Beat's Old Shoes
Ah in the living room here, we had a long cupboard. Stretched right from the ceiling down to the floor. And partitioned halfway down like, had a big cupboard at the top and small at the bottom.
And that bottom one, he was damp - you've never seen anything like it. We used to keep all the old shoes in there. There was shoes, books, papers and anything. Put a paper in one week and pull him out a week later and I was gonna say wet through with mildew.
Ah, I remember once Dad was up in the shed mending me old boots, mending my boots anyhow, never matter about old - if he could he'd mend them otherwise they had to go up the shop.
He was up there mending them, and I had to stop in - course I did, that's the only pair I had. We didn't have two or three pairs like kids do now, just the one pair of boots.
Anyhow, all my mates was out playing I didn't see sticking in on a summer's evening like that, so I started rummaging in this old cupboard, y'know, look for a pair of Fred's, or our Jim's or Fatty's - nah nothing doing. All I could find in there was a pair of Beat's - Beat's old shoes. Well, I collared hold of them, wiped all the green mildew off, killed all the black beetles that was inside, and off I goes, off up the rec.
When I got back, did I get a belting? Cor! I always remember that, that was one belting I really did get, cos well we might have been poor, but our people was proud.
Ah, but it didn't make no difference, I mean it was easy got over.
Over Aunt Edie's, tears streaming all down yer face, she would always show up with a lump of cake. She wasn't a bad old soul though really, she was alright.
Well, so was Uncle Jack.
