GREENOCK
THAT WAS. THIS IS NOT A LETTER, BUT YOU'RE FROM GREENOCK AND YOU MUST READ THIS,
DONT REMEMBER IT ALL BUT MOST OF IT I DO!
Brings
a tear to a glass eye..................
GREENOCK
THAT WAS
By
Jack Glenny
Time
passes so quickly there’s a lot left behind
That
I must record before it’s out of my mind
One
hundred and one little thoughts of the past
Dear
to my heart from the first to the last
What
of the town that once used to be?
What
of the people who lived there with me?
I
remember the smoke from the hospital lum
The
Morton’s two players called Divers and Crum
The
misshapen stairs in my granny’s wee close
The
piggery corner where you aye held your nose
The
horses that struggled to climb Lynedoch Street
The
Tail of the Bank with the American Fleet
Scott’s
horn that sounded at twenty to eight
The
mad clatter of feet as men poured in the gate
Dunlop’s
busses to Largs, Ritchie’s wee ferry
Anderson
shelters to hide frae the jerry
The
man wi’ the bell that sold the “soor dook”
Fishing
for trout wi’ a pin for a hook
Nights
in cauld winter playing “ring, bang and scoosh”
The
minister’s car that aye needed a push
Enders
of loaf, a big tattie scone
The
Home and Colonial, McKenzie the pawn
A
run on your bike tae the Battery Baths
Big
Mick in school that once taught me maths
The
market in High Street, Sugarhouse Lane
Princes
Pier station for the Kilmacolm train
The
mill lassies’ giggles as homeward they go
Doon
Drumfrochar Road past Cotton Mill Row
The
sugarhouse steam, the Oil and Cake Mill
The
Dandy, the Beano and Buffalo Bill
Tinkers
wi’ heather and tartan shawled weans
The
strange disappearance of the toon’s civic chains
Climbin’
gas lamps at the fit o’ the street
Big
Ginger the police wi’ kipper box feet
The
jawbox, the dunny, peevers and tig
Picnics
in summer at the Auld Roman Brig
Black
and white tellys and Jimmy Dow plays
The
boy in your class wi’ the second hand claes
The
wan-legged busker in Inverkip Street
ABC
Minors, the Sunday School treat
Baggy
minnows in jaurs frae the Murdieston Dam
The
Co-op’s machine for slicing the ham
Tugs
and destroyers, new ships on the stocks
James
Watt, Victoria, East India docks
Tobacco,
bananas, sugar and oil
“Keek
Duffy”,”The Wolf” and “Auld Puchle Coyle”
Brick
baffle walls at the mouth of the close
Chips
oot o’ Cello’s, coffee from Joe’s
Edmiston’s
pies an’ Kennedy’s breid
The
night that we heard that Ghandi was deid
There
were places and things not heard of today
Serpantine
Walk and Bubbly Jock’s Brae
The
Vennel, The Bogle and Baron Baillie’s Hoose
National
Dried Milk and free orange juice
Coppersmiths,
loftsmen and riveters’ mates
Holeborers,
drillers and builders of grates
Chimney
sweeps, leeries, all passed away
Historical
trades of our town yesterday
The
man wi’ wan arm, they all called him Willie
Stood
at West Station and sold ye the “Tele”
McIntyre’s
horses and Duncan Street stables
Rossini’s
cafe wi’ marble topped tables
Initials
that bring back memories to me
R.N.T.F.
and T double E
Clippies
on busses wi’ “Seats up the sterr”
The
man that sold nylons at “Five bob a perr”
Woolworths
and Markies in Hamilton Street
The
corner at Burtons where the young bloods all meet
Gilchrist
and Prentice’s, Bennett’s, Mackay’s
Crawford’s
the place for your soup, beans and pies
This
was the Greenock I knew as a boy
Vibrant
and lively, bubbling with joy
It’ll
never return, good thing seldom do
But
I’m glad that I saw it, does the same go for you?
...................................
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