Original subtitles

We've not written on it.

What?

Our wreath.

We've not written on it.

I can't think what to say.

Does it matter?

We've got to say something.

Have we?

What for?

Well, for George, of course.

Oh, is he to read it, then?

Others will.

It's expected that we should.

I've no patience with it.

It's a ritual.

It's rubbish.

I've no patience with it.

It just spoke from Frank and Eileen.

Is that enough?

What else?

Wish you were here.

Sorry you're dead.

Sorry your life wasn't worth living.

And who says it wasn't?

I do.

Where's Leopold?

He's gone next door to see your dad.

He should be here.

We're due to move off in ten minutes.

Well, he's not going to come round and risk facing Athel, is he?

That one is only next door.

Oh, I just hope we can get through today without...

Without what?

Oh, without a scene or anything.

Frank, I've done a lot of things in life that I regret.

I do my best, but I'm not perfect.

Are we meant to be perfect, then?

In respect of what?

Well, that time you promised George you'd take him round the House of Commons.

He turned up drunk with some of his friends.

It's weighing on you, isn't it?

Aye, it's weighing on me.

Not because I think I should be perfect, or ever could be, but...

because I'm not as much of a man as he thought I was.

Oh, Sam.

Billy Tripp's out there.

Is it all right I've asked him to come in?

Brought a compensation form with him, has he?

So Athel can claim off Crossman's.

He's getting it himself, not you.

He thinks he let George down and now he can't make it up, can he?

Where's our pat?

Oh, she's just gone down the road.

She'll be back in a minute.

Is it all right if I ask Billy Tripp to come in?

Who is it?

It's Billy Tripp.

It's the union chap at the works.

I left my glasses upstairs.

I'll get them.

No, no, I'll get them.

I know where they are.

Look, put him in our front room.

There's some other people in there.

After all, it's not as if he's family, is he?

Aye, all right.

Oh, Sam.

Will there be compensation?

Yes, of course.

Oh, good.

Perhaps I shouldn't ask at a time like this, but she's going to need it.

He'll be looking after her interests.

She's got the union behind her.

Billy Tripp will see she's all right.

Then take good care of him, then.

Where are the kids?

Cain's next door to the old house.

You know, they say it was Sam's boss, people that work at Crossman's.

His fault, I mean, that the crane was wrong that killed George.

Has Sam said anything to you?

No.

They've always had such a good name, Crossman's.

You sure you won't come in?

No, no, I'll stay with the boys.

Where are they?

Around the corner in the new boozer.

It does no more.

He was well liked, your uncle.

They wouldn't say anything, mind.

Just come and go away again.

There's a meal in the top room round there after.

Ethel would have wanted them to come if she'd known.

No.

She wouldn't know half of them.

They'd be as shy as a girl in her first silk knickers.

Always been two worlds, isn't it?

Work and all.

Especially since the other two pits closed.

A lot of new faces round here.

New trades coming in.

That's the way of it, Billy.

Aye.

Macmillan's utopia.

How are you?

Oh, er... I'll be round about compensation.

When she's ready, tell her.

Soon as we start, the better.

Be over a year before settlement, if I know anything.

I'll have my other cap on then, you know.

Won't take it personally, will you?

Why should I?

You're management, innit?

You don't like paying out.

Put your arms in.

I'm going from here, you know.

I'm not coming round there.

You've told me three times already.

She thinks I cared not for him, your dad.

I suppose you think same as she does.

I'd not be round here helping you on me coat if I did.

I cared as I knew.

I know that.

Do you?

A young lass.

Our Sam can give you a dozen years' start and he knows damn little.

Oh, it's our Sam now, is it?

It didn't used to be.

It was a Wilson like his dad used to say, not a Barrowclough.

I know that too, you see.

You can shake your head over my generation as

much as you like, but we've noted what's gone on.

Are you going to behave yourself?

Behave myself?

She'll say nothing to you.

She'll pretend you're not there.

If she notices, which I doubt.

Dad was the centre of her life and he's gone.

And I doubt she wants to go on living right now, let alone fight old battles.

When she's got through the worst of it and the old life force gets hold of her and

she knows she'll go on to the end, that's when you'll have to watch out.

Watch out?

Watch out for what?

You're what's left of her life as she lived it with him.

She'll try to keep him alive through you.

It's not the same for the rest of us, Grandad.

You covered the span of his life.

The span of his life?

They talk about folks that have made the marks like that in politics and such,

not about ornery working chaps like you, Dad.

Well, what were you?

Don't you want that your life should have some sort of meaning?

Don't you want to have lived to some purpose?

You made your mark and he made his, and to hell with politicians!

Are those the shoes you're going in?

They better be, they're all I bloody got.

You'd better give them a rub then, hadn't you?

Grandad, Pat's telling me how to clean my shoes now.

Is she?

Give them a rub then, eh?

All right, I'll give them a rub, I'll give them a rub.

If you say I have to give them a rub, I'll give them a rub.

Every man's hand against him.

What makes you say that?

He seems unusually glad of a friendly word.

Sent him to Coventry, have they, because of

the row he had with Dad the day he was killed?

Somebody told you about it?

You didn't, did you?

My slate's not so damn clean where your Dad's concerned

that I can afford to muckie anybody else's, Pat.

Because you work at Crossman's?

Because I was asked to get him a lighter job,

and if I'd done it, he'd not have been killed.

Life's full of ifs, Sam.

He was killed by a faulty crane.

Why didn't you get him a lighter job?

I forgot.

I kept remembering, and then I'd forget again.

That's human.

Is it?

We've been up to here in it at work this past two years.

It was one of a hundred things I had to remember.

He was just George, wasn't he?

It's always the ones you care about most that get shoved to the back of the queue.

The ones that don't want to be a fuss, don't want to be a trouble.

Caught in the rat race, Sam.

Working too hard.

After promotion.

No, I'm not after promotion.

I've turned it down, as a matter of fact.

I'm working because the work's to be done.

I don't get overtime, you know.

I'm one of the bosses.

If you want to hit at Crossman's, you'll have to hit at me.

You're not a boss, Sam.

You're a cart horse for others, like the rest of the people at that works.

I'm a cart horse for nobody, Pat.

What are we talking to each other like this for?

Because I don't want to think.

I'm sorry.

No, don't let me think, Sam.

He was the warmest thing in my life.

Aye, and mine too, Appen.

I felt a primitive need for vengeance since it happened.

Against who?

Who's responsible, Sam?

I couldn't tell you who's responsible.

Couldn't?

Or won't?

It's not that sort of situation, Pat.

You don't understand how we work.

What'll that do for you?

Go and sit at mum.

She never looked at her.

She's feeling it.

I can never think of her as a doctor.

Is she proper in here?

She's been qualified two summers now, don't you remember?

Years, Executive.

Years.

I were old when she were a little lass.

She wants to go on.

Do pathology.

We lived in a village near Skipton when I was a lad.

Little white houses.

We come in here a cart for work.

You'll not let me go on my own to the cemetery, will you?

You'll stop with me when we go.

I'll stop with you, Grandad.

She's still upstairs.

Did you get her to take that tablet?

Under protest.

What's she doing up there?

She's writing a letter, I think.

Writing a letter?

Who to?

To your dad.

Now, don't you give way.

She's going to need you.

You think we know all about what love is, don't we?

My generation.

We think it's to do with soft lights and sexy music...

and sophistication.

Well, it's not, is it?

Hey, she's coming down.

I've changed into me old shoes.

Them new ones are me bunion.

Alex Vargas, you mean?

Me what?

It's what it's called in the business.

Oh.

I'm, er... I'm just going in to him for a minute.

Mum?

Stop what they're saying.

The day you were born, before you came into the world, he came upstairs to sit with me.

Just me and him.

I knew he'd got something on his mind, something had dawned on him.

I got it out of him in the end.

He said, we'll never be on our own again, shall we?

Where is he?

Where's he taken him?

He...

He's in the hearse, Ethel.

Why'd they take him without telling me?

I want him back.

I want him back!

Who are you waiting for, someone?

Apart from Peter, I mean.

Stan Elton.

He's going.

Why shouldn't he?

Doesn't the works manager usually get stuck with this sort of thing?

He's stuck with more than this.

He's stuck with the responsibility for that crane never being properly repaired.

The ultimate responsibility because he's the works manager, you mean?

Oh, what other kind of responsibility is there?

Responsibility can be delegated, can't it?

To some extent.

Stan never delegates.

If you'd been company secretary as long as I have, you'd...

I don't see why she'd be coming anyway.

He doesn't know Barraclough from Adam.

The people who came up from Franklin's have always led their own lives.

They've always resented us taking them over.

That they had to come up north because most of them were past getting other jobs.

And because of their pensions, of course.

Have you read Stan's report?

The one he did for the factory inspector, yes.

He's done another for Peter.

Has he?

I have to see the insurance company again on Monday.

Ask to see it, then.

Drop a hint.

Don't say I told you.

Oh, Boris.

Has Stan not arrived yet?

No.

We're running it pretty close.

Well, he'll come on if we're not here.

You don't have to come, you know.

I'm coming to bully you.

Make sure you don't overdo it.

Stan put his report in yet?

About the accident?

Yes, yes, he has, as a matter of fact.

You'll want to read it, I suppose?

I shall need to, yes.

Could it wait for a day or two?

It could, I suppose.

I'd like to go to it with him first.

Stan wants to be excused.

Well, it's a shame that I think I've been to too many funerals already.

I have, of course, but we've got trouble with the guard and that new borer.

I might be better employed making sure we don't have another accident, rather than

shedding tears over one that can't be undone.

Well, I'd better be off, then.

I'll bring the car to the door.

Well, I'll come with you.

You got the report?

Yes, yes, I read it last night, Stan.

Clear?

Oh, yes, yes, it's clear enough.

There is something there I'd like you to consider, though.

You mentioned it to me the day the accident happened, that you had delegated

responsibility for safety, including the crane, I presume, to Sam Wilson.

Ah.

The job nobody wants.

Well, it was either him or Ransley.

I was snowed under.

And they weren't?

Well, they were.

What could I do?

I had to pass it on to somebody.

We ain't a big enough firm to warrant a full-time man, are we?

You've, er... You've spoken to Sam?

About that?

No.

I don't want to have an argument with him, on top of his uncle's funeral.

Argument?

What about?

Well, he wasn't very keen to take the job on when I asked him.

You asked him verbally?

I see.

Still, since he did take it on... Who's doing it now, by the way?

Sam still, I presume?

I always try to check on everything, you know, do I?

I don't know if it was his uncle that was killed when I wrote that report.

I don't want to make him feel worse at this stage, but I seem to criticise.

Sir, you won't mind if I have a word with Sam?

I want the report to go through.

Morris needs it.

I'm afraid it's going to be very difficult for Sam.

His uncle helped bring him up.

Lost both his parents, you know.

The responsibility's mine.

You know that, in the end.

In theory, yes.

Same theory says that it's mine.

In practice, it's the people who feel responsible, who carry the weight.

Dust to dust.

In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our

Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be like unto his

glorious body, according to the mighty working,

whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.

I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write.

From henceforth, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.

Even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labours.

Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the

only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.

Amen.

What's going on?

Can't they get ready for bed upstairs?

It's cold up there.

There's an electric fire, isn't there?

I took it out.

We've been trying to economise.

Come on, up you go.

Night, Dad.

Night, night.

Night, Dad.

Chris threw it.

I know, but who goaded him into it?

Off up now.

I'll be up in a minute.

Where did you get it?

Where did you get this thing?

Inside radio.

Whose radio?

Ours.

Ours?

I bought it for Mum, so I could send it for the man.

Did you know he was taking this to bits?

I asked him to have a look at it.

To look at it?

Why didn't you tell me it didn't work while it was still in one piece?

It'll work now when I put the bits back.

He's done it before, only I knocked something loose again.

It's this connection here.

He didn't have any solder, so I used my plain glue and she's knocked it loose.

Sarah!

It's Morris.

Hey, what time is it?

I'm supposed to be at Crossman's at six.

Well, it's ten-two, unless it's slow again.

Ah, you're here.

Well, is it slow?

What time was it, Morris?

Ten-two.

Unless it's stopped.

It's been stopping lately.

Will you be late?

Well, you tell me the time and I'll tell you.

He just said he wanted to see me.

I'd better get off then.

Aren't you going to say thank you to...

Oh, aye.

Thanks, Tom.

Did you press those pants for me?

They're upstairs on the bed.

See you later, Morris.

Yes.

Hey, couldn't you get me put on a fitter's rate?

I'd make a fortune in overtime.

Would he?

Hmm?

No, no, no.

Differentials aren't high in engineering.

Not with a smaller firm as like ours, anyway.

Except in my sort of work.

But then he wouldn't like that, would he?

It would bore him.

Ma'am, got a pair of nail scissors?

Yes, love, they're upstairs on my dressing table.

He's bored, anyway.

Who, Sam?

With the job?

Not just the job.

Marriage, I suppose.

Oh, rubbish.

Not that he sees much of us these days.

Well, unless we've got a works manager who's out of date and losing his grip.

He's got two years to go to retirement and Sam's helping to carry him.

I shouldn't be saying this, but we're going to retire him early.

When we can find a suitable replacement.

He'd have liked that job, in a way, I think, Sam.

Then he should have taken it when it was offered, then.

Half of them wanted to, I think.

The other half said, stay as you are.

Where's he gone?

Peter Crossman's.

Oh, yes?

Oh, why is this house such a tip all the time?

Is it?

I hadn't noticed.

You ought to get your glasses changed.

You wouldn't believe we decided to leave the

other house for a smaller one, would you?

And we really meant by smaller was cheaper, and cheaper turned out to be bigger.

Well, I like it here, better than the other house.

Oh, you'd like it any way you would.

You just don't like being home.

On my own.

Oh, hello.

Come on in.

I'm just off out, though.

Sarah's in.

They're all sat round the fire at Frank's, talking about the old days.

I don't want to know to hell with the past.

You alright?

He's still in the house.

I keep seeing him sitting by the fire with his boots off and his feet over the mantel.

Oh, I thought I heard the doorbell.

I've come to plague you.

Good.

I'll not be so long.

See you later, eh?

Got a fancy woman?

Not that I know of.

Come and meet Granny.

Maurice Naylor.

Oh, have you already?

The one whose wife and kids were killed in the car crash?

Yes.

I've heard you talk about him.

He needn't bother.

He's far too old for you.

I like them too young or too old.

Didn't you know?

Messed your evening up?

No, no.

Was it, er...

Was it coming to the funeral that put you back in bed?

Oh, just general misbehaviour.

Not doing what Cassie tells me she says.

I can be bloody minded when I like, you know.

Aye, so they say.

Who does?

Talk.

Not in the works?

Aye.

Pity, I can't hear them.

You'd not mind.

You know, I've never had enough contact with the works, shop floor.

Not when I was up and about even, not really.

You did enough on your plate.

It should have been a priority.

I rely a lot on you, you know.

Stan never wants me to know the shop floor's his pigeon as he sees it.

I was born in a room with a door that people knocked

at, I have to say, come in before it can open.

Well, I'll be no good in your job.

You never know till you try.

Oh, the other side of it, I mean.

The finance.

I'm hopeless with money.

Ask Sarah.

I give it to her and she says where it goes.

Do we pay you enough?

Well, there's a standard answer to that one, isn't there?

Nay, I get the same as Ransley.

Fair enough for now.

It's time the likes of us had a union, though.

How do you know you get the same?

Well, I always reckoned I did.

Ah, but you don't know, do you?

Morris sees to that, it's one of his quirks.

Now you're worried that Ransley gets more than you, aren't you?

No, I'm not worried if they reckon he's worth more.

They?

Sorry.

Oh, you see.

You're assuming he does and it rankles you because you know he's not worth it,

so you say they.

Yeah, he doesn't between you and me.

But don't tell Morris that I told you I don't

want to start a revolution from up here.

That's another thing I'm going to be looking at when I get back.

It's rough on Ransley, me knowing you and Morris outside work.

Does Stan Elton resent it, do you think?

He might.

You've sensed that he does?

I feel it sometimes.

Sometimes I do.

What am I supposed to do?

I've known you and Morris for years.

Do they want me to ditch you?

Do you think Stan has an inkling that I sounded you out about taking over his job?

Not from me, he doesn't.

Anyway, I turned it down.

Why do you ask?

I have a report here from Stan about the accident.

He says that he made you responsible for safety at the beginning of the year.

Oh, still here.

I thought you were going to have your rest.

I don't feel like resting.

Where are those bills you wanted me to pay?

Um, over there.

All straightforward?

Yes, yes, I think so.

Give me something to do.

Bored.

A bit restless.

I want you to get well enough for me to take you away on a holiday.

Somewhere warm, eh?

I'll be in the living room, Sam, when you come down.

All right, Cass.

You know, everyone calls her Cassie, except you.

That's what we called her when we were at school together.

Twenty-odd years since.

Makes you feel older.

So Stan's making me responsible, is he?

Does he know it was my uncle that was killed?

He didn't.

Does now.

I think he's sorry I mentioned it.

Well, if he says I was responsible, I was responsible, wasn't I?

He's accepted ultimate responsibility.

It's just that it's the first time I've seen it mentioned on paper.

That he put you in charge of safety, that's all.

Well, you know what Stan's like at committing himself on paper.

It was a verbal instruction, wasn't it?

Must have been, wasn't it, coming from Stan.

Um... what's that report for?

Me, mostly.

And, Morris, from an insurance point of view, your

aunt will be putting in a claim for compensation.

She's right to.

You know, if the factory inspector finds you have breached the Factory Act,

you'll take proceedings.

Breached the Factory Act?

I doubt if George even knew there was such a thing.

He was a born cog, was George.

Without cogs, we don't go, do we?

Aye, but we take them for granted.

It's only when a cog strips and the machinery stops that we take any notice of cogs.

Who is it?

It's me.

What are you sitting in the dark for?

Writing a book, you mean, are you?

Where's your coal, Scuttle?

I'll put coal on when I need it.

You need it now.

It's freezing in here.

What's wrong?

Are you running short?

I shall run short if I squander it, shan't I?

Squander it in this temperature.

Where's your scuttling?

Don't argue.

I shall not have home coals now, shall I?

Whose home coals?

He used to seep round for me, get me home coals cheap.

He used to see to it.

George did.

I see, well, we'll sort that out later.

Right now, I'll get this fire respectable.

Where is it, you Scuttle?

Don't be so damned awkward, Dent.

Back of the ear.

Risking a chill at your age.

Aye, my age, my bloody age.

That's a laugh, ain't it?

When I were in my fettle there were no bloody work.

Now there's work aplenty and I'm past it.

Laugh at that.

You've had it so old there's nothing for it to get old of.

We shall have to get you an electric fire.

Run an electric fire on my pension?

It's these damned fags that run away with it.

I can't seem to get up somehow.

I smoke more now than I ever did now I'm on me own.

Remember how your mum used to rant at me?

Nails in your coffin, she'd say.

How long have I lasted without it?

Nine years since your dad.

We'd have managed if she'd lived.

She'd manage your mum better than I ever could.

It were less often than most that we lacked a bit of something.

God knows where it'd come from but by God it were there.

Hey, you know what he used to do?

That brother of yours that we buried yesterday, up to us stopped him.

He'd bring me a bottle of ale back Saturdays more often than not, Saturday nights.

And after he'd gone there'd be a packet of fags with

one or two missing on the table there or on the dresser.

And I'd think as he meant me to that he'd slipped me mine.

I thought me memory were fading for a week or two, the young bugger.

I ain't careful you da.

He were a bright spark of a lad by the time you were born.

Made her wriggle on him like a puppy.

It must have put his nose out of joint a bit

when you come along, though he showed no sign.

You come at a bad time, when we'd a strike come on us.

But you were the bubby you had first call.

And he'd look at me sometimes when his belly were less than half full.

Just look at me.

And I'd feel such a rage inside me as I never

forgot when he looked at me through all his life.

I rage again him.

I gun him.

Oh, I gun him.

You cared for him.

You blamed yourself that you'd bred him to his need.

I could weep when I think of them days.

Weep, weep, I could weep.

There's the note for us, now there's bread on the table for a fresh generation.

There's the note for us and a generation

aplenty that lived through a generation at once.

We're not in power, Dad.

Power?

I didn't know things were like this with you.

I'm away half the time in Parliament.

And I should have stopped in teaching.

And I'd be better back here looking after me own for all the good I do.

I want a note from you.

I could be left on me own.

Well, you lot all gone before me, the way this frame of mine clings to life.

Now them with the cars and such that never had it so good.

Got a note for us that stoked their bloody

furnaces to keep them alive for better times.

That kept the unions alive with the pennies

that we scratched that could have bought bread.

Where's my bloody union?

Who's left to fend for me if you're all gone?

The campaign for nuclear disarmament.

It's an anti-political movement.

It doesn't have a policy.

With all respect.

Oh, I'm not too worried about respect where peace on Earth's concerned.

That's the policy.

That's what we go to prison for, you know.

For campaigning for peace on Earth.

And knocking policemen's helmets off, you mean.

Look, I agree with the ends in general.

It's the means I just can't take seriously.

Well, what other means?

Another watered-down socialist?

Oh, you have to be a socialist to want peace on Earth, do you?

To do something about it, you have to.

Well, I used to be a watered-down socialist.

I'm a full-blooded Tory these days.

Oh, he isn't, really.

Yes, I am.

Of course he is.

It's written all over him.

Labour's split down the middle on disarmament.

Look at the way the unilateralists trampled on

the party leadership at the conference last month.

Yes, it was great, wasn't it?

Well, shut up, you two.

Come on, Tom, time you were going up.

It wasn't just the Tories that tried to stop

Wendy Chetterly's lover from being published.

It was in the paper.

That's the establishment, Tom.

Well, whoever it was, they didn't...

Lady Chatterley's lover.

What do you know about Lady Chatterley's lover?

Some of the kids at school tried to get it.

They couldn't because it was sold out.

What's the establishment?

Your version or mine, Pat?

Mine.

Shall I come and talk while you clean your teeth?

If you want.

Night, Mum.

Night, love.

Night, Tom.

Indoctrination of the young.

She's a tough little thing, isn't she?

What is she, a communist?

Oh, too bloody minded for that.

Something all her own, I should think.

Does Sam really care about politics?

Why don't you ask him?

No good asking me.

How does he get on with young Tom these days?

Politically, you mean?

No.

No, but Tom's father was on the left, wasn't he?

Oh, God knows what David was.

He was another all on his own.

Ever hear from him?

No.

Tom gets a card now and then, the odd present.

He shouldn't be at that school, you know, Tom.

He should be at Claythorpe, or somewhere like that.

Why?

He's well above average for 12.

Because he wants to read Lady Chatterley's lover?

No.

You see, the classes are far too big at Tom's school.

The reasons for comprehensive schools like his are social, not educational.

His needs are educational.

He's not getting the attention he should have.

How do you know?

Well, I am a governor at Skelton Comprehensive, aren't I?

I am on the school board.

I should have thought it was the others who

needed the attention, not the bright ones.

Well, both ideally, of course.

Shouldn't you be doing something about it then?

There's a limit to what you can practically do these days.

Education has become a pawn in the game of politics.

Speaking as a full-blooded Tory.

I want to see an alternative.

That's all.

For kids like Tom.

You'll have to pay at Claythorpe, don't you?

Well, yes.

You can forget about that then.

Quite apart from the question of principal.

Whose principal?

Yours or Sam's?

Who pays the piper?

His principal's come before his children's needs, do they?

You're forgetting something, aren't you?

Sam's David's son, not Sam's.

But Sam wouldn't differentiate.

That's not the point, is it?

The point is, it makes it quite impossible for me to ask him.

The day my dad went off, he gave me a shilling.

Be a good lad for your mum, he said.

You never stop looking, though.

Down by the street.

But if somebody comes, never stop looking.

Grained in your flesh and blood.

Sam!

That's right, Houdini.

Vanish.

Let him see a bit of life, Billy.

A little bugger, that one.

I used to spend hours watching the street when

I was his age, when I should have been in bed.

Come to think of it, from the same window.

I lived here for a bit, you know.

I know.

Don't worry.

Like it better where you are?

It suits.

Whose are the paintings?

Well, they're mine.

Yeah, I know.

I meant who painted them.

Well, I did.

I painted them.

Ah, go on.

Well, now.

That's skeleton mean, isn't it?

Cuddy.

Oh, that's right.

I can see that now.

And that's, er...

Now, where is that?

I should know that, shouldn't I?

Skeleton mean.

I knew it was skeleton mean.

You're a bloody liar.

Well, I knew it was a bit anyway.

I got that bit right.

Still play the corner, Billy?

No, I more or less gave it up for the painting.

Mrs. looks after it, though.

She was always more interested in the polishing than the playing.

Goes for a lot.

Oasis in the middle of the desert is culture, boy.

It used to mean a lot of well-off folk in dress clothes

turning up at the opera to me till I started to dabble a bit.

Enjoy life, don't you, Billy?

Shouldn't I, then?

How about you?

I've been too busy lately.

Holding Stan out and up?

I wouldn't say that.

I would.

I'm not blind, you know.

Been worse since Crossman's been ill, innit?

Well, he retires in a couple of years, does Stan.

What do you think of him?

That's totally what I think of him.

I meant as a man.

What do you think of him?

Oh, he's a fair enough sort of bloke, is Stan.

He can't keep up, that's all.

He's past it.

There's a lot worse than Stan as a man.

Aye, that's what I thought.

We can't wait two years for him to go, though, can we?

It's up to the company, isn't it?

Is it?

You know it is.

So we're supposed to stand by, say nothing for two years

while they go bust and give us our cards, is that it?

They'll not go bust.

They'll not do as they should do while Stan's there.

We get away with murder.

I know you do.

Complaining about it, Billy?

Aye, I am.

It's not as it should be.

We shall see, shan't we?

Foot in both cams, eh, Sam?

Not much fun, boy, is it?

No, it bloody isn't.

You'll see Ethel's all right when the claim goes in for compensation.

You don't need to ask me that.

You weren't represented at the inquest.

We weren't asked.

Some coroners don't like unions, you know.

Well, we could have asked to be there, of course.

Why didn't you?

We'll do our best for a you-know-that.

Choose what comes from Crossman's end.

They'll get it as low as they can, won't they?

Aye.

That's how it works.

It's a battle.

See you, Billy.

Have you ever felt that life was going to pick you up like a

bloody great wave and chuck you somewhere you didn't want to go?

I felt like that after Suez, what went with it, Hungary and so on.

A lifetime thinking I knew where I stood.

You were a lucky lad in those days, Billy.

It's a comfort to know where you stand.

Aye, a comfort.

Is that why you learned the coroner?

To rally the ranks when the revolution comes?

You shouldn't make fun of politics, Sam.

Politics.

Politics made George's life a misery where my grandad was concerned.

A big black cloud was politics to George.

Do you know that he went off to work steaming that day

because of a row he'd had about politics with my grandad?

Aye, I know.

He was telling one of the boys he wished he was...

Wished he was what, Billy?

Oh, he's all steamed up like you said.

Wished he was dead?

No, no.

Is that what he said, Billy?

Well, I'd tell you if he had.

We'd have a grand case if that got round, wouldn't we, trying to claim compensation

for a bloke who said he wished he was dead?

You shouldn't be putting words in my mouth like that, Sam.

Think of your aunt.

You're a good lad, Billy.

But there's water deeper on my side of the fence than you've learned to swim in.

That side of the fence you find yourself on, you mean?

Maybe, but that's the way it is.

For better, for worse.

For richer, for poorer.

It's like a marriage, Billy.

It's a damn sight easier to get into than get out of.

You know damn well the way it is.

Don't you shove politics at me.

Politics is life, Sam.

You can turn your back on a party, you can't turn your back on life.

I'm talking about your head, Billy.

Not your heart.

It was your heart that led you to turn your back on your party.

What did your head say?

Different.

They let you go without a struggle, did they?

Aye.

I thought happened they did.

Here it is.

Oh, lovely, thanks.

Now, I'll stop with you till Pat gets back.

Oh, no, you'll not, you know.

You've him next door to see to.

Him next door?

Aye, Frank.

The chap you married.

Him with the worried look.

Oh, him.

Thought him at the other end, did you?

Thought that sweetened towards him, did you?

I shall not, you know.

And you know why.

Ethel, they were always having a go at each other, him and George.

It was a way of life to them, really.

It meant nothing.

Always on that.

He's not done this, he's not done that.

Not made enough of his life.

Who's he to say?

What's he ever done?

Is Frank ambitious?

No, I don't think so.

Not beyond what he's doing.

You know, sometimes I wish you were when we're trying to make ends meet.

Then they're not in government at the moment, so he can't be more than MP.

Won't they pay MPs much, then?

Thought they were doing all right these days.

Perhaps they are, compared to the past.

I don't know.

But it's what you do with it, isn't it?

You know, we took out a policy just in case we ever wanted to buy another house.

Well, it's a saving, I suppose, but oh, sometimes

I wish we had it at the end of the month.

Then there's all the things we do that we'd never do if he wasn't an MP.

And clothes!

Oh, I should talk about money to you.

No, no, I can see you need more than I do.

I wonder what it's like to have enough.

To be satisfied.

Not to want any more.

Sam!

Ethel, your husband's looking for you.

He can wait.

He was rooting in your handbag when I came out.

Eh?

I'm off.

Are you stopping a bit, then?

I can do.

See you tomorrow, then.

Have you got your love letters in there from your fancy man?

I'll pat round at your house.

I'll shoot her back home if she's there when I get back.

Do you, er...

Do you want to talk about money now or would you sooner wait?

Money?

Compensation.

Compensation?

Aye, I know.

There can't be any.

It's, er... It's another of those words we use badly.

But it'll be rough for you if it's not seen to.

Although, er, Pat'll see you out for a bit, I know.

No, she'll not, you know.

No, I'll not let her.

Anyway, she's, er... She's not really earning yet.

Not what you really call earning.

There's that place she lives at in London to pay for.

No, no, I'll not be a drag on our partner when she's just starting in life.

Well, you'll have to get what you can from Crosman's, then.

They're insured.

Billy Tripp will sort it out for you.

But it's not to get to court.

Court?

Well, there's no need for it.

Why should it get to court?

Well, er... Well, you see... It depends on the size of the claim.

Or if Crosman's insurance firm think they've got a case.

They haven't.

But you can sort it out with Billy.

But whatever you do...

Don't let it get to court.

Ah, the master.

Hello, you still here?

Come on, jump in the car and I'll run you home.

You damn well won't.

I shall walk.

And get molested.

That's a promise.

You're a match for any man you, aren't you?

You reckon.

What's your fella like?

Who said I had one?

Don't you?

Mind your own business.

I'm going to stop single and live forever, aren't I?

I can name you plenty that did stop single.

And they all finished up in Skeleton Cemetery.

Turned you back on your old war cry, have you?

Whose war cry?

Yours.

It's what you used to say when you were a bachelor.

I was a kid at school.

You were having a late try for your school cert and I used to mark your algebra.

Remember?

How the mighty fallen.

Mind you, you fell lucky, didn't you?

You reckon.

She's too good for you by half.

True enough.

No argument.

I'm coming back here, by the way.

To Galway.

I'm going to do pathology at Leeds.

It's not because of Dad being killed.

I was going to anyway.

Turning you back on London?

I shan't go back to London again.

Ever.

What's London done then?

I'll be able to help Mum screw Crossman's, won't I?

I'm sorry, I wasn't hitting at you.

Why should you be?

I've been to see Ethel.

I've told her the procedure.

Billy Tripp will tell her more.

Procedure?

It's a word for making a claim.

I didn't just mean money, you know.

No.

I want to make sure responsibility is brought home.

To whoever was responsible.

Go on.

Help to make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else.

When you look at those little slides under your microscope, Pat, what do you see?

You want me to say life, don't you?

Happen.

Does it always make sense?

Usually.

And when it doesn't?

It's only because we don't know enough.

It will in the end.

Oh, so in the end we'll know it all, will we?

I reckon.

And what will we do then?

Ah, well that's something else again.

You're back.

Want anything?

No, no, I'm all right, thanks.

Oh, I was just going to make myself a cup of tea.

What about you?

No, thanks.

I'm off.

On foot.

Suit yourself.

I'll be able to look at the stars while I'm walking.

You'll fall flat on your face in the sluts one of these days, looking at them stars.

Nah.

You offered to run her home, I hope.

Course I did.

You know what she is.

Little Miss Independent.

Everything all right?

All right.

Crossman's.

You went to see Peter Crossman, didn't you?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, everything's all right.

I just wonder sometimes, that's all.

About what?

What do I do apart from work?

I used to read a lot one time.

Nowadays, what I read has to do with me.

What do we do with work?

When did I last put that gramophone on?

Last Christmas, I should think.

Restless.

Aye, happened.

She's got it all sorted out, hasn't she, Pat?

I think so.

Since she was our last at school.

All sorted out.

It was schoolwork and exams then.

Double dutch to George and Ethel.

Did it all herself.

No, it's medicine.

Politics.

She knows exactly where she's going.

I wonder.

Is that what you were talking about when I came in?

No.

No, we were talking about George and the accident.

She's looking for sense where there is none.

Sense?

Well, logic, I suppose.

She wants to pin it right down.

Put the blame fairly and squarely where it belongs.

As if it was possible.

Well, isn't it?

She seemed pretty certain about it when she was talking to me here earlier on.

I was glad Morris had gone.

She was talking about taking it to court.

She says it's not the money, it's the principle.

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