DORIC COLUMN

I cairry ye inbye ma hairt

An while I live ye’ll niver dee

Until ma een are steekit foraye

An eftir, fit will be will be.

I CAIRRY YE – SHEENA BLACKHALL

Watchin, as usual, the Remembrance Day programme at The Centotaph, sae weel thocht oot an presentit bi David Dimbleby, unfasht as ivver – wi es the centenary o the Battle o Passchendaele – jist gau’rt ye winner eence again on the sacrifices o sae mony, for fit? The sicht in the photo o a bourachie o battle-scarr’t young men strugglin an plyterin up a hill tryin tae humph a boggit gun-carrier will bide wi me for a lang time.

Mair nor that, fa will nae forget in a hurry the hairtfelt wirds o 99-eer-aal ex Royal Marine, Ernie in’s wheelchair an on the mairch for the first time, tellin the interviewer on the pride in’s fallen comrades an his earnest call for peace.

All I hope the future generations could see the parade – see some solidarity in it – see that the betterment of mankind to them specially Great Britain should be at the highest level ... we don’t want street fights, we don’t want grievances, we don’t want social injustice – such things are horrible.

Fit mair cwid a body say ... jist a meenitie mair silence on sic thochtfu wirds.

Bit nae seener by wi fin the politicians were stridin oot, side bi side, it wis back tae the catterwallin an collieshangies neist day – Brexit for braakfist, dinraisin for denner an squabblin for supper. An fit aboot Sandy Fish broadcastin fae Russia? Fa wid be surpris’t noo gin the neist ‘Strictly’ on the telly he gies us a cossack dance tae the tune o Putin’s Puppet on a String.

Sic havers, sae lat’s dwall nae langer on that bit jist tae say, at fower lines fae Sheena Blackhall oot o her latest wee beuk o poems hae naething tae dee wi Armistice bit a sair hairt an continuin grief o a mither on the tragic loss o a son last eer in the prime o’s life...

We were tae ging throwe the emotions oorsels es wikk an first wi the death o Ella Jaffray. Esma an me hid been freens o the late Bill an Ella for mony an eer, even afore they took ower the bar at Dunecht in the early sixties – noo kent as ‘Jaffs’ in their memory.

We hiv sic happy memories o holidays thegither, social swarees, gowf wi Bill on a Sunday an I weel myn on cryin inby the lounge early evenin fin Ella got the veesit fae a bobby that Bill hid collapsed and died playin gowf at Tarland. Wi hivvy hairt I hid tae act temporary barman till son the late Billy got hame fae’s wark.

Ella reign’t supreme, slavin ower a haet stove in the sma kitchen o the bar tae great effect. Sadly haein a stroke a twa eer syne meant she wis tae hae nae quality o life an wis better awa. A gem o a lady an sadly miss’t.

Syne the gweed news within the faimily on oor future dother-in law, Lucy, fa hit the heidlines in a national daily wi the heidin at ‘My engagement ring found on train after 300 seats pulled out’.

Tho we kent aboot it, a freen pit twa an twa thegither on seein she wis fae Essex an wis tae mairry Gordon Shepherd.

Takkin the train fae their hame in Leighon-Sea early mornin tae London, wid she nae tak aff her ring an laid it on her lap as she moisturis’t her hands. The ring fell fae her lap and it wis clean tint, a n tho fella passengers an staff raikit an raikit naebody cwid find it, bit gratefu thanks tae the train company, c2c, fa’s staff tirr’t the hale cairriage an takkin aff the radiator grille, ere in the stue wis the ring.

Congratulations tae aa concern’t fin Lucy locket lost – her ring.

See ye neist wikkeyn.