Original subtitles

The bloody libertine.

I told you!

What did I tell you, eh?

Eh?

Women.

He's got women in here.

Women?

I know for why he wanted to live on his own.

He pulled no wool over my eyes.

How many?

How many what?

Women.

How many?

Two, three, half a dozen?

Eh?

You said women.

You don't believe me, do you?

Go around then.

See her for yourself.

Oh, come down to one now, has he?

Why shouldn't he have a girlfriend?

Friend?

All night in the house with a friend.

Now that I'll not listen to.

I'll not listen to that talk.

It's eight o'clock on a Sunday morning.

Where else do you think she's been?

Waiting on doorstep for him to open up shop.

You're letting your mind run away with you.

Such thoughts.

Murder.

Murder he gets away with.

Sam?

What's he done?

First night on his own.

First night, mind you.

Women in.

Oh.

I saw her just now, out on doorstep, fetching milk for all the street to see.

I'll have a word with him.

Oh, what makes you think he'll listen?

It's all part of the fun to him.

Getting himself talked about, puffing himself up.

Ah, well, talk like that won't help us at the council election in November.

And with an independent putting up.

I'll put it down that way.

Election?

What's election got to do with it?

Oh, Cooper came round last night after a council meeting.

You'd gone to bed.

We were on about somebody to take Taffy Dent's place.

They've asked you?

I thought you couldn't, being a schoolmaster.

I can't.

But you can, if you will.

They want me.

They've asked me if you would.

I said you'd have them think about it.

I wanted you on.

You're more the age for one thing.

You're on the ward committee.

You should be on the council, be right.

Hey, what's this about an independent putting up?

Oh, ratepayers.

They think they stand a chance this time.

All this talk about Taffy Dent, is it?

Aye, that and the way things are.

We think it's only us that's having it bad.

All Europe's in a mess.

They say there's packs of orphaned kids living in the ruins in Germany.

Thousands of little faggots.

We've not had that.

Well, they started it, didn't they?

The kids.

Is there nobody to care for them?

They've to catch them first.

Where do they put them then, after Germany's flattened?

At least they'll get a fresh start.

I came across Pitfields yesterday on my way back from Skeleton.

They've started a new stack atop where Footpath used to run.

It's the same mucky world we're making.

We should be shifting and not making more.

Mind you, Shenwell's not going to risk another winter like last one.

They'll get cold if they dump slag in Piccadilly Circus.

Do what?

They don't fancy it on their own doorsteps, do they?

We shall need more than coal round here.

It'll be a dead hole else like it was when you was a kid.

Skeleton's near worked out.

Martin's not much longer to go.

We shall be left with one pit where we'd

three and no owners to blame it on this time.

Ah, they say there's more houses coming empty in Martin.

In spite of none being built for five years.

I'm not worried with that.

They can pull them down and build places fit to live in.

And build places for decent work and all.

There's a lot to be done.

Is there nobody younger than what I am that can be asked to stand?

There's a lot of enthusiasm in the last two years among the young men.

I thought it'd drop in the laps, did they?

I could say to them what I'd say to our young Casanova up street.

You'll have to live in it longer than what I will.

Get it bloody built.

You'll not though, will you?

Aye, if they want me I'll stand.

Why don't you get yourself some decent clothes?

I give all my coupons away to lassies like you.

Give them as prizes, do you?

I notice I've not been given any.

Next time, eh?

Has to be a next time, isn't it?

Where did you get to last night?

Eh?

You, last night.

Where did you get to?

Don't you recognise me in daylight?

I'm the chap you were with last night.

I mean before you came back to Brown Cow.

That was Arthur Corby's lass you went out with, wasn't it?

I gave her a lift home.

What about it?

Look me in the eye.

Which one?

That green one on the left?

I'd keep away from her if I was you.

And you needn't look at me like that.

I'm not jealous.

I can take you or leave you.

You're not her type though.

Give us a kiss and say you'll marry me.

You're real bastards sometimes, aren't you Sam?

That the answer then?

You know I've got now to nobody.

You know I grab what I can from life.

That's what you want in me.

Yes, then?

You'd not marry me in a thousand years.

No, then?

I'd not give you the satisfaction of a no even, you cruel sod.

Just cos I let on to only half like you.

How'd you make that out?

I've been watching you tick.

Stay in your own backyard, Sam.

She'll make you feel that big.

Just because she'd been left a few houses doesn't put you in Corby's class, you know.

Stuff the bloody houses and Corby.

Now I've upset him.

I was left them.

I've sold eight, I've given two away, I've got this and three others left.

What does that make me?

Better off than most.

It's a crime.

No.

Come and see me in Scarborough next season.

Same job, same digs, and that awful bed again.

Come and tell me whether I was right or not.

Right about what?

Er, I'll see to it.

You can nip out the back.

Shy, are you?

All right, I know when to go.

Hey.

Give us a kiss.

Can't bear anybody to leave you under a cloud, can you?

Even if you don't give tumps for them.

I'll see you, Sam.

There'll be a bloody queue in a minute.

Handbag?

She left it when she was sewing your curtains.

My grandmother.

Oh, er... Did she say where?

Well, upstairs somewhere, she thought.

I'll have a look.

Memory like a sieve, me gran.

You, er, working near home again, Edna?

I'm up at Top Club today, Skeleton Lane next week, and then

it's back to London and the Lights till next summer comes.

What do you do there, in London?

I earn a living.

Fun.

I used to think it was.

Better than here, though.

It depends what you want, doesn't it?

It's a swap.

Sometimes you swap for better, sometimes worse, eh?

Handbag.

I'll tell her to mind where she leaves it in future.

Let myself out.

Aren't you cold in here?

Cold.

Don't you like the fire?

Not much point.

I'll be out best part of the day.

No fire.

No curtains.

Curtains?

She can't have worked very hard, Edna's gran.

She meant curtains upstairs.

Oh.

Yeah.

Well, Ethel and Gran are doing...

are doing the rest, you know.

Oh.

You're my first caller.

Do you know that?

You mean first not to be invited?

Do I get a prize or is it just looked on as an honour?

No, Cass.

I'm pulling your leg, I think.

Anyway, I've come for a favour, so I don't want to rub you up the wrong way.

Why did you come round yesterday?

As I said, for advice.

What about?

I dropped it, didn't I?

That's what you wanted, wasn't it?

Well, I didn't want him bothered.

You said so.

You made it plain.

It's not just you.

I do it with others as far as I can.

And when it's somebody you know better, it's easier.

They usually understand.

I did understand I went, didn't I?

And what did you want him for?

Oh, that's too late now.

I sold some houses to Corby.

I got the idea he might not be playing stray.

I went to ask your dad for advice.

Corby's a friend of his, you know that.

I didn't see it making any difference, knowing your dad.

I went to him as a counsellor.

You've heard their talk, same as everybody else has.

Everybody but him.

At least he hadn't until last night.

I don't know.

What happened last night?

Somebody told him what was being said.

Who?

Alf Cooper, chairman of the ward committee.

He said he got to tell him because there'd been a complaint.

What about?

That we pay less rent than others on the row.

Do you?

Yes, we do.

And it's one of Corby's houses.

I didn't know till yesterday.

I just went on paying it after mum died what it was.

We've been missed on two rises.

It's common knowledge now, it seems.

What does Duffy say?

Nothing.

Except what I've told you.

And that they went against him at the meeting.

He wanted a clearance order lifting on some houses.

Corby's houses.

And they went against him.

Some of them were mine up to yesterday.

You've definitely sold them.

Subject to contract.

Whatever that means.

Well, you've come off best, then.

You'd not have if dad had got his way.

You'd have sold them cheap as condemned as is them that have lifted the order.

Corby would have come off best.

What do you say to that, then?

There's nothing wrong with your dad, Cass.

It's talk.

He's not that kind.

You've not lost on it.

That's all I wanted to know.

He's packing up soon.

He'll be well off that council.

He's talking about stopping on another year.

Doesn't want to leave with a cloud over him.

It's a waste of time, Cass.

It's all done down in London, not up here.

They run us from down there.

They give us a few committees so we can let steam off.

He spent his life at it.

And that's what you'd tell him, is it?

I'd say what sort of talk.

Just bloody gossip.

I'm supposed to be in your pocket, Arthur.

You?

I could think of one or two it would be if I wanted them there.

I suppose I've got proof and all.

Seen your bank account, have they?

All them hundreds of quids I've paid you to get you in my pocket.

It's not much of a joke, Arthur.

You're not taking it serious.

I'm obliged to.

Is it because you've been seen coming round here?

No.

No, it's not that.

Though I dare say that might have been noticed.

You can tell them why I'm welcome for me.

But Hawkins wants it kept quiet.

Kept quiet until they know how much land they'll need.

When they set up this factory, it'll take up

all the labour from Martin Close and them all.

You'll be a bloody hero, Taffy.

Arthur, why is it we pay less rent than others, Aunt Roe?

Watch the bed.

That's it.

Where is he?

He's upstairs in bed.

He had his breakfast in bed this morning.

I didn't know a doctor had been.

What's wrong with him?

There's nothing wrong with him.

It's a treat, that's all.

What for?

You mind your own business.

Where's his paper?

It's in there.

I take it you're stopping?

Aye, if you'll have me.

For dinner?

Aye.

You can have our Pats.

She's gone with the Royal and Ancient Order of Buffaloes to Bridlington.

Oh, aye.

Were you in the pub last night?

Me?

In a pub?

At my young age?

Were there many women in?

Aye.

Women?

In the pub?

Were there many?

A couple happened.

Only a couple on a Saturday night?

You get a few at weekends.

More than used.

Were they decent women?

Aye.

Decent?

Respectable, in your opinion?

I'd say so, for what it's worth.

With their husbands?

Aye.

There's a somebody else's.

No, I'm serious.

And I want to know.

What for?

Eh?

What do you want to know for?

Oh, nothing.

Erm...

It's just curiosity, you know.

So that's why they think I'm gracing your palm, is it?

You pay less rent?

Alf Cooper put it as well as he could.

He didn't believe it, he said.

Didn't he?

It happens, don't it?

Well, he said he didn't.

I didn't myself, did I?

Till I went back home and checked.

You can look me in the eye, Taffy, you know you can.

Aye, I can.

Aye, hope you looked him in the bloody eye.

Oh, knocked me back a bit.

I've been used to ruling roost down there a bit, I suppose.

Have them turn again, you?

About what it felt like?

It did a bit, aye.

If he didn't believe it, why did he have to down there tell you?

Now, don't tell me you'd rather have known.

That's beside the point.

He told you because you have ruled the roost down there.

Ruled it well.

Common sense.

Not their cockeyed way of going about things.

If any of them could have done it any better, they'd have been doing it and not you.

And why eight bob a week off the rent?

Why any rent at all?

I mean, is that all the prize you had?

Eight bob a week off the rent?

How'd it come about, Arthur?

There've been two rent rises since you went sick.

Maurice Naylor's firm collects the rents for me.

I told them not to pass it on.

Well, it seemed like something I could do that you're not likely to notice.

If you had, well, I'd have put it down as an oversight.

I didn't think it'd come to this.

I've done you no favour, Arthur.

How much do I owe you, Arthur?

You'll not pay it back.

I'm damned if you will.

You take a look round here and cast your mind back home.

What have you ever got from me that's made your life any better?

Eight bob a week off the rent.

It's in here, if it's anywhere.

My handbag.

Look for it later.

I'm busy.

Give me the 20 quid that was in it.

I've got to be going anyway.

Not back rent.

It's more than you think.

It's bloody impossible.

I'd just as soon know.

What in God's name is she after?

The cheque stubs.

I gave you the bloody things!

Boris, nip after Tuffy for me, will you, while I get my shoes on.

There's a sick man.

Pull in the tunnel.

I'll get the car out and take him back.

You know more sense.

Over and above what?

20 quid keeps Tuffy Dent and five kids for a month.

Do you have to tell everybody you spent a fiver last night?

You're grudging me.

However... You'd rather I didn't spend it?

I'd give it to you to spend.

But you don't want your old working class friends to know.

It's not like that at all.

Doesn't it?

You don't shout about things like that in front of a chap in Tuffy's circumstances.

And shouldn't you give it to Tuffy instead of me?

I wouldn't take it, as well you know.

Well, why keep it a secret then?

Because it rubs his nose in it.

I shouldn't have to tell you things like that.

Taking it out on me again, aren't you?

Well, I didn't start it, you did.

Don't you like the life I've made for you?

Oh, it's lovely, the part you made.

It's the part you can't do anything about, there's hell.

David's going back off leave a week early.

That's never happened before.

It's just backside kicking.

I married your mother for sound and sensible reasons.

Mother thinks, of course, of course I'll marry her.

But, I mean, you can't go through life in a bloody cloud, Sarah.

I know that better than you do, Dad.

All right.

Well, if there's help I can do.

There isn't.

Nah, it's not that I'm refusing.

I'm not an idealist like Taffy.

I suppose most of his problems could be solved by money.

I could, as far as his lass is concerned.

She gives her life to keeping him going.

She's a slave to the lack of money.

What I could spend to get things straight for you

into no purpose, I'll put her right ten times over.

I'm depriving her, then.

How?

When you can't even do it with stealth?

You're taking help from Cassie Dent.

Dad's got cereal.

All right.

I'll have it when that's done.

All right.

First Sunday in front room.

She wanted a fire.

So I said she could have one.

Why?

All right.

I said she could have one.

I couldn't be bothered.

Eh?

Lighting a fire.

I couldn't be bothered.

Well, that's welcome to ours.

We owe it to thee.

Front room.

She's always wanted a front room, the knows.

She wants a three-piece suite.

I shall get her one in due course.

Mm-hm.

When's that going to get wed?

Give up.

Well, fire'd be lit for thee then, wouldn't it?

Well, it would.

I'll wed a stalker then, shall I?

How's it doing?

It's right enough.

Oh, scuttle's empty.

I'll get some coal.

No, you'll not.

I shall see to it.

Oh, don't disturb yourself.

I said I shall see... I'm not helpless.

Don't argue with me.

Oh, I'm not.

I... I... I was just offering.

That's all.

I shall see to it.

Yes, George.

Don't argue with him.

He shall see to it.

Yes, I did get the point.

Got his stripes back, has he?

You mind your own business.

You like living on your own, do you?

You, um, don't get to feel lonely.

No.

You got your breakfast all right this morning?

Aye.

You can always come round here and have it, you know, if you like.

You don't like to think we can manage on us own, do you, men?

Well, who says you can?

I shall prove it.

Next 20 years.

After that, I'll get housekeeper.

Did you sleep well last night?

Aye.

Did you?

These walls are thin, you know.

Aren't they?

It's surprising what you can hear through these walls.

I'd not go shouting any secrets if I was you.

I haven't got any secrets.

You are a lad, aren't you?

Am I?

What are you going to do with your life?

Enjoy it.

Hey, we've a visitor.

Oh, a little stranger from Skeleton.

He's no stranger.

He's our lad, isn't he, lad?

Well, you've soon come visiting, haven't you?

Sam told me.

Aye.

You said to come.

Course he did.

He told me he was coming.

Oh, aye, course I did.

Have you lugged that thing all the way?

Mum put me on the bus.

I knocked at your door.

Aye, well, there's no fire back home, you see.

He's too idle to like one.

Aye.

You said to come.

Oh, well, he can stop here, can't he?

Course he can.

In front room, where it's warm.

We could have some music, can't we?

Aye, he loves Bach, does your Uncle George.

Eh?

Course he does.

Vera Lynn and Bing Crosby and Billy Cotton.

Hey, have you got any of Geraldo's records?

He's a Bach fan, Ethel.

Is he?

Oh.

Aye, course, you said.

Well, aren't we all?

Boo.

Oh, what did you come for?

I worried about you.

Oh.

And he's taken the kids to the park under protest.

You walked all the way?

Came across the pit fields.

We started another stack where the footpath was.

I had to work my way round.

Aye.

You can see from here.

I missed the bus.

Next one's 12 o'clock.

You'd have missed me if I'd caught it.

Oh, well, view's worth the walk, isn't it?

Is it?

Skeleton Alps.

Aye.

Did you see Arthur Corby?

Aye.

We're in debt, Cassie.

Trying to help, was he?

He meant well.

Don't abuse his motives.

What have I said?

It'll need to be paid back, then.

It'll be taken up from you.

And I'll have to force it on him.

If you say nay...

It'll just have to be so much a week, then, won't it?

There'd have been a grand view from here, you know, but for one thing.

What's that?

What you wrote that essay about when you were at high school.

You know, the one you won a prize for.

Industrial Revolution?

Aye, that were it.

You know what I see when I look at that lot?

What?

Work.

When you got work, you got everything.

Have you?

We live in a cold climate.

Main view we have's a fireside.

That's coal and work.

Some folks have it both ways.

They can look out their doors and take pleasure in the view.

Happen we will one day.

But work first, Cassie.

Work for all before everything, is that it?

When you tasted it to the road round, it is.

Jack Barrowcliffe would not agree with you.

He's a bit of a dreamer, this Jack.

He comes from in here, not up here.

I'm standing again in November, when election comes.

You've decided, then?

I can't leave under a cloud, Cass.

And the things I've started, I want to see done.

Can you bear with me?

I've not got much option, have I?

You'll kill yourself, do you know that?

No.

We've all got to die.

Lucky them that dies with someone under their belt.

What time is it?

I thought you were asleep.

It's a quarter to twelve.

Where's Granny?

She's gone down to his office to get me some figures.

Aren't you going to a match today?

No, I have a plane away.

Bradford.

You'll be late back, then.

Who wants to know?

I do.

Mum's gone to Nottingley to see Grandad, so I'm head cook and bottle washer.

You don't have to bother about me.

I can fend for myself.

Still sore at me, eh?

For what?

Behaving badly in front of Taffy.

Are you?

You know damn well it don't take much to soften me up when I am, don't you?

At least I worked on that from a very early age, you old sucker.

Not so much of the old.

I don't very often nowadays, though, do I?

Don't what?

Behave like a spoilt brat.

Aye, you were spoilt.

Wouldn't you not?

Bloody unbearable, the way you were spoilt.

You know, I'd have still been down the pit if it hadn't been for you.

Me?

I needed to make the brass to spoil you.

Well, when I knew there'd be no more where you'd come

from, it would touch and go with your mother as it was.

You should have had half a dozen, really.

And I'd have put your nose out of joint, wouldn't I?

You'd not have been the one and only then, would you?

You think that's what I want, do you?

Well, what you come to expect.

I'll get you something to eat.

No, no.

There's a chip shop I stop at on the way to Bradford.

I eat them in the car, up on the moors.

Salt and vinegar?

Aye.

You know what your mother's like about fish and chips in the car.

It's a treat I have.

Leave the figures on the desk if I'm gone when Granny gets back.

And behave yourself.

I beg your pardon?

Well, he's soft on you, isn't he?

I mean, a cow clap's got more romance in it than me, but at least I know that much.

It takes two, Dad.

Aye, well, it's a look.

Dinner's at one o'clock today, by the way.

One o'clock?

Yeah, I'm bringing it forward in future.

I never seem to get done when we have it at two.

Pubs are barely open at one o'clock.

You'll have a good hour.

Now, one o'clock's too early, Ethel.

We'll have it at two, same as usual.

Two o'clock won't suit, George.

I'm sorry.

Well, we shall not be back before.

I shall have to warm it up for you then, won't I?

I don't like it warmed up.

Oh, I don't like you to have it warmed up.

I spend a lot of time cooking and it's not at its best warmed up, is it?

Still, it's better than coming back to now, isn't it?

We shall have it same as usual, Ethel, when we come back from pub.

One o'clock sharp, then.

All right?

Bloody hell.

Look, if you spend less at dinnertime, you'll have more to spend tonight,

cos you'll be going tonight as well as at dinnertime, won't you?

Either interesting places or pubs, aren't they?

Not many places you'd find folks sitting for hours,

just sitting and talking like they're doing pubs.

Well, it's not much.

It's just a place to go, like.

It's boring, really.

Aye.

It's boring, you know.

It's habit more than outhouse.

Oh, I can't believe that.

But then I wouldn't know, would I?

I mean, I never go, do I?

I never get asked.

Well, I could have asked you.

I thought you wanted to go.

I could have asked.

You would?

I thought you wanted to go, I would, but I know you don't, so it's... Oh, but I do.

Oh, George!

Oh, I am glad you've asked me.

It's seven o'clock, we go, ain't it?

Are you sure you can't get back for dinner at one?

Oh, well, it'll have to be two o'clock as usual, then, won't it?

What's she want to do that for?

Come to pub?

She's never wanted to come to pub before.

Still, it's only for once, ain't it?

And she did change dinner time to two o 'clock for me, didn't she?

It was two o'clock before.

Eh?

Here?

I shall have to drink halves.

Still, it's only for once, eh?

Aye.

Only for once.

It's times we live in, George.

Aye.

Here, I shall miss that allotment shed of ours living here.

I used to spend hours in that shed.

Happen my dad'll get us an allotment down in there, eh?

Oh, yeah.

He'll likely not be interested now he's going on to council.

He's doing what?

He's going on to council.

Well, Frank just told me.

He's been asked to take Taffy Dent's place.

Is there anything I should tell him?

I don't think so, no.

What time is he back from the match?

I don't think that's predictable.

I'm taking David to the station at eight.

We'll probably pop in the cow for a pint before we go.

Is that what he told you to say?

He told me.

I suppose he thinks I'll turn up and unbend.

I usually do, don't I?

It was my idea as a matter of fact.

You're such a bad liar, Granny.

Am I?

Well, I don't mean to be.

I mean...

I don't mean to lie.

You just do it for friends.

Well, little... white ones occasionally.

You know...

you should get a... a job or something.

You mean I'm a moping woman with time on my hands,

indulging myself in a way that other people can't afford?

Is that it?

Well, you did a job in the war.

Of that bloody awful factory?

Women still work there, you know.

They're obliged to.

They've got husbands still in the forces, or they've got used to the extra money.

You don't imagine they work there from choice.

Go and ask them.

Well, it does keep them occupied.

And that's what life's all about.

DOORBELL RINGS Don't go away.

I'm all on my own.

How are you today?

Much better, frankly.

It's your friend.

Sam.

Thank you for bringing Sarah back home last night.

He threatened me with a hammer, and you thank him.

I was looking for your dad.

He's gone to the match at Bradford.

Is there anything I can do?

Well, I, er...

I'd better get off.

We might see you in the car at eight then.

No, I'm sorry, Granny.

I don't think I'll be able to make it.

Oh, well.

Put full marks for trying.

Sam.

He fancies you, doesn't he?

He's a nice man.

If you've got him for a friend, you're lucky.

He'll stop on his own side of the fence if he knows what's good for him.

I got left a few houses, and he's tied up in it, that's all.

Oh, well, that puts Granny in his place.

I've got the mates I want.

I know which side I'm on.

What is it about this room that upsets you?

It does, doesn't it?

It belongs to a chap that wants it both ways.

Gone to the match with the lads, has he?

Has he?

Or on his own?

You obviously know the answer to that one.

Aye, I do.

He's not many friends round here.

Does it worry you?

Me?

Me?

You feel it could happen to you?

We shall never fill all these cupboards with what we've got.

Is it compulsory, then?

Eh?

To fill them?

That's not your daft thing.

Oh, I thought having it was.

Finished your tea?

Had enough?

Aye.

How does it feel to you, the house?

All right.

Not like home, though, is it?

It is home.

There were a piece of the old ob where your father lost

his temper with a flat iron when you were a lad at school.

I keep looking for it.

Where is it?

It's all right.

We didn't leave him behind.

We paid rent on the old house, but it felt more like ours than this.

The stacks are still out there.

You've not come so far.

Hello!

Settling in?

Feel as if we've been here for years.

Don't we?

Did you sleep well on your own?

Like a top.

Girlfriend gone, then, has she?

Girlfriend?

The one that called this morning.

Or so your grandad said.

Oh, it was Cassie Dent.

Something to do with her dad.

Taffy?

She seems to think I might have lost out because of

something that was said at council meeting last night.

Corby's houses.

Oh, you know about it, then?

Alf Cooper came round.

Wish you'd put the flags out.

Wants grandad to take Taffy's place on council, does he?

Who told you?

George.

Is it right?

It's right if I'm voted on.

If you're voted on, grandad?

We live in a democracy, in case you've not noticed.

15 out of 15 labouring God knows how many years, and you say, if I'm voted on.

Is there any doubt?

If it's 15 out of 15, it's because folks want 15 out of 15.

I don't dispute it, only don't pretend you'll have any competition.

I was pretending not.

I was stating a fact, that's all.

What's it got to do with you, anyway?

Well, I'm a bit of a landlord.

Are you going to leather me?

What's your policy, grandad?

I'm a voter, too, you know.

Aye, one of the floating kind you are.

Float with the tide.

What tide?

It's an island on a bloody inland sea, this place.

What tide am I floating on?

If you don't take to it, you'd best get off, hadn't you?

We've fought a war for your kind.

A war?

What do we know about that, even?

One bomb in a field, five miles off.

Where's your medals, grandad?

Coal won bloody war.

Those men went down these pits after years of starvation and idleness to fetch it up.

Years of being punished for the crime of asking for work.

Now, you talk to me about the vote.

Are you voting for the other side, then?

For them that was eating when we were bloody starving?

What good did their vote ever do us, eh?

Eh?

Aye.

And when they needed us, when we asked for a decent living wage, what did we get?

It's them bloody miners again.

That's what they said.

That's what we had to them.

Don't talk to me about the vote, mother.

We fetched up coal to fight the fascists for a better world, not for them boogers

and bogner bloody regis that was eating off the

fat of the land when we was on bread and dripping.

You'll give yourself a stroke, grandad.

Nearly every word he said is true, Sam.

I lived through most of it with him.

You were too young to know what it was about, most of it.

I know more than he gives me credit for.

I know the truth of what he says, but there's things he takes no account of.

This place is an island.

Do as he says, then.

Get off it.

You never have.

I did once.

For work.

The day after you and your mum came here, it was.

I went, but back again.

Why?

I don't know.

Something in me, I suppose.

Aye.

In me and all, then.

Must be catching.

The older you get, the harder it gets.

Go while you're young, if you're going.

Yeah.

I don't feel to.

I get this thing in the back of me mind, that I've lost something, and it's here.

And if I go away, I'll not find it.

Anyway.

I'll see you, Frank.

Er, Sam.

Er, about Chaffey.

Been told, has he?

No, not that I know of.

Well.

Don't you think he should be?

Well, Alf Cooper's supposed to do it.

Right, I'll do it for him, then.

It's a party matter, Sam.

Stop the party!

Because of Cassie, is it?

Cassie?

She called on you today.

Aye, I said, didn't I?

Well, Dad saw her as well.

And somebody else, too, first thing.

That's why he's niggled at you.

Been having a good scout round, has he?

He told your gran, but she'd not believe it.

Others will, though.

If he could see, so could they.

It rubs off on us, Sam.

I said I'd tell you.

Here, Les.

Here's your father, come to fetch you.

Sam, we're going to fetch us back.

Aye, well, I'm here now, aren't I?

We're going across pit fields.

Well, that'll go with you.

It's a public footpath.

You'd best go to the toilet before we go.

Come on, I'll put the backlight on for thee.

Do you want a cuppa?

No, ta.

Got a backlight, eh?

Sam put it in for us.

What's up with you two?

Me and Les?

No, you and Sam, of course.

Comes from him, Ethel, not from me.

I dare say he'd say that.

No, he'd not.

He knows where it comes from.

I feel it in him.

That's why I get spiky.

I thought he does sometimes, because I feel it coming from him.

Took his dad's place, didn't I?

Never been right with each other as far back as that.

It's been years, Alan.

Aye, years.

Has he never talked about you to his dad?

Not to me, he hasn't.

No, me neither.

Nor about Dora.

Seemed to take it all in his stride, didn't he?

Some do, some don't.

That's what irritates me too.

It's what he's got for Les that I've not.

The life in him.

Let me go, I'll tell off you.

Tell what?

Let me go, you'll see.

There's nothing you can tell Cass.

Is there, Cass?

She knows all about me, does Cass.

For heaven's sake, let her go.

Not till you promise to do what your sister says and fetch your young brother.

Oh, why can't he come home when he's on?

Because it'll be dark before he gets back.

Here, I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll let you go for a kiss and a promise.

Oh, now you're talking.

Aye.

A kiss for Cass, and a promise for you.

Gee!

Annie!

I'll go, don't worry.

Oh, you'd better come in.

We're getting an audience.

Don't you ever do that again.

Now, Cass.

I've got to live in this street.

It was a joke.

Well, not for me.

Cass.

Look, don't you think we've suffered enough from gossip?

Bit of a kiss.

From somebody with your reputation.

Oh, now, that's sharp, Cass.

Well, it was meant to be.

If you want to wait for Dad, you can sit in that

chair, or you can leave me a message and go.

I've got work to do in the kitchen.

You don't think.

You're thoughtless.

You only think of yourself.

Well, don't you?

If you say so.

It's not whether I say so, it's in everything you do.

I'll give you the message, Cass.

They're putting me grandad up to take Taffy's place on council.

Frank reckons even if he wants to stand, he'll not be nominated

unless he can clear himself over this thing with Corby.

I thought Taffy should know.

I told him what I thought.

I got rousted for it.

What do you want, a medal?

That's the message, Cass.

LAUGHTER

I told you it were boring.

I can't think why you've come.

It's not always as quiet as this.

It's early.

It's habit, like I said.

Puts money in somebody's pocket, I suppose.

They've changed the decorations, haven't they?

How do you know?

You've never been in here before.

At that time I came here when you were in here with that woman.

I looked through the window.

I wanted to see her.

You were in here.

You and her.

That woman you were in love with.

Nay, a fool.

Well, weren't you?

It's all over with.

It'll not hurt for you to tell me.

Nay.

Now, I promise it'll not.

I want to know, you see.

You were, weren't you?

What happened?

Did it hurt?

Aye.

It did.

Do you think about her at all still?

Not so much.

Not now.

It's sad, isn't it?

All that happened.

Then nothing.

Aye.

It passes.

I wonder if it lasts with anybody.

Happen.

You couldn't live like that, though.

Not feeling like that all the time.

Turned in on each other.

She didn't care for me much.

Not much.

Not as I felt.

Not like that.

I'm glad we talked.

Aye.

I'll just finish this off and then I'll go.

You can go in there with your friends.

They sound to be enjoying themselves.

It's your world.

I don't grudge you, you know.

But I would like to come for a bit.

Just now and then.

Just for a bit.

I'll probably be in bed when you come home.

But I'll not be asleep.

You don't have to worry about disturbing me.

He's gone.

I told him you wouldn't be coming.

But you said you wouldn't.

So he caught an earlier train.

And what did Cassie tell you, then?

That they'd pay her less rent than the rest of Roe.

Trusted you to keep your mouth shut, did she?

It's known from here to Skeleton.

It's been common gossip for weeks.

You believe it?

That Taffy's known and taken it from me and a lot more besides?

No, I don't.

Why don't you?

I bloody don't, that's all.

I'll have no pit talk in this house.

My wife's asleep upstairs.

You watch your bloody language.

Cheeky young bugger, aren't you?

Why don't you believe it, then?

I know Taffy.

No, I know Taffy and all.

I know more about it than you.

I've lived longer.

Don't learn how to rip a roof down in pit by reading books.

I've no more years than you've lived what it's like to be a working man.

I've scrattered.

Lived off note.

I know what it's like to have a bloody carrot dangled in front of you.

I undertake all of it, I'll bet.

You watch your mouth.

Every penny I've got, I work for.

I work to the rules, as they are.

Where did your brass come from?

I didn't ask to be given.

But you're damn glad to get it, all the same.

It was passed on, mostly.

Burn in your pocket, was it?

I get my living down pit.

You'll get no medals there, if that's what you're after.

Why does everybody think I want bloody medals?

Because Tuffy don't want medals.

You'll get none, will he?

He knows that.

There are three wagers going into a house on that row.

A family called Bottomless.

As soon as spit on, Tuffy is looking in, cos that's the sort they are.

And if he sees his own going out, they're getting

old before a time to fight their bloody battles.

They'll believe he gets eight bob a week off

the rent to dance to my tune, my God, they will.

And Tuffy knows it.

He took no brass from me.

Never would.

He kept my word on that.

They were forced on him by stealth, because that's

all I could ever do for him without him knowing.

He's an old mate.

He'll be well off that council.

Buggers like Bottomless.

Let them fend for themselves in the muck.

Fine, he'd rape me for that, too.

He's standing again.

Who told you that?

Cassie told me.

He'll not be nominated, though.

They're putting somebody else up.

He's well out of it, then.

He'll stand on his own against them if I read him right.

It's my grandad they're putting up.

Is it, by God?

And who's side are you going to be on?

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