wonderloaf"!],wi butter and banana ,and a spoon o' sugar sprinkled owa each sammidge. After a few weeks of really hard work,[for a 15yr aad kid stryght oot' o' skyeull!],a was asking me Mutha ti put a cupple extra in. This went on owa a few mair weeks,till a was tekkin' FOWTEEN banana n sugar sammidges,and walloping thim aal doon in thi 20 minutes bait-time we were allowed! Owld-timers used ti say,"Wilma, wheor thi hell are ye gaana put aal them bugga's?!...and a used ti just laugh,and say,"Just waatch!". Some o' them wud hae TWO sammidges,some fower,usually jam n breed,or if it was a Sunday neet or Monday ,they wud hae drippin' sammidges,wi a ton o' salt on!! Noo doon thi pit,tha's nae toilets or fancy wesh-basins,so yi get ya bait wi clarty hands,weshed in a clarty black swalley o' waata,wheor man and horse wudda been gettin a diddle in aal day lang![..and hae yi seen hoo much waata a horse diddles?!!!] After some blokes had tha baits,they wud say,"whey aam away forra sh.....e if Joe Barrat waants ti knaa wheor aam is! They wud usually gaan doon an aad worked-oot roadway...oot thi way of thi men gettin' tha baits,still. But some blokes delighted in gaanin doon thi roadway,on thi ootbye side o' ye,so ye got aal the foul reek.. Other blokes,[usually heavy drinkers],couldn't wait ti craal off the face,which was aboot 2foot 3 inches high,so they wud cock tha hint-end in between thi timbers,and just gaan ti thi toilet there!,sutimes happin it up wi a shuul-ful o' duff.[smaal fine coals]. NOO,when ye were craalin doon the fyess,yi mite unwittingly find the muck by puttin ye hands and thi whole of ya body in it,cos in a low seam ya craalin like a snake.! After a cupple of days,when mrs sh....tflea cums alang,lukkin fo' a nest ti lay two million eggs in,she is as happy as a lark!! When YE put ya hands in a well-fermented nest of writhing swirling maggots,the muck turns ti a liquidy jelly-like sludge...disgusting!! When aal thi little kids turn inti big kids,bingo......ya cap-lamps attract them like glue!!.....and thi little buggaas bite like hell! Will continue,LBJ crying at me legs here pitifully!!

Now where have i heard something like that before? ....... Ah, yes ... i think it was the leek show at Netherton Colliery.

Clock and Thermometer Eggy, the crows and ravens are as big as turkeys, bigger than the chickens we used to keep at home!

I said it on a previous posting,not being really critical of the D,M,M,,cos it's a great database of information,but they do have a few inaccuracies on thier records! These I know for fact,as some fatalities at Choppington,for instance,were recorded as having happened some years before I started there,when in fact....they happened minutes after I was talking to the fellas concerned! Also dates of seams worked are inaccurate,I don't know how this could possibly happen! It's a real shame about your photos,Eggy,but hopefully they are in safe hands and just filed away by mistake! Some years ago,I took my Bates Pit pics over to Woodhorn,on my Son's advice,[and before we had computers and printers!],for them to copy , for the museum. They gave me a signed receipt,with a promise to return them to me asap. This they did,and within a couple of days I had my original pics back. D.M.M. should have done the same![mebbe we should gaan on picket duty aroond the museum ti hae them reinstated!] Canny Lass,when a coal-face starts to "Lay-on",it means that the roof strata above your head is starting to break up,albeit in chunks the size of a street of terraced houses,sometimes,and all supported by an organised forest of timber planks and pit props .[in the old days!,but hydraulic heavy-duty steel "face chocks" in later years..] The weight on the timber supports used to make them crunch and grind,squeal,loud cracking,and splinter like matchwood,in front of your very eyes! The whole place where your lamp can shine,[approx 60 yards],used to move about like you had a few pints on board! When things got really heavy,and she started talking LOUD!..you were OFF the face in seconds,even if it was only eighteen inches high,and a very difficult crawl off! This lad,who was a putter,[used to take the empty tubs in,and bring the full tubs out..],was warned that the face was "Heavy"...[...i.e..Laying-on],and he continued to go through the "face"...[a bit of bad reporting methinks,cos when longwall faces came in,they had conveyor belts to bring the coal out!] Putters [either "Hand-Putting" or "Pony-Putting"],took tubs into "Bord-and-Pillar" workings,["Arc-walls"],where intersecting roads called "Stentons",or, as at Choppington High Pit......."Throo-shoots"..[pronounced...."Thru-Shuts".....]...,were driven,to ensure ventilation wasn't compromised.[usually every 60 yards] So this Putter was probably travelling along the Thru-shut [not the coal-face!] to tek the full tub oot,from the filler in the backroad..[or the "Tailgate"]...if he was supplying the two fillers with empty tubs.[one filler in each gateway...[roadway]. It would probably only BE "Tub-Height",that is,just a few inches above the height of the tub as it stood on the rails..so he would be walking with his back bent. So when it started laying-on,and roof-falls occurred,he would have had very little room to move,if he was taking a tub along,which would just about block his retreat. When the 3/4 seam at Bates pit decided to start layin-on ,the noise was like loud rattles of thunder,and I mean LOUD!...it was devilish,and when you retreated out of the roadway to a relatively "Safe" place,and shone your caplamp in,you could watch 14feet wide,by 10 feet high,arched heavy-section "H" girders,"dancing" all over,while being crushed by this tremendous pressure from roof and sides,and it was a queer sight, to see a whole length of roadway moving from side to side with smaller bits of stone rattling down everywhere between each of the girders! If a stranger came in,on a visit, and witnessed this,he would be out like a shot...but you get used to all the dangers,in any job,so we used to be all laughing and carrying on,except when it started when you were in the middle of a 200 yards long coalface,and you could literally see the roof lowering by the inch,THAT was a different matter![it was a case of "all hands off deck"...like sinking-ship rats!

New technology or just the old - allocated space or indexes for new album? If I create four corner slits/slots on my screen I could just slot in each photo as I go through the albums. I could use an envelope - of any size from DL, C5, C6/C5, C6, C7/C6, C7, C8, C9 and C10 under the standard letter rate as long as they aren't too thick, 5mm, or too heavy, 100g, and post the photos to the bedlington.co.uk office. Just uploaded and posted a photo in the Barrington County Primary School album. So I have gone metric and had upload success all in one day. New technology, bring it on.