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Cruelty to Apprentices and Drills for Square Holes

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texta:

--- Quote from: wgw on January 03, 2016, 09:11:17 AM ---One I remember- Boy was sent for a pint of pigeons milk and given a shilling. One hour later he came back empty -handed. Said  " they had no pigeons milk so I bought you an ice-cream, it started melting so I had to eat it. "  True story, Tyneside aprox 1960

--- End quote ---

tyneside hey ,where i grew up for a while , my old man did his marine engineer time at smiths docks .the old man had tons of stories from the ship yard , like dropping candle wax from high up and yelling lookout below with everyone ducking for cover thinking it was snot .

A WELLWISHER:
Hi guys, I know this topic is little used now however I thought I would add my few pence worth, when I started my apprenticeship as a turner in 1960, a slightly less enlightened era than today, all the time honoured pranks were in play, tins of sparks for the grinder, balls of Whitworth thread etc, there were also local variations such as sending the hapless youth to enquire of the young ladies in the typing pool if they had any vices (swearing, spitting & drunkeness) to name but a few, in the days when I could still blush I could not believe some of the industrial language that  poured from their ruby red lips, causing me to create the concept of a person with the face of an Angel & the mouth of an Italian Truck Driver! Another wizard wheeze was stitching a someones overalls to a nearby weldmesh fence using the florists wire supplied for attaching parcel labels to individual items. Eventually & sadly, by the time we turned 18 the combined forces of money, girls & motorbikes turned us away from such youthful pursuits, however this original grounding enabled me to produce some spectacular ripostes to the efforts of those who were not highly trained pranksters throughout the remaining 54 years of my working life, realistic snakes exploding out of innocuous looking tins of sweets, nuts or even barrier cream always a favourite. However I must end now with my own slam dunk, useful things to do with Engineers Blue, yes I know that some (boring) people use it scraping flat surfaces & checking the fit of taper gauges but as machines acquire ever more push buttons & overcentre latches the are begging to be adorned with it, the pinnacle however is to get some on a rag or paper towel & firmly draw it along the full length of the victims work bootlaces, has been known to take days to track down the source, happy days, in fact retirement seems positively tranquil in comparison. Cheers A.Wellwisher (my Secret Identity for all those years)

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