Introduction

We would lie there with the candle flickering, making shadows and shapes on the wall and we'd play at trying to find faces on the damp patches that we saw.

Visiting My Gran

I always visited on a Saturday
To do the shopping for my gran.
Platt bridge was a long way for children
*On the trollybus from the pub Bird i'th Hand.

It seemed a long way in those days.
When you're but nine or ten.
But two and sixpence was too much to miss.
You could buy allsorts for threepence back then.

Now ..I could'nt abide peeling potatoes.
As a child it did get me down
But my father he said I must do it
If I wanted to get half a crown.

Sometimes I'd stay overnight.
It was great when it came time for bed.
We'd climb up the stairs with a candle
Which flickered on fathers bald head.

We'd all have a pee in the jerry
Which was quickly shoved under the bed.
You could smell it in the night if you woke
But nothing about it was said.

We'd lie there with the candle flickering
Making shadows and shapes on the wall
And we'd play at trying to find faces
On the damp patches that we all saw.

When the time came for me to be going
My gran said.. Joe treat that lad.
But my father he always plagued me
Which used get grandmother mad.

He'd sit on a chair with his back to the fire
His braces were dangling on the floor.
He'd say, "Jeffries come pull my finger."
Then fart, and I'd run through the door.

He'd give me the money, I'd kiss his bald head.
My grandmother saw me to the door.
I'd kiss her big cheek, she gave me a hug.
I'd say thanks and I'll see you some more.

*The line " On the trollybus from the Bird i'th Hand:
Trolly bus:- Electric bus.....The type of transport at the time.
Bird i'th Hand:- The actual name of a Public house where the bus stop was situated. Literally... Bird in the Hand.

If you're interested, this poem and many more are from my website " Wigan Dialect"and written in the local Lancashire dialect. The town is called Wigan.
Because dialect is hard for other people to understand, each dialect poem has it's own translation.

Copyright; Dustnomi
Email: Dustnomi@mexico91.freeserve.co.uk