Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[tikay]

Been laying some paving slabs today. Old stylee 3'x2' monsters that weigh in at 10st each.

I thought I would get them all down in one afternoon, but by 4pm I realised that I was flagging.

Click to see full-size image.

Think you'd need to be pretty old to recognize that dreadful pun, Tom.

3' x 2' flags used to be, back in the day, the biggest available, due to how heavy & awkward they were to handle. The most popular sizes were 2' x 2', or 24" x 18".

Hulland used to be the biggest manufacturer. I'd like a £1 for every lorry load I have unloaded by hand, back when I was a Builders Merchant's apprentice. Happy memories.

[tikay]

I bought myself a new mattock today, it came complete with assembly instructions.

Anyone who needs instructions to assemble a mattock is not qualified to use one.

Click to see full-size image.

I have never heard the term "mattock", Tom, I'd have called that a fancy pickaxe.

[RED-DOG]

Been laying some paving slabs today. Old stylee 3'x2' monsters that weigh in at 10st each.

I thought I would get them all down in one afternoon, but by 4pm I realised that I was flagging.

Click to see full-size image.

Think you'd need to be pretty old to recognize that dreadful pun, Tom.

3' x 2' flags used to be, back in the day, the biggest available, due to how heavy & awkward they were to handle. The most popular sizes were 2' x 2', or 24" x 18".

Hulland used to be the biggest manufacturer. I'd like a £1 for every lorry load I have unloaded by hand, back when I was a Builders Merchant's apprentice. Happy memories.

I was counting on you or Ralph with Kev B as my backup man.

[RED-DOG]

I bought myself a new mattock today, it came complete with assembly instructions.

Anyone who needs instructions to assemble a mattock is not qualified to use one.

Click to see full-size image.

I have never heard the term "mattock", Tom, I'd have called that a fancy pickaxe.

It is actually a pick mattock, as opposed to say, a hammer mattock or a claw mattock.












Not to be confused with an adze of course, which is a woodworking tool.

[RED-DOG]

Been laying some paving slabs today. Old stylee 3'x2' monsters that weigh in at 10st each.

I thought I would get them all down in one afternoon, but by 4pm I realised that I was flagging.

Click to see full-size image.

Think you'd need to be pretty old to recognize that dreadful pun, Tom.

3' x 2' flags used to be, back in the day, the biggest available, due to how heavy & awkward they were to handle. The most popular sizes were 2' x 2', or 24" x 18".

Hulland used to be the biggest manufacturer. I'd like a £1 for every lorry load I have unloaded by hand, back when I was a Builders Merchant's apprentice. Happy memories.

You wouldn't be allowed to lift one these days, even if you could buy them. Health and safety and all that.

You can't but a cwt bag of cement for the same reason.

[Tal]

I bought myself a new mattock today, it came complete with assembly instructions.

Anyone who needs instructions to assemble a mattock is not qualified to use one.

Click to see full-size image.

I have never heard the term "mattock", Tom, I'd have called that a fancy pickaxe.

 

The correct continuation

I bought myself a new mattock today, it came complete with assembly instructions.

Anyone who needs instructions to assemble a mattock is not qualified to use one.

Click to see full-size image.

What's a "mattock"?

I don't know. What's a mattock with you?

This is my contribution.

You're welcome.

[Kev B]

Been laying some paving slabs today. Old stylee 3'x2' monsters that weigh in at 10st each.

I thought I would get them all down in one afternoon, but by 4pm I realised that I was flagging.

Click to see full-size image.

Think you'd need to be pretty old to recognize that dreadful pun, Tom.

3' x 2' flags used to be, back in the day, the biggest available, due to how heavy & awkward they were to handle. The most popular sizes were 2' x 2', or 24" x 18".

Hulland used to be the biggest manufacturer. I'd like a £1 for every lorry load I have unloaded by hand, back when I was a Builders Merchant's apprentice. Happy memories.

I was counting on you or Ralph with Kev B as my backup man.

3x2's at your age Tom, are you mad?

People regularly ask us to save slabs for family or neighbour. We used to do it but sometimes they were never collected and meaning we had to double handle them, a bit annoying when you are hiring a digger to do the job. Now we tell them they have to be collected before we start or they get skipped. 3x2's just get a hammer on them.

[tikay]

Been laying some paving slabs today. Old stylee 3'x2' monsters that weigh in at 10st each.

I thought I would get them all down in one afternoon, but by 4pm I realised that I was flagging.

Click to see full-size image.

Think you'd need to be pretty old to recognize that dreadful pun, Tom.

3' x 2' flags used to be, back in the day, the biggest available, due to how heavy & awkward they were to handle. The most popular sizes were 2' x 2', or 24" x 18".

Hulland used to be the biggest manufacturer. I'd like a £1 for every lorry load I have unloaded by hand, back when I was a Builders Merchant's apprentice. Happy memories.

You wouldn't be allowed to lift one these days, even if you could buy them. Health and safety and all that.

You can't but a cwt bag of cement for the same reason.

I daresay you are right.

Truth is, unloading 3' x 2' paving slabs, 1 cwt bags of cement, or thistle plaster or whatever, was all about letting the weight do the work for you. Slide them off the lorry & "guide" them down, or in the case of a bag of dust, (dust = slang for cement), it goes on the shoulder very easily from lo9rry height, then an easy bend allows it to slide to the ground with only the minimum of effort.

I think I once unloaded 8 lorry loads (20 tons = 400 bags each) of cement in a single day. I unloaded 5 lorry loads of flettons in a day, too, (5,000 per lorry). Staffordshire Blues or Southwater Reds were much tougher though, razor sharp edges, & extremely heavy, proper buggers them.

[RED-DOG]

Herd this today for the first time in a long while.

Great lyrics.



"Let Him Roll"

Let him roll, boys let him roll
I bet he's gone to dallas rest his soul

Now he was a wino, tried and true
Done about everything there is to do
He worked on freighters, he worked in bars
He worked on farms, 'n he worked on cars

Now it was white port whine, that put that look in his eye
That grown men get when they need to cry
And we sat down on the curb to rest
And his head just fell down on his chest

He said "every single day it gets
Just a little bit harder to handle and yet..."
Then he lost the thread and his mind got cluttered
The words just rolled off down in the gutter

He was a elevator man in a cheap hotel
In exchange for the rent on a one room cell
And he's years old before his time
No thanks to the world, and the white port wine

And he said "son", he always called me son
He said, "life for you has just begun"
And then he told me the story that i heard before
How he fell in love with a dallas whore

He could cut through the years to the very night
That it all ended, in a whore house fight
And she turned his last proposal down
In favor of being a girl about town

Now it's been seventeen years right in line
And he ain't been straight none of the time
It's too many years of fightin' the weather
And too many nights of not being together

So he died...

Let him roll, boys let him roll
I bet he's gone to dallas rest his soul
Let him roll, boys let him roll
He always thought that heaven
Was just a dallas whore

When they went through his personal affects
In among the stubs from the welfare checks
Was a crumblin' picture of a girl in a door
An address in dallas, and nothin' more

Well the welfare people provided the priest
And a couple from the mission down the street
Sang amasing grace, and nobody cried
'cept some lady in black way off to the side

We all left and she's standing there
The black veil covering her silver hair
And one-eyed john said her name was alice
She used to be a whore in dallas

Let him roll, boys let him roll
I bet he's gone to dallas rest his soul
Let him roll, boys let him roll
He always thought that heaven
Was just a dallas whore
Let him roll, boys let him roll

[tikay]

Might just be my favourite & most played Johnny Cash track. Love it to bits.

Amazing lyrics, so easy, so natural, they just flow perfectly & tell us so much.


Now he was a wino, tried and true
Done about everything there is to do
He worked on freighters, he worked in bars
He worked on farms, 'n he worked on cars


 
He was a elevator man in a cheap hotel
In exchange for the rent on a one room cell
And he's years old before his time
No thanks to the world, and the white port wine

[tikay]

How much do these 2 lines say? Everything.


He was a elevator man in a cheap hotel
In exchange for the rent on a one room cell

[RED-DOG]

How much do these 2 lines say? Everything.


He was a elevator man in a cheap hotel
In exchange for the rent on a one room cell

Every verse is poetry Tony. Such a great story too.

[atdc21]

Hi Tom, when you bought that mattock did they tell you which one you had to have , or could you take yer pick ?

[RED-DOG]

Hi Tom, when you bought that mattock did they tell you which one you had to have , or could you take yer pick ?

Groan...

[atdc21]

lol i known was a bad joke... you handled it well tho.