DORIC COLUMN ROBBIE SHEPHERD

To contact Robbie, email yourlife@ajl.co.uk and mark your message FAO Robbie Shepherd

The clock’s geen back an it’s early dark So I’d better look oot my flannen sark SHIFTIN THE CLOCK - PETER BUCHAN

Losh be here, surely it canna be, bit the morn’s mornin we hiv an extra oor happit up cosy in the scratcher sae myn an turn yer clocks back afore ye bed doon the nicht.

I canna believe foo the time his gaen fleein by in spite o aa the trachles an tribulations caain tae crockaneeshin ony plans a body micht hae made for the simmer, bit then we hae been lucky in bein able tae keep constant contac wi faimily an freens bi phone or email – close by an doon sooth – an maist thankfu o es column keepin me on ma taes wi aa yer welcome responses tae aye the tither ferlie. Keep them comin!

Sae intae satumn noo an jist as we swipe up the leaves it’s time tae hae a redd-up in ma ain den. First tho the pooers-at-be hae their ain sotter tae tidy up ower the heids o the flu jab wi aa the ramshackle ongyans. We canna compleen tho, wi a letter arrivin on Monday pitten’s up tae Brig o Don Academy neist mornin an aa credit tae the weel organis’t team, sae welcomin an eident. Nae the same for a couple across the road fa jist hid bit ae letter tae the man-o-thehoose, an it arriv’t ower late for his appintment. On tap o that, they dinna hae a car an are gie wary on the rules on car-sharin. Fit a guddle.

Eneuch o at sae lat’s turn tae yer replies. We hid a bit o fun wi the wird steg at I hid connectit tae the stallion (staig) ees’t for breedin puposes an es brocht back memories tae Sandy Reid fae Bucksburn, weel kent in’s earlier entertainin days aa ower the Buchan airt, an wi Raymond Mac as the Singin Bobbies. Sandy myns the steg bein walkit by his hoose on its wye tae Fetterletter in the capable hans o the “stegger” Leslie Morrison.

He myns tee on the different dialects aroon him then:

‘Fin a Bobby at Mintlaw in the mid 1960s I had occasion tae deal wi the theft o a rowin’ boat fae the Loch o Strathbeg. This meant enquiries hid tae be made at the neighbouring village o St Combs. Spik aboot a culture shock! I could hardly understan’ a word that wis said - completely different world and I wis gled tae mak my escape back intae the real Doric world’.

An on me queryin Clochan-dichter as a docken leaf Adeline Reid, brocht up in Portessie, hid a lach tae hersel,

‘Ain o naychers wonders!! We hid a worthy in the Sloch faa geed tay the stroop wally ivvery day for a pailie o watter an three docken leafs. Thirs an eese for athin!!.....an then teem’t the bucket ower the side o the sea waa’.

Finally fae Alex Main ex Hopeman, bit on aboot skweel days in rural Aiberdeenshire an the bairnies tell’t tae spik proper fin sattl’t at their desks. Es teacher, aroon exam time, wid mak them swap jotters an see if they saa onything wrang. Up poppit little Johnnie’s haun,

‘ Please Miss, he’s putten “putten” instead of putten “put”.

Here endith the lesson an see ye neist wikkeyn.