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Document 811

Conversation 14: Two male students on university life

Author(s): N/A

Copyright holder(s): SCOTS Project

This document contains strong or offensive language

Audio transcription

M819 Erm, anyway what have you, what have you been up to over the last few months?
M818 Last few months? Er I've just been [exhale] been at uni and stuff and been goin out too much probably, spendin a lot of money and stuff that I don't really have. [inhale] //Er I had to actually get an//
M819 //[inaudible]//
M818 overdraft extension which isn't very good //[inaudible]//
M819 //Yes!//
M818 [laugh] Are you all usin it to the //to the max?//
M819 //God do you, do you no work?// Do you no work?
M818 Whit?
M819 Like at Direct Line and that?
M818 Oh, do I work? //Oh,//
M819 //Aye.//
M818 right aye aye ehm, I do, I mean but the thing is, see I worked over the summer last year and erm I got erm like I got extra wages obviously for workin extra hours and em basically like I was gettin paid like a good bit more every month like. But then after the summer they kept payin me the higher wages and then forgot to take it down again, so basically now what they're doing is kinda like, after I let //them know//
M819 //They're dockin you// your wages aw! //Aw, that's//
M818 //Aye, nightmare.//
M819 that's happened to Barnett, right. [CENSORED: companyname] ehm overpaid him, and he he did he he ov- they overpaid him by six hundred quid and he did exactly what I would do in that situation. Right? He turned, he he he just totally turns a blind blind eye, //and says//
M818 //I did that an all.//
M819 nothing, right? And spends the money. That's the smartest thing you can do. Of course the minute the bastards realise, you know what I mean?
M818 [laugh]. Ah, it's a bit [inhale] dodgy, you know, cause it's easy to just kinna like, you know, pretend you didn't realise, you know, but you just, you know, and that's what I did, I just kind of, I didn't actually take any notice I just thought oh, aye, maybe my wages have been increased a wee bit, but you know I'm not gonnae, I'm not gonnae moan about it, you know [laugh] but basically I just kinda after a couple of months I kinda thought er this is a wee bit kind of er, you know, taking the piss po- possibly you know so.
M819 The capitalist system has extracted surplus value from //me; I shall do it from it.//
M818 //[cough] [laugh]// Aye, exactly. That's the way to go. //Och aye.//
M819 //Aye.//
M818 You've gottae, as as a good Marxist you've gottae kinda try an negate the surplus labour at every opportunity, by by sittin an readin the paper and stuff like that, you know [laugh] hm, you know, //skivin generally.//
M819 //Absolutely.// It's quite it's quite funny cause erm when er the DSP erm sent a camera crew over to Socialism, 2002? //Ehm,//
M818 //Maybe.//
M819 McCombs erm said, you know, look there are two ways tae try an get rid o erm er surplus value. There's two ways it makes you a worse worker. You're either going to try and squeeze as much out the company as you can, i.e. nick stuff,
M818 Aye.
M819 right, cause er [CENSORED: forename] when he worked in the hotel always used to go to me, "do you want me to redistribute you a couple of towels?" you know, //like that.//
M818 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M819 //Aye aw right sir.// //Towels are pure pish man, ye know.//
M818 //Towels, brilliant man.// //Reb- rebellious towel stealer, you know.//
M819 //Erm, er er.// //Oh no no he used to nick all sorts of cr- stuff like, er, we basically went in his flat and his entire, aw of the cosmetics in his bathroom were nicked from the hotel.//
M818 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M819 //[?]Aw he worked that.[/?]// Right? He er he had he had the dressing [?]down[/?], f-... Some of the stuff he was nicking was first class. //But he always argued,//
M818 //Nice one!//
M819 you know, look look, if I'm defrauding, you know, if I'm defrauding them, right, no if they're defrauding the public, cause what they used to do is they used to sell Scottish beef, right?
M818 Aye.
M819 And they actually, what they were they were huge boxes of crappy meat from Botswana.
M818 [exhale]
M819 Right? And they were selling this //[?]Aye, right[/?].//
M818 //Dodgy stuff.// //[inhale]//
M819 //Sixteen quid of steak,// right, as Scotch beef, //as Aberdeen Angus beef.//
M818 //[laugh]// That's breachin the Trade Description Act, is it no? //Or something like that [laugh].//
M819 //[inaudible]// //[?]No it does it.[/?]//
M818 //[inhale]// Aye you will, yeah. [laugh] I've not worked in a restaurant so I don't know really. I I guess there's some dodgy practices going on, you know, er I don't doubt that for a second. The pub down the road from me, ehm [CENSORED: pubname] - it's a [CENSORED: companyname] pub. They do all that kind of stuff like, I think, they kinda like drop stuff on the floor like kind of like it falls out of the, it falls off the plate and stuff, like bits of steak and just pick it up again, [click], stick it on.
M819 I'm always amazed at people who would erm eat in the beer bar at the [CENSORED: name], cause I've never walked past that place without one of the barmen or one of the kitchen staff just havin a ciggie outside. You know what I mean? //It's//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 obvious they just go straight back in, nicotine-stained hands, woo-woo-woo-woo-woo, make up sandwich, actually naw I eat the [CENSORED: name] sandwiches aw the time so, I've prob- I've probably got about god knows how many ounces of tar on my lungs //from sandwiches.//
M818 //[laugh]// //I've got//
M819 //You know?//
M818 to admit I do kinda go for the QM ones all the time. I just go in to the QM and buy like a sandwich, erm a a flapjack or something like that and get a cup of tea, like they they know exactly what I what I want to order when I walk up to the coffee bar it's like "Tea son? Aye no problem" [laugh] and I'm like "No, I'll have a latte please, actually." //[laugh] Aye.//
M819 //Aw.// You know what's quite funny, right em er, when we were at school we used to go to this chippie called the Barbecue, right? Me and my mate Gav and er like em as you know, in Edinburgh you've got the salt an sauce, right?
M818 Aye.
M819 Gav had been going there for two years, about three, four times a week, right, Gav would go to this place, and I went for about a week, right, and er they they were going up er they were going up to me er, you know, I was arriving at the counter and they were sayin "you havin your usual, son?" //[laugh]//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 "It's the pie supper wi salt an sauce an chips, ignore the pie, can o Lilt", "aye, that's the ticket!" //"That's me, eh."//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 And eh like Gav er Gav's like "I've been comin tae here for two years and you dinna ken //who I am," you know?//
M818 //[laugh]// [laugh] Aye, Christ. It's funny cause the very first time I remember my brother was sayin, my brother Kevin, was like that, em he went through to Edinburgh, like, for a couple of years when he was at uni, he was at Napier. //Aye.//
M819 //Oh right, [inaudible]//
M818 He did multimedia there, em [sniff] and eh the first the first, one of the first times he was through he went to the chippie, you know, and he went in and he went like that "I'll have a em fish supper, please" and the woman was like that "salt an sauce eh"? and he was like "sorry I" sort of, "what was that?" and she was like that "salt an sauce?", it was like " no, sorry what's that"? and she was like that "where are ye fae?" and he was like that "Glasgow" and she was like "salt an vinegar then, eh"? //[laugh]//
M819 //[laugh]// //[inaudible]//
M818 //Aye, kinna, the cultural differences//
M819 That's pretty compassionate cause er, you don't answer in twenty seconds usually they'll just fuckin throw it on.
M818 [laugh]
M819 Ehm
M818 [laugh]
M819 It was so funny, right, I was at the Hibs - St Mirren game and erm like er you know that idea of when people go to different towns, you know, despite the fact that these towns are separated by a matter of hours, by less than, you know by less than like, you know eighty miles, //right?//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 Erm The er guys that are goin "now," let me tell you something, "now, you'll have to watch when you get a fish supper here because they have this thing called salt an sauce."
M818 [laugh]
M819 They'll throw it on your chips if you don't //[inaudible] [laugh]//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 Well, it was sort o like "aw, this is so cool we're getting treated like the aliens here," //see what I mean?//
M818 //[laugh]// The massive kinda cultural divides of like, you know, divi- divided by, you know, salt an sauce and salt an vinegar, you know, //[laugh] [?]How pathetic.[/?]//
M819 //Aye, aye.// //[?]sAh but ye[/?]//
M818 //It's like s- a- i-// You can tell how seriously Scots take their kinda like em their like chippie food, you know, it's //like//
M819 //It's like a culture.// //Chippie culture man.//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 Cause, I mean, that's just the thing. Right? I find Glasgow quite strange cause what you've got is those god-awful [CENSORED: companyname] places, right, and the chi- chips there //are like plastic.//
M818 //Is that the one outside er Buchanan Street underground?// But it might be some [inaudible] //I go I got [inaudible].//
M819 //No, no, that// place is, that place is dead expensive that place outside Buchanan Street underground //Are you//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 talkin about the one that's on the corner with the wee street that leads on to George Square and Queen Street station?
M818 Aye Queen Street. //Aye.//
M819 //Aye, that's not// that's not er [CENSORED: companyname], there's a [CENSORED: companyname] on the Byres Road next to Boots.
M818 Is that the one just along er f- the same side as Barratts?
M819 Aye.
M818 Aye, it's really nice in there but it's bloody expensive, you know, thr- it's something like four quid for a //fish supper, or somethin like that.//
M819 //Aw// //[inaudible]//
M818 //Ridiculous. [inhale]// //But you c-, you//
M819 //[inaudible] wanna go for.//
M818 you could go into the town and just get it for like for like half that or somethin but.
M819 Er, well, I don't know, I mean er [CENSORED: companyname], that's another chain, that's alright.
M818 Aye.
M819 It's alright, erm
M818 They do do a good like bag of chips but you know, salt an vinegar an all.
M819 I'm addicted to it, I mean I think I, well, it's the most abnormally greasy chippie
M818 [laugh] But it's brilliant.
M819 [inaudible] well, actually, no the uni take-away takes it, I mean takes the biscuit at greasy, right? //Aye, I'll,//
M818 //The uni take-away?//
M819 oh aye, cause I mean
M818 Oh aye. //[inaudible]//
M819 //My my// parents were were through cause we were lookin for somewhere for me to live at the end of ma first year, and er they sort of said, oh my dad sayin "we'll go to this chippy" eh and eh my dad's from Dundee so he never takes sauce. //Right, he he//
M818 //[laugh] oh I see.//
M819 he thinks he thinks it's for absolute nutcases, he says he's stunned he's got children who eat that, //you know what I mean?//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 Erm and erm cause like, in Dundee they're that purist that see see the pies they have, or "pez", in a fish supper they've got in a a in a mince pie supper they've got there, not even deep-fried they're proper pies.
M818 [laugh] [?]Fuck![/?]
M819 Right, the chippie like goes to the effort of like sort of like getting decent pies in, which I think is a bit sacrilege, if you want s- if you're gonna to have a mince pie supper in a chippie you expect it to be crap. //Know what I mean?//
M818 //Aye, it doesn't sound very appealing// //to be honest.//
M819 //Drenched// in sauce, you know, tha- that's the idea er like er
M818 What do they have in, I mean, do they actually have like any kind of toppings at all, like you know you get salt an vinegar, Glasgow, salt an sauce, you know,
M819 Aw //salt an [inaudible]//
M818 //er Edinburgh. Aberdeen// has got somethin, I think it's like erm
M819 Stovies and everythin.
M818 Urgh Jesus Christ!
M819 Erm, er //No, I mean eh.//
M818 //Bleugh!//
M819 I- no, the only, the other thing that chippies really vary on is what they deep fry, cause pineapple is a huge thing down south, right? Another thing that //they sell,//
M818 //Deep-fried pineapple?// //Christ.//
M819 //er aye pineapple fritters.// //They.//
M818 //Uh-huh?//
M819 A lot of chippies sell it, down south.
M818 Aye?
M819 You'd be stunned. Not right in the south but in the north o England.
M818 Aye, aye.
M819 Right, erm like, I mean in in London in particular I'd never go for a chippie in London, cause there's that many Chineses.
M818 Aye, exactly.
M819 You know what I mean? Like erm, I was in Leicester Square erm, in er January and erm sorta comin out a club, and you know how that idea if you've had a few to drink?
M818 Aye. //Yeah.//
M819 //Absolutely// starvin. //And eh//
M818 //Munchies.//
M819 you know, there was this Chinese buffet offerin for the same price you would get a kebab for in Glasgow, you got this, you know, real mix o stuff just thrown in one of they cartons like you see in the movies that the Americans eat Chinese out of, and a bun- bunch o chopsticks. //It was crackin!//
M818 //Aye.// [laugh]
M819 You know what I mean, and we thought, and this is a damn sight more healthy //than a kebab.//
M818 //Aye!//
M819 You know what I mean, no wonder people in Scotland die so //fuckin early, you know?//
M818 //[laugh] [inhale]// Aye it's like, you know, everywhere you look there's a fish shop, and not a lot of anything else basically. No but there is, see in Sauchiehall Street outside the Garage there's a noodle bar. //You know?//
M819 //Yeah.// //Yeah, that place costs a//
M818 //Nood-// //noodle,//
M819 //fortune.// //That that that that that place would//
M818 //I think.//
M819 die after twenty minutes and, it, I mean, you're talkin places in Londo- London are cheaper than this.
M818 Really, aye?
M819 Aye. //Cause cause, well it's the competition,//
M818 //I've I've only been in it a couple of times, but.//
M819 isn't it? Cause I mean that that noodle bar place, it's right next to the Garage, it doesn't have to worry about business.
M818 Aye, it'll be dead during the day probably, but [inhale] I think it's
M819 It's twenty-four hour is it not?
M818 Is it?
M819 It's, well it's open damn late.
M818 Aye it's open till aboot f- at least four anyway so. //It might be it might be twenty-four hour though.//
M819 //And it it's open when I go back.// Naw! Cause I doubt it's open in the mornin.
M818 I don't, I've not s-
M819 Wh- who wants to go for a Chinese //noodle bar at nine a.m.?//
M818 //[laugh]// I dunno, not many people I don't think. //Yeah, [?]do they no?[/?]//
M819 //No, [inaudible] nutcase.// Erm I'm willin to bet you it's op- er, no I'm willin to bet it's open till like six in the mornin. It'll be open somethin like six till six. //Cause//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 It's always open when I'm heading back frae uni.
M818 Is it? Is that in the evening, aye?
M819 Aye, well sometimes even afternoon about four o'clock.
M818 Jeez oh. //Cause,//
M819 //[inaudible] it's//
M818 I mean you would go for a Chinese in the evenin, but I mean it's not as if it's like, you know, it's not abnormal to go for something to eat, but I mean it is one of those places it's like, you'll jump in it after the Garage or whatever, you know, and like you //know, ga-//
M819 //Well it is quite popular// cause the food isn't that bad. //[?]I've gotta[/?]//
M818 //Aye, I mean aw, tae m-//
M819 gotta few quid in your back pocket it's worth it.
M818 I go for the kinda cultural combination of like Chine- China and Scotland like as in the sort of like chips and curry sauce kinda thing. You know it's pretty smart, you know. I like it I must admit.
M819 [laugh] [?]called[/?] cultural integration //by Eamonn Coyle.//
M818 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M819 //You know what I mean?// //Aye, th-th- the//
M818 //Aye, you cannae beat it.//
M819 The justification of multi-racial society, oh fu- I'll tell you one thing, right, I was flickin the telly erm the other night, er no, last night and this whole immigration timebomb.
M818 Oh fu-
M819 [inaudible] hell, man.
M818 Er it's
M819 Oh god. I can't, I mean, you ca- you can't even watch it, an you, I always used to wonder when erm, you know, I was reading about countries like, you know, Nazi Germany and so on, what the propaganda radio would have been like or what reading Pravda every //day would have been like.//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 You know what I mean? You actually [inaudible] //aw you,//
M818 //[cough]//
M819 you just you just need to, you just need to watch crap like that, //you know what I mean?//
M818 //Aye, you ju- no it's just become// kind of like commonplace to hear it every single day like [inhale] oh the [inhale], you know. I remember hearing that guy er Kilroy-Silk who's actually in the the left [inaudible] corner now by the way [inhale]. //Which is good. Legendary.//
M819 //Aye, I know, I know.// //[inaudible]//
M818 //Er but he he// he was going like that like erm he had launched his new //er, that was really,//
M819 //Veritas!// //You know, it's so ba-. I have heard//
M818 //lot of shite man.//
M819 so many jokes about what that's Latin for, cause like erm //I was in a politics tutorial//
M818 //Verit-arse?//
M819 and erm er well you know this tutor erm and he he you know is talkin, you know, "And and what what is veritas?" and, you know, this guy Kenny up the back goes "Latin for bullshit", //You know what I mean?//
M818 //[laugh]// //Quality.//
M819 //[inhale] Erm//
M818 Is it quite a left-wing tutorial you've got then, aye?
M819 No, Kenny's not really left-wing. //Kenny's, Kenny's//
M818 //But he's?//
M819 Kenny's more, it would be like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't describe Kenny as
M818 But he's not exactly a //reactionary racist?//
M819 //Erm er//
M818 [inhale] like
M819 I don't know, I mean em, no he was no he's not exactly that no I mean he's not the type of person that would even have an iota of sympathy for what we would call the right, you know what I mean, but he's not exactly one of us either.
M818 Aye.
M819 Erm, I think eh, no, a- as as a tutorial, erm I mean certainly cause it's a nationalism tutorial erm er Jon- Jonathan and I are viewed as being quite strident within it I mean
M818 As in, are you are you in the same tutorial, aye?
M819 Er, well it's quite funny there's a there's a there's a ten o'clock group and an eleven-thirty group and Jonathan and I always manage to er end up in the other group from each other, cause I usually go to the ten o'clock, //right?//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 And he usually goes to the eleven-thirty but whenever I've slept in he's he's got up early, //[?]or whatever.[/?]//
M818 //Aye. [laugh]//
M819 Which is, which is quite good cause we got we got I mean erm. //[inaudible]//
M818 //Two socialists in each tutorial.//
M819 Aye, supposedly we say a lot of the same things and that that that's //[inaudible]//
M818 //[?]bourgeois[/?] nationalist nonsense, aye.// //[laugh]//
M819 //[inaudible]// Depends what nationalism you're talking about, //[inaudible]//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 erm er, I mean particularly the sort o the erm the the Basque, the Catalan and the Scottish //nationalists, like,//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 we've been the ones sittin in the nationalist corner, you know what I mean I mean that, this is the thing cause I do actually, you know, sit in these tutorials and think, you know, ma biggest barnies would probably go with, I mean, you know, I mean the biggest barnies I've had an that would probably go with other people who would call themselves left-wing but [inaudible] who think that the European Union is a great thing, //you know?//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 I actually got into a real barnie about er, you know, just cause we were talking about "right, where do you see the world going in the next twenty-five years," and someone tried to argue that this whole Fair Trade thing would change the world and I just //said "Who the//
M818 //Oh Christ.//
M819 fuck are you kiddin?" //[?]You know what I mean?[/?]//
M818 //I hate that kinda// //like//
M819 //People,// consumer identity is not gonna to change fuck all. Right? Erm I had to get I had to get very Marxist about it and say "no, look," only when people realise that the power of withdrawing their labour can change the world is the world going to change, that you cannot ultimately at the end of the day, buying one thing is not going to make you powerful, cause you still have to buy stuff, you do not have to work.
M818 Aye, wh-. The thing is, but, I mean there's this kind of, sort of, and it really annoys me people like, you know, all these pop stars and people like Bono and all these fuckin tossers goin about like "Oh let's s- save the world by givin money to charity and, you know, let's, you know, throw money at the third world, and you know, i- it's not. The thing is, these, the thing with Band Aid for example is that it's like a lot of rich rock stars and pop stars who, you know, aren't actually redistributin any wealth because they're producin a single which is at no cost to them and they're making ordinary working class folk buy it. I mean and it's like, you know, so you have to, someone who's not earnin that much money goes in and spends three ninety-nine on this single which isn't that good anyway, erm and then they, so they're gi- they're giving their money away, but the the actual people who have most of the wealth i.e. the Bonos and //the Jamelias of this world don't actually//
M819 //[inaudible] NME,// they just had a //great one//
M818 //But,//
M819 for Bono, they just said "look i-" you know, "stop co- ta- stoppin concerts to talk about debt. If you're so upset about the debt why don't you just pay the third //world."//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 You know er an //[inaudible].//
M818 //Christ I know.// //He could an all, he could pay about three times over.//
M819 //No I don't I don't like about it// is it it's quite patronising. Basically I think there's a mentality amongst a lot of people that, you know, they're almost like we all, the, you know, the people of the the mo- the world's most exploited and impoverished countries are actually like erm are actually like erm, you know, orphan children or something. They've got, they can't help themselves. There's enough //[inaudible]//
M818 //Aye, it's like, you know, they're kinda helpless an//
M819 save themselves and you know this this problem's got more to do with the ch- the fact they're just "behind" us, you know, I actually hate these term-: I hate the term "developing country." //I I I I think//
M818 //Aye it is patronising.//
M819 Third World's better than "developing country" but erm er I mean they're both as bad terms as each other erm er, but basically erm like erm erm, bas- basically what it implies is, you know, that what we have here in [bang on table] Western liberal democratic Europe and America is absolutely fandabbydosy. Nobody lives in poverty here. //No//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 way in Glasgow have you got a life expectancy lower than that on the west bank. //You know what I mean?//
M818 //Aye.// Shettleston, aye, I know where know where [inaudible] //[laugh]//
M819 //Oh no no Glasgow// Glasgow as a whole is now under fifty, no, now under sixty.
M818 Seriously?
M819 Aye. //Erm//
M818 //Christ!//
M819 Er I mean erm for men
M818 Aye.
M819 For men, er for women it's well over sixty, I mean the general life expectancy is in its sixties erm but er for erm You have to remember that wi the exception of really the area around here, //the//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 life expectancy //[?]only[/?]//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 fifty across most of Glasgow. Erm an I mean er, one of the things that's quite weird in Glasgow is though that you can't really talk about areas any more, cause a lot of them have just had motorways panned through them or shopping //centres//
M818 //[inaudible]//
M819 built right in the middle o them, you know?
M818 Either that or they've had like been like the Gorbals which is now this kind of, seen by a lot of people as this now sort of aw romantic new town that's sprung up, an it's all nice and, nice and rich middle-class people live there cause there's nice new flats, but aw the poor people just sort of //disappeared. [laugh]//
M819 //They've got bloody gates!// //They've got bloody gates!//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 So like, they're not flats, they're fortresses. //If you ever, if you ever//
M818 //[laugh] Aye.// //They are f-//
M819 //take the,// you ever take the bus, the it's the bus that goes to Shawfield, Right? Erm an it's the bus that goes to Motherwell as well, it's like the two-six-seven or something like that, right? You ever take that erm yo- I mean it's like a tour of, it goes out to Rutherglen, so you ever take the bus out to Rutherglen, right?
M818 Aye.
M819 Erm Er I can remember actually if we're talking about languages right, I can remember, I came through here, I used to pronounce it "Rutherglen".
M818 [laugh] Rutherglen? //Rutherglen.//
M819 //I got corrected// by so many people "It's Rutherglen".
M818 It's like "gln", you don't really //pronounce the kind of//
M819 //Erm//
M818 the "e", it's like //"Ruthergln"//
M819 //Aye.// //Erm//
M818 //[inhale] but//
M819 I don't, I don't know, I I don't know if that was me being weird or that's just where it comes from. //But if you take that bus,//
M818 //Aye, but no, no.//
M819 if you take that bus it's like a tour through aw the strangest houses in Glasgow, you know what I mean, cause you go through they high flats in the Gorbals they're gonna tear down //now.//
M818 //Aye.// But they, they've called it the New Gorbals now because it's new flats, it, which annoys me //as well, because//
M819 //The Gorbals// //the Gorbals as you used to understand it//
M818 //the Gorbals is the Gorbals, you know it's//
M819 no longer exists. It was bulldozed decades //ago.//
M818 //Aye.// //What, Cumberland Street and all that, aye?//
M819 //Know what I mean? Aye, I mean.// We never lived to see it but erm, like er just as the Gorbals got used to one set an it's gettin bulldozed into something else I think erm I think I think if you just built a giant bulldozer that would give it a sense of permanence, you know what I mean?
M818 Aye.
M819 No but
M818 [laugh] It would kind of like [inhale] be a ki-, an emblematic gesture.
M819 There's a couple, there's a couple o eh high-rises, couple of multis that you can actually see frae ma flat, erm That er
M818 Aye, you talking about the, just the high-rise? //ones in the Gorb-//
M819 //Aye, the [inaudible] the other// They're right next to the river, th- do you mind the blue ones? They used to get called the wallpaper er windaes?
M818 I think I know where you are, I mean you just. //Aye.//
M819 //The grey ones.//
M818 Just off like where like Bridge Street Underground is and you just go along and you kinda you can see them from there. Kinna thing. I think
M819 Er, aye no no no no, like they're much further down the Clyde.
M818 Oh right, right.
M819 Much further east down the Clyde. I think they're in Brigton.
M818 Right, right.
M819 I think it's Brigton they're in. Erm I have to say I always think that's so weird though whenever you go to Parkhead. When you walk through Brigton. //[inaudible]//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 You you you couldn't put twenty thousand Celtic fans walking through //this area.//
M818 //[laugh]// //It's a bit like, you know, like erm [laugh]//
M819 //[inaudible] sort of// giant lodge right in the //centre o//
M818 //[laugh]// //[laugh]//
M819 //Brigton.// You know what I mean, I always wonder how has this no been trashed?
M818 It's like West Germany in the middle of like, the sort of like [laugh] //[laugh]//
M819 //It's West// Berlin.
M818 Aye, that's what I mean West West Berlin, aye.
M819 Er but it is quite funny though cause I mean even Denniston, Denniston is quite an orange area. You know? Er I only realised that when I moved intae it. Erm
M818 It's funny cause it's, it's probably the more kind of erm sort of middle class area of the east end, you know, it's kinna, it's not quite your kinna Parkhead or your Easterhouse or whatever, you know? It's it's sort of like a kind of a nicer
M819 It's pretty rough, Denniston.
M818 Aye, it's quite, but you know Alexandra Parade and all that's quite ehm
M819 Aye. //Aye. [inaudible]//
M818 //It's quite nice.// I'm not I'm not tryin to
M819 Aye.
M818 I'm not tryin to like
M819 Oh no no no.
M818 romanticise it or nothin but it's some of it's all right.
M819 No, I mean, it's it's nice, [inaudible] what that's like.
M818 [laugh]
M819 Er I I mean the the Parade that's nice, there's no doubt about it, I mean you've actually got open spaces and stuff like grass,
M818 Mm
M819 trees and shoppin.
M818 Aye, it's always nice to have them, innit? //[laugh]//
M819 //Aye.// But, I mean, the pl- place in Glasgow I hate the most is the Forge.
M818 The Forge, aye?
M819 Er the Parkhead Forge, I can't stand it. I mean you ever go it it's like, I mean, have you ever been to America?
M818 No.
M819 Right. You don't need to go, just go to the Forge.
M818 [?]I'm goin,[/?] I was there when I was wee but that was when I was kinda young and kinda thinking "oh it's cool, it's like a big //shopping centre."//
M819 //[?]Government holidays[/?]// Yeah, right, one o these, I mean, go to the Forge as a pedestrian. Right, try to walk between shops. I tried to get from the B and Q at the Forge to the Asda at the Forge. Now, it takes me roughly thirty minutes good day, forty minutes bad day to walk from the Cathedral to Glasgow University. So I'm a pretty damn fast //walker.//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 It took me fifteen minutes to get from the B an Q, at erm B an Q at Parkhead Forge to the Asda at Parkhead Forge. Right?
M818 Jesus! [laugh] //Aye.//
M819 //Erm// it took me fifteen minutes, right?
M818 What is it, just so many people, just swarmin about the place?
M819 No. It's, I mean this was dead at night, this was about eight at night. Right?
M818 What, why, why do you hate it so much? Is it just cause it's
M819 Why? Cause it's //so,//
M818 //Hm//
M819 it's c-, so spread out, it's //o-//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 it's car orientated. There is no way you could access this as a pedestrian. Right? And the shops are huge in order to sell everythin in bulk. Right? So it's an environmental disaster. Right? //An//
M818 //Mmhm//
M819 y- there is no way you could access it as a pedestrian and that's kind of a piss-take plan, saying it's goin to regenerate and serve the local area in an area where well over eighty percent of the population don't have a car.
M818 [laugh] Aye, well. //It- it's//
M819 //Right?//
M818 stupid but it's just kind of like people who who, people who built the Forge are just, I mean they'll be like the the council would have been like that "Oh yes, let's built this nice". It's like the thing, same thing as the Gorbals, if you build a nice new kind of like shopping centre right in the middle of this impoverished area, it just makes it look kind of, you know, it's all nice an g- rege- regenerated an all that, but it doesn't really take it into consideration the people who actually live there, so. It's not really surprising. Happens all the time. It's like, the [inaudible] Centre as well is a bit like that, you know?
M819 Aye.
M818 Kinna like
M819 Yeah.
M818 A pain in the arse to kind of get round, but again I've not been there in years, so so I cannae really speak from recent experience. But.
M819 I mean erm I'm tryin tae think, of any situation where that's worked, puttin a shoppin centre, I mean, the big one at, well, cracker example! Right? And this never worked. New Craighall in Edinburgh. Right?
M818 Is that where ehm, I think this is the St James' Centre, off ehm
M819 Oh that that's smack bang in the city centre.
M818 Aye.
M819 Smack bang. No no no that's top of the Walk, that is. If you could afford a flat there, I'd be borrowin money //off you, just put it that way, right? Erm//
M818 //[laugh] Aye.//
M819 No, New Craighall's right next to Niddrie. //Right?//
M818 //Oh right, right.//
M819 And that has achieved frankly, absolute sweet F. A. //for that area,//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 you know what I mean? //It's achieved//
M818 //Uh-huh//
M819 nothin. They put a cinema, an Argos, a Toys R Us, er, J D Sports, couple o other shops, an that's been there for fifteen year.
M818 Mmhm
M819 [sniff] Everybody that ever shops there shops [inaudible] by car, right? //Because it's//
M818 //Uh-huh//
M819 it's a good, it's a, two minutes by car outside proper Niddrie. Right? But, basically it's, basically it's like, if that's a walk, that's a, and I mean if you are, you know, if you've got, if you're pushin a baby in a pram, that's a fifteen-minute walk. Right? And it's a fifteen-minute walk, that, cause it's so car orientated, and I think it was one of the first places in Edinburgh to get a drive-through restaurant. Right? //Erm.//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 Right? Basically you got a situation where you have just put high-density traffic into a residential area that has a large number of pedestrians because none //of them do own cars.//
M818 //None of them own a car, [inhale].//
M819 Right? So,
M818 It's obviously not gonna work, aye.
M819 It's, well, you've increased pollution //I'll be//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 really interested to know what as-, I mean it's done eh nothin economically for the area, absolutely nothin. Right? I mean, it's, all it's done is prosi- provide low-payin labour for some people locally. //[inaudible] workers//
M818 //Aye, for yo- young young people generally.//
M819 who are on any kind of decent money come frae outside Edinburgh,
M818 Aye.
M819 or they come frae Porty. you know, they don't come frae Niddrie itself. Erm, I can remember when I was there, erm wi ma dad. Erm, and he er he met er someone he knew frae Newbattle. Newbattle's in Dalkeith, you know? So, I mean again the the sort of people they're hiring arenae frae the area so it does nothin for the area by puttin money in the back pockets of the people, right? It increases the traffic, it probably increases asthma, it certainly increases accidents, you know?
M818 Aye.
M819 Does nothin for the area.
M818 That's that's the thing, it's just a sort of sort of like nice kind of romantic idea, of a, build a shopping centre here and it will be all nice for the people who live there, but that's the thing, it's not really, is it, I mean it is used at all, is it u- quite well used or is it just lyin dead?
M819 What do you mean? //What, New Craighall?//
M818 //Is it, is it actually d-d-// does it get used, the this place in Niddrie, does it actually?
M819 New Craighall, yeah, it gets //used.//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 But the people who are shoppin there
M818 Are from?
M819 are predominantly frae other parts o Edinburgh,
M818 Mmhm
M819 or they're people who have got cars.
M818 Aye.
M819 Right? Erm, and er the point is, even if people are buyin stuff there, What's the point of havin extra places to buy stuff if you know you've got nae money, more pollution, //more//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 c- rates o car accidents, you know?
M818 Aye.
M819 erm, I mean er, I I just couldn't think o a more stupid //idea, there's piles an//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 piles o cars through a erm through a highly pedestrianised area. In fact, the only thing that probably sells Parkhead well economically is having Celtic Park right near it.
M818 Oh that's the thing, it
M819 Cause you get, I mean there you've got sixty thousand punters comin in every second Saturday, who have got money in their back pockets, who want to spend it on stuff, and they're on foot so they're actual passing trade. //So they//
M818 //[sniff]// //Aye, right.//
M819 //the location// o yer business matters.
M818 Most of the people who work in Parkhead, in the actual, in the stadium aren't actually //from there, that's the thing.//
M819 //Oh no no no I know, I think// it's not a source of employment. It's not a source of employment, but it brings, it brings consumers to the area. Erm But that said I'm tryin to think of a single area in Scotland next to a football stadium that is not a complete dump.
M818 [laugh] //Aye.//
M819 //Leith.// Actually, Hibs, er of all the s- of all the clubs in Scotland, Hibs probably have the most glamourous //surroundings.//
M818 //[snort]//
M819 Erm, I mean, no that's the reason why Hibs are able to quite comfortably sustain just under ten millions quid worth o debt. //Right?//
M818 //Aye?//
M819 Er, the reason for that is that Easter Road is worth a fortune, //cause of the way it is.//
M818 //Is it worth that much?// Aye, because it's just in the
M819 What, if Hibs sold Easter, well one, right, you wouldn't necessarily need to knock Easter Road down, if you bought it, cause it's got piles o function suites. Ye-, I mean Hibs make a mint off functions. Right? The reason, again one of the reasons why Hibs can survive without the Euro revenue that Hearts get, is because Hearts, it's estimated lose millions a year by not having decent corporate entertainment fac- facilities. Whyte and Mackay in Scotland have their offices in the South Stand Easter Road, so Hibs are makin rent off that. //Right?//
M818 //From?// Aye, that's Hibs' sponsor, innit? Whyte and Mackay?
M819 Whyte and Mackay. //[inaudible]//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 Hibs have got several other businesses who just take up office in the South Stand //Easter Road.//
M818 //Aye.//
M819 Erm, er they've got, I mean, the the the Behind the Goals bar is used as a function suite by every college in Edinburgh. Right? Erm, I mean all the prize-givings, all the first-aid courses, they're all held there,
M818 Aye? //Isn't//
M819 //cause Hibs//
M818 but is Leith not quite a, I've never actually been to Leith, but is it no quite a kind of working-class area, like //or is it quite, is it?//
M819 //Aye, Constitution// Street an that, yeah. Erm an there's er but it's really gone up-market. Erm, and the Docks, which is now referred to as Ocean Terminal //you know what I mean?//
M818 //[laugh] Jesus. [laugh]// //Aye, it's kind of losin it's identity a wee bit if that's the case, innit?//
M819 //Ocean Terminal, right?// Well no, that's the thing it was, erm I mean you've always got the... You know the Manic Street Preachers' song, you know, "We are all Bourgeois now"? //[inaudible]//
M818 //Aye.// //[laugh]//
M819 //know your enemy, right?// there's no better example than that, than y- havin all these sort of yuppie bars wade into the Leith docks, and declare it an Ocean Terminal, you know what I mean? //I I I m-//
M818 //Uh-huh, you just [inhale]// //It's pretty shady, it's like.//
M819 //I mean I'm I'm [inaudible]// You know sort of, i- imagine if you deca- if you called Rotten Row a, you know, a a decr- a decaying hospice. Or something like //that, you know?//
M818 //Aye. [laugh]//
M819 A, or a quaint, eh or or a quaint convenience. //Something like that, you know,//
M818 //[laugh]//
M819 so yuppies would actually buy stuff in the area. Right?
M818 I'm tryin to think of somewhere in Glasgow, like you know, ehm. They have
M819 Totally, you know, //pushed//
M818 //lost.//
M819 that market. //The Merchant City.//
M818 //By the need for// Aye, well yeah, that's true actually.

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Conversation 14: Two male students on university life. 2024. In The Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech. Glasgow: University of Glasgow. Retrieved 28 March 2024, from http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/document/?documentid=811.

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Information about Document 811

Conversation 14: Two male students on university life

Audio

Audio audience

Adults (18+)
For gender Mixed
Audience size 2

Audio awareness & spontaneity

Speaker awareness Aware
Degree of spontaneity Spontaneous

Audio footage information

Year of recording 2005
Recording person id 718
Size (min) 32
Size (mb) 185

Audio medium

Other Private conversation recorded for SCOTS

Audio setting

Education
Recording venue Lecturer's office
Geographic location of speech Glasgow

Audio relationship between recorder/interviewer and speakers

Professional relationship
Speakers knew each other Yes

Audio speaker relationships

Friend

Audio transcription information

Transcriber id 801
Year of transcription 2005
Year material recorded 2005
Word count 6842

Audio type

Conversation

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 818
Gender Male
Decade of birth 1980
Educational attainment University
Age left school 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs Catholicism
Occupation Student
Place of birth Glasgow
Region of birth Glasgow
Birthplace CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Glasgow
Region of residence Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Draughtsman
Father's place of birth Gweedore
Father's region of birth Donegal
Father's country of birth Ireland
Mother's occupation Primary School Teacher
Mother's place of birth Helensborough
Mother's region of birth Dunbarton
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area Dnbt
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English Yes Yes Yes Yes
French Yes Yes Yes Yes Learned at school - limited knowledge
Scots No Yes No Yes

Participant

Participant details

Participant id 819
Gender Male
Decade of birth 1980
Educational attainment University
Age left school 17
Upbringing/religious beliefs Secular upbringing
Occupation Student
Place of birth Edinburgh
Region of birth Midlothian
Birthplace CSD dialect area midLoth
Country of birth Scotland
Place of residence Glasgow
Region of residence Glasgow
Residence CSD dialect area Gsw
Country of residence Scotland
Father's occupation Technician
Father's place of birth Dundee
Father's region of birth E Angus
Father's birthplace CSD dialect area Ags
Father's country of birth Scotland
Mother's occupation Health visitor
Mother's place of birth Aberdeen
Mother's region of birth Aberdeen
Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area Abd
Mother's country of birth Scotland

Languages

Language Speak Read Write Understand Circumstances
English No Yes Yes Yes Only in formal settings
German No No No Yes
Scots Yes Yes Yes Yes In all settings

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