I don't know. I think-- I remember um there was-- I remember there was one time in chemistry where-- did you ever-- have-- had you heard of Mrs [name]?
Interviewer:
I'd heard of her, I never had her.
Emma:
She was-- she was quite good, I liked her but eh--
Interviewer:
Was she only like a sort of probationary one year?
Emma:
Yeah I think so-- Yeah I think she went away somewhere else but um
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Emma:
we had her and uh, this was when [name] was in my class, and [name] drawing weird thing that came into his head just on one of the boards and there was this one I-- I can't even remember what it was exactly but it was really bizarre and Mrs [name] just asked "[name] what are-- what are you drawing on your board?" and he just broke down in the middle of the class laughing, he was like "It's nothing Miss" and I was-- I was in that class just crying for a good while, I think she got used to it because-- because half the time if anything happened it was either-- the reaction was me and [name] absolutely crying.
Older speakers
Fred:
Well I can remember we-- when we were kids the old man would come in from his work and we always got, like, egg and chips, sausage and chips, beans and chips, and the old man would get steak and chops and stuff and I can remember he'd come home and he'd be sitting there, eating his chop and then he'd be looking over and said "so, which of this pair has been the-- the better behaved today then?" "Oh me, me, me--" and my mother would say "oh, him". "Right, there you go." And you'd get the chop-- it sounds really cold but you'd get the chop bone. Now it wasn't literally a chop bone but you know yourself when you're eating a chop there's only so far you can go and then you've got to pick it up in your fingers and gnaw at it because you-- you can't cut the stuff off it. Well, he always made sure there was enough left that you got a taste of the chop and it was like, oh, a contest to see who'd get the chop bone, you know. Um, I remember when I turned-- I think I'd be 13 or 14. Back then there was no instant coffee it was-- it was coffee grounds and, uh, my mother used to put milk in the pan and bring it up to boil and put the coffee grounds in and boil the coffee and then strain it through and I remember sitting there and she came through and she was getting the pan and everything ready and the old man says to her "right," he says "uh, put enough in there for two cups." "I don't want a cup of coffee, I drink tea." "No, but you can make yin for our [name], he's old enough now for coffee." And I'm sitting there you know thinking-- cause we never-- so the coffee is duly made. "There you go son." I'm sitting there "well, there you go, your first cup of coffee." "Aye aye." My brother's sitting staring daggers at me and I'm like "oh right". I got the coffee, took a swig of this coffee, um, I thought it was the vilest stuff I'd tasted. I mean, as a kid, I was used to lemonade and stuff like that and I-- oh god, my brother's sitting, glaring and I'm like-- and I said "well, what do you think of that?" "Oh this is good dad, aye." And if I'd been left on my own I'd have poured it away, you know, but I wasn't gonna let my brother sit there and think I didn't like it.
