<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:28 oh it sounds a bit <,> of a <.>c calumny to me laughs it does does it laughs yeah <{><[>i just think they're just average people and er <,> maybe if they're late for an appointment with someone they might er <,> toot a bit more than <,,> er they would if they had plenty of time up their sleeve <[><.>bu <.>bu <.>bu mm <,> but i guess with those winter roads in otago <.>y otago you wouldn't be wanting to hurry too much anyway would you oh no they can be fairly icy mm <,> did winter bring you <,> many problems in fact? oh i think the <.>m the winters've er certainly <&>1:00 got warmer over the last <,> forty or fifty years mhm er fifty or sixty years ago they're <,> very severe <,> and farmers used to have <,,> er sheep stuck in the snow they had to go snow raking <,> and er <,,> the <,> the um <,> harbours the water supply all iced up <,> and <,> was pretty tough but <,> <{><[><.>we we've certainly noticed a warming of the er <,> the atmosphere down in otago <[>and how did that affect you how did that affect you <,> donald er did that er have a big effect <,> on on YOUR job oh well i wasn't out on the road about fifty years <{><[>ago but er <[>no that <.>ther those problems have been more recent as well <{><[><.>haven't <[>yeah in the early fifties it was still pretty cold but er <,> they hadn't er they didn't have the VEry severe snow falls <,,> <{><[>you'd've <.>ha you'd've <.>ha <[>word they did in the past they did oh about <,> twenty years ago there was a big freeze up in <,,> in the lakes area <,> and they had <&>2:00 helicopters out dropping <,> hay to the sheep and <,> landing shepherds and their dogs were there times when you couldn't get to er to a farm or a station er you <.>w you were heading for donald oh <.>n not in my experience oh er yes <,> wait a minute no i've been <,> going to sales er <,> coughs er <,> last ten or fifteen years and i've struck snow up er central otago and had to turn round and go back they're a canny lot to deal with those scots farmers in otago are they donald oh i think farmers <,> anywhere <{><[>word <[>laughs you you'd you'd have a couple of characters though that you <,> you'd oh <{><[>well coughs you certainly <,> have a lot of those in your life time <.>on <,> on the road <,> um <,> some of the more isolated areas <,> down south catlins and er <&>3:00 <,,> er course central otago had its er <,> its share of characters <[>remember is there <.>r is there one that comes to mind <,> <.>s some little incident oh laughs quite a lot some of <,> which could be sniffs related over the radio and <,> some which couldn't <{><[>er <,,> oh no er <,,> i can remember it <.>w <,> one sale that um <,,> i won't specify the town but er <,> after the sale <,> we all gathered in the old jail <,> and the the vendor of a whole lot of cattle provided everyone with <,,> er sandwiches and er <,> made by the <,> local butcher and pies from the local grocer and and combined with undertaker <,> and a case of whisky <,> few <,> crates of beer <,,> and <,> jolly good party afterwards that doesn't happen at every sale <[>laughs mhm in fact these days <,> coughs people <,> with the <&>4:00 new licensing laws you take off <,> soon as the sale's finished and <,> back home by five but <,> <{><[>thirty thirty years ago you <,> had to stay and er <,> and stand a round or two in the local pub <[>it's like a lot of things yeah grocer combined with undertaker did you say donald oh yes that was <{><[>er well a lot of <,> country places er <,> the er <,,> trades er <,> sort of condensed a bit <[>mm laughs yes the mind boggles doesn't it mhm course the the stock agents would've had a whole new ball <.>ka ball game when the deer farming came in wouldn't they? oh yes it's er <&>sighs it's not all easy <,> <{><[>er and deer <.>the <,> you know there was a boom time and <,,> and er <,> now of course it's settled down <,> it's just another part of <,> of farming now it's not er <,> it's specialised of course but <.>s <,> it's not a novelty any more <[>mm what about alpacas they're they're taking the <,> <&>5:00 the place as the latest novelty i suppose are they? yes there's <{><[>very few of those around yet <[>mm mm but er certainly <,> another bit of <,> diversification well donald finally if a young bloke came to you today and said okay i want to be a stock agent <,> what sort of advice would you give him well he's certainly got to be er <,> all things to all men as <,> one of these <,,> er <,> things they've written about stock agents how they've got to be um <,> a teetotaller and a <,> drinker and a <{><[>catholic and a protestant and a <,,> do everything <[>laughs all at <{><[>once laughs <[>yeah and i think <.>t you know <,> just if they get on well with people <,> be able to work hard and er it's not a job that stops at five oclock you find you're <,,> you're going twenty four hours a day <,> you're the farmers <,> friend as well as their <,> business associate <,> and it's very rewarding so know <,> your stock and know your people i guess that would be it <{><[>yes <[>mm donald thanks very much <&>6:00 for talking to us pleasure hello greta <{><[>oh um <,> now <,> do i start straight away <[>word you <.>go you go right ahead greta all right <{><[>well <[>you're ringing us from wanganui aren't you yes <{1><[1>well when i er <,> went to the east coast in nineteen thirty three <,> i inherited <,> a dwelling of sorts emphasis on the sorts <,> a baby austin which was mostly out of sorts <,> five acres of seedy paddocks <,> and two horses not the race horse type <,> now milk being in short supply <,> tut i <,> decided i must get <,> a cow and learn to milk <,> so <,> <.>i there wasn't er grazing for two horses and a cow <,> so i got permission <,> to sell a horse <,> to the local blacksmith <,> think he gave me about ten pounds for her <,,> er and with that <,> i bought top dressing <,> material <,> and er my um <,> helper <,> and i <,> top dressed the five acres <,> by hand <,,> <&>7:00 by the time <,> we'd finished <,,> we looked as though we'd been <,> er <,> dipped into a bag of flour <{2><[2>and um <,> a a bath <,> was <,> very necessary <,> well we weren't going to defoul the <,> one and only bath we had which <,> was only a tin <,> bath but it was a fixture inside <,> but we had a r <,> an oval sink tub that we used <,> er for um doing the washing in <,> outside in the paddock <,> <.>m where the copper also stood outside in the paddock <,> and um <,> so we took this sink tub <,> out into the long <,> waving grass <,,> and er filled it with um <,> carried the buckets of water out to it and <,> filled it up <&>8:00 and er <,> and er i had the <.>r the first bath <{3><[3>and er <,> that was my story about selling a horse <[1>mm <[2>mm <,> laughs <[3>laughs so you <.>h you actually got the farm started just by a <.>b a bit of canny selling yes ten pounds and that made all the difference that <{><[>got you the first fertiliser yep <[>yes <,> yes <,> yes <,> bought the top dressing yep <,> that's how it all started right many thanks <{><[>greta <[>right right bye cheerie <&>8:26 <&>three minutes twenty five seconds of next caller not transcribed as she implies that she has lived overseas for most of her life <&>11:51 and you're on <.>ov er rather er over your way yes <,> i nearly said over our way <,> we're talking this afternoon about <,> selling buying and selling the door to door salesmen the <&>12:00 hawkers <,> the <,> <.>c country stores the chinese market gardeners <,> you name it <,> if it's to do with buying selling <,> buying and selling well we'll welcome your calls <,> and the numbers to ring <,> are <,> oh eight hundred <,> six five double three eight nine that's for people anywhere in the country except wellington <,> and then you would ring us on seven three six triple two <,> that's oh eight hundred <,> six five <,> double three <,> eight nine <,> wellington listeners <,> seven three six <,> triple two <,> i mentioned earlier hop er about the flea market up in auckland <,> and um <,> as you know i was up there a couple of years ago with a <,> tape recorder for spectrum? that's right and when <.>i when i arrived there i er <,> as <,> wasn't surprising to me i found that er <,> there was quite a bit of problem with <,> shoplifting <,> or should we say stall lifting <{1><[1>cos the goods were all set out beautifully <,> and very handy and er <,> <{2><[2>there's no problem for the light fingered but then i went to another part of <&>13:00 the flea market <,> and i found that there was no problem there at all <,> there were no stall lifters <,> or if they were they kept their hands in the pockets <,> and the reason WAS <,> that <,> that part of the market was <,> supervised by the local gang the otara <,> gang <,> i forget their name <[1>mm <[2>very tempting for the i believe they do a very good job <,> from what i've heard too jack well it just <{1><[1>shows you you see er <,> if if er anyone listening has any trouble with <,> shoplifters <,> then um <,> probably you'd look up your yellow pages <,> they'd be under clubs wouldn't they <{2><[2>and er yeah along with <{3><[3>rotary and er tok h <{4><[4>one or two others yeah so there you are <{5><[5>laughs <[1>mm <[2>i'm sure they would <[3>mm mm <[4>that's right <[5>laughs <&>13:39 and hello to george in lower hutt er <,> george of lower hutt here hello george er oh <.>th this story's got some er relevance <,> to today's theme of buying and selling <,> er <,> it's the story of a poor fish er although some might say it's a <,> poor fish story <,> any way er for better or worse er here goes? <,,> about sixty years ago er <,,> on a saturday afternoon a <&>14:00 lower hutt man he was enjoying <,> a drink or <,> one or two drinks in the public bar of a er petone hotel <,> er now the bar had had the usual <,> number of saturday afternoon regulars <,> and of course there was a smattering of NOT so regulars <,> now one of these er not so <,> regulars <,> he was quietly er but er very progressively <,> working his <,> way through the bar <,> raffling a large blue cod <,> for a penny a ticket <,> now er penny raffles they were a a very popular means of <,> fundraising sixty or so years ago? <,> well anyway er to return to our er raffle selling gentleman? <,> his er blue cod for a penny it proved very very popular <,> he sold all his tickets? <,> the raffle was drawn? and the lucky winner <,> was presented with his blue cod <,> neatly wrapped in a clean newspaper? <,> now in due or probably overdue time <,> he <&>15:00 arrived home and handed the fish parcel to his wife <,> er she was really delighted <,> er fried fish for tea <,> she looked rather sadly at the fish's head <,> poking out of the paper and glanced at the tail <,> poking out at the other end <,> then er came the magic moment <,> she unwrapped the fish <,> to prepare it for the frying pan <,> alas er her husband <,> had willingly but unwittingly bought a head and tail without a body <{><[>laughs <[>laughs now thereby hangs this tale well george that's rather like a <,> a story i heard about one of the west coast pubs and er <,> a great west coast <,> character in fact um <,> er told it to me jim breeze <,> that um <,> there was once <,> a chicken raffle <,> in his father's pub there <,> which was the old word <{1><[1>word and um <,> they had um the person who won it had considerable difficulty in cooking it and making it tender <,> and the reason was that er <,> actually that um chicken <&>16:00 wasn't a chicken it was a seagull that <,> the boys on the coaster had knocked on the <{2><[2>head and a bunch of them were flogging off er <,> in the pub <[1>yes <[2>oh yeah oh <{><[>laughs <[>laughs raffling he he <{1><[1>was chicken hearted anyway <{2><[2>right oh then <[1>very tough <[2>laughs thanks thanks for your call <{><[>george laughs <[>right oh <,> good head and the tail of it hop mm sounds a bit <.>l some <.>o like some of your trout fishing ah yes yes marilyn <,> you're calling us <,> all the way from belfast yes that's correct where exactly is belfast that's just out of christchurch just north oh yes just a suburb is it <,> yep <,> <{1><[1>sorry for my <{2><[2>ignorance <.>i'm <[1>well <[2>we like to think it's a little town <{><[>still <[>yeah <,> yes marilyn well i just thought you might like to know a small incident that happened in my family um <,> regarding the <,> delivery boy for the groceries <,> it would be about twenty seven years ago now <,> er <,> we used to have a lad that used to come round on his bike and he had one of those big baskets on the front and he carried the boxes of groceries <,> and coming from rather a large <&>17:00 family there were six children <,> um <,> there was always something going on in the house and <,> there was many a time er <,> friends staying over and <,> a few foster children here and there <,> and er <,> the boy arrived one tea time while mum was busily <,> getting tea and feeding children and <,> the lad put the groceries <,> down in the kitchen cos he knew just to sort of knock and walk in because there was no way anyone would answer the door or even hear him <,> it er <,> he used to stand there then and wait for mum to pay him <,> what was required <,> and on <.>w one particular occasion when he arrived <,> he walked in and just stood there waiting for his payment and my mother grabbed him by the shirt stuffed him into a chair and put a plate of meal into him <,> front of him <,> she <.>said he he said but but and she says just eat <,> just sit there and eat she says <,> and er <,> the poor lad he he was sitting there saying but but missus hunt i'm not one of yours <,> i just thought you <&>18:00 <{><[>might like to <,> and er this was a a true story and it was a bit of a joke in our street for quite a while and with our local grocer <[>laughs <[>laughs if it's <{1><[1>small and it's er in short pants sit it down and feed it laughs <{2><[2>laughs <,> well it's not a bad philosophy is it <{3><[3>thanks for that marilyn <[1>laughs <[2>laughs <[2>yes <[3>laughs <[3>laughs <{1><[1>laughs <{2><[2>laughs <[1>okay then have a nice day <[2>and same to you bye <&>18:22