SCOTS Project - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk Document : 231 Title : Any other Pleb Author(s): Anna Blair Copyright holder(s): Anna Blair Text My father and my Grandpapa Were merchants selling tea. We lived in Claremont Gardens then At Number Twenty-three, With handsome door in Glasgow style And brasses polished bright With arching windows, chammied clean And woodwork painted white... In black lum hats and collar-wings And loops of watch and chain, With button holes and stripes and spats And silver handled cane, The gentlemen went off to town To talk of taste and brew Of blends, of size of leaf and strength And Clippers overdue. My mother's life was calling cards, The dressmaker at Three, Her streamer'd maid, her wee at-homes And Pettigrews for tea, Holidays at West Kilbride And good works for the Poor, Rustling silks and reticules And anger at the Boer. While mine was Nanny, wicker pram And walking in the park... Buttered toast and nursery games In winter after dark, My big hair bows and plimsoll shoes My pinafores for Drill And lessons at the Dame School, in Park Circus up the hill. So it seems I must have been A bona-fied Glaswegian With Charing Cross and Kelvingrove My local city region... But then I think, not using words Like 'ben' and 'dreep' and 'stoor' No closes, cludgies, peever-beds And never being poor, Made me not really true-bred stuff The kind that played at HET My pedigree was too West End Far too Pan Loaf...and yet There's maybe space for such as me Like any other pleb For ninety years another woof In Glasgow's fankled web. This work is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The SCOTS Project and the University of Glasgow do not necessarily endorse, support or recommend the views expressed in this document. Information about document and author: Text Text audience General public: Audience size: 1 Text details Method of composition: Handwritten Word count: 259 Text setting Leisure/entertainment: Private/personal: Text type Poem/song/ballad: Author Author details Author id: 127 Forenames: Anna Surname: Blair Gender: Female Decade of birth: 1920 Educational attainment: College Age left school: 17 Upbringing/religious beliefs: Protestantism Occupation: Teacher/author Place of birth: Giffnock 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: Business Father's place of birth: Glasgow Father's region of birth: Glasgow Father's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Father's country of birth: Scotland Mother's occupation: Business Mother's place of birth: Glasgow Mother's region of birth: Glasgow Mother's birthplace CSD dialect area: Gsw Mother's country of birth: Scotland Languages: Language: English Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Language: French Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: Visits to France, correspondence Language: Scots Speak: Yes Read: Yes Write: Yes Understand: Yes Circumstances: