If you havent a penny
A hapenny will do
And if you havent a hapenny
God bless you.
Boys tease the girls and call out,
May your mother have an accident
Abroad in the loo.
Mam says shed like to have a nice Christmas dinner but what can
you do when the Labour Exchange reduces the dole to sixteen shillings
after Oliver and Eugene died? You pay the rent of six shillings, you have
ten shillings left, and what use is that to four people?
Dad cant get any work. He gets up early on weekdays, lights the
fire, boils water for the tea and his shaving mug. He puts on a shirt and
attaches a collar with studs. He puts on his tie and his cap and goes to
the Labour Exchange to sign for the dole. He will never leave the house
without collar and tie. A man without collar and tie is a man with no
respect for himself. You never know when the clerk at the Labour
Exchange might tell you theres a job going at Ranks Flour Mills or the
Limerick Cement Company, and even if its a laboring job what will
they think if you appear without collar and tie?
Bosses and foremen always show him respect and say theyre ready
to hire him, but when he opens his mouth and they hear the North of
Ireland accent, they take a Limerickman instead. Thats what he tells
Mam by the fire and when she says,Why dont you dress like a proper
workingman? he says hell never give an inch, never let them know, and
when she says,Why cant you try to talk like a Limerickman? he says
hell never sink that low and the greatest sorrow of his life is that his
sons are now afflicted with the Limerick accent.She says,Sorry for your
troubles and I hope thats all youll ever have, and he says that some day,
with Gods help, well get out of Limerick and far from the Shannon
that kills.
I ask Dad what afflicted means and he says, Sickness, son, and things
that dont fit.
When hes not looking for work Dad goes for long walks,miles into
the country. He asks farmers if they need any help, that he grew up on
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