| Robbie Shepherd

If yer scunnered, fair forfochen, or foun’ert it’s the same,

An as like as no, up here it’ll be the wither that’s tae blame. OOR MITHER TONGUE – FRANCES JAFFRAY

At’s jist ae verse fae a gran poem sent in tae me fae Frances sparkit aff bi a news wi a freen fa said “bit the Doric’s deid, isn’t it?” Damn the fear, as I feenish’t aff last Setterday, an Frances addit it’s richt fine that the tongue is bein taen notice o still, hearin the news aboot the Messiah bein sung in the Doric.

Noo some fowk winner fit I fin tae screive aboot ilka wikkeyn bit it’s aye the tither ferlie that taks yer ain attenchin an responses at hauds me gaen. Keep em comin an here’s jist a twa tae highlicht the day, startin wi a caird I got fae “The Meldrum Quine” Gladys Thomson noo bidin in Inverurie an a faithfu listener gyan back tae the days o ma local radio programme “Meet Ye Monday” in the nineteen siventies. The caird is only een o the gran Doric ditties design’t bi Debbie Leslie, a Garioch lass tee, aneth the byname o ‘dottyabootdoric’.

It read “Dinna worry aboot gettin auler – there’s mony a gweed tune played on an aul fiddle”. We’ll lat at flea stick tae the wa bit the jist o Gladys’ letter wis on me gein a mention tae the fairm o Baikiehowe in describin the baikie for tetherin a young beast, at’s far she eest tae bide.

“I lov’t at time, up tae wir oxters in sna, nae lectric, nae watter in as happy as larry! I ful’t the bath o clean sna, at’s fit we hid tae use as watter, an hid tae scoop sna intae the nowt”.

Younger fowk cwid hardly tak at in only fifty eer syne an noo we compleen tae the Cooncil, Water Boord an Hydro Electic at the mere thocht at the flick o a faulty switch.

Neist I turn tae a gran email fae Hamish Jack fae Inverness on the daith thraws o mony o the enterprisin stores haudin a hale community thegither like Gordon o Alford I quotit a feow wikks ago.

Hamish wis in the hardware trade for fifty eer afore retirin a fower eer back, startin aff as a message loon, wi Murdoch & Clark, Elgin, deliverin paraffin fae the front o the message bike aroon the doors wi weemin daurin him tae splyter on their doorstep.

Oh the memories again an as Hamish says there were real characters aroon in those days bit laments:

“The retail ironmonger employed a lot of people but now some have disappeared because of the internet and superstore era – great Aberdeen firms like Gray Watt, Cruickshank & McIntyre, Glegg & Thomson and Shirras Laing.

At Murdoch & Clark we used to repair tilley lamps, cut keys, repaired lawnmowers and sold plough parts, binder twine and rabbit snares etc”.

Hoosehold names an fit memories dae mair o ye recaa on the menchin o some o them? Lat’s be hearin fae ye.

Een at loups oot at me is nae sae muckle the ironmonger bit the drapery trade an Duncan Fraser in Schoolhill, as a country loon fair teen on wi the railway an trainie hingin fae the reef. Weel it wis a trainie tae me bit fin mam hid completit her eerans an handit ower the siller it wis teen ben a tubie at landit in the lap o a cashier somewye in the biggin tae be sent back again wi receipt an cheenge.

Fit dis at bring back tae ye aaler fowkies an fit’s mair, fit did they sell at ye canna buy the day? – wheelin draaers, styes, combies an knittit socks for men jist examples. Jist the tither day Esma wis at her hairdressers an newsin awa she spak aboot fancyin es dress bit thocht it lookit like a candlewick bedspread – tae get es response A what? Fashions cheenge bit hopefully, wi spring at last, I can cast ma winter woolies.

See ye neist wikkeyn.