<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:14 but any rate that all went off well see er alwyn and er very proud and the er the kids were proud and i thought well yeah tut er four girls now and two boys and that'll be the end of the road but the tut the actual signing the um the <.>b the ledger um the births deaths and marriages book er was quite a big event er the joker who was the local copper there seamus odowd is a little oh <.>b big great big irishman he was and i suggested to him we sign it there right er get it voc not in kaitaia i said i wanted it registered as far north as you can possibly get well he said this is the only bloody place this is you can't get any further houhora er so i said all right tut so we we worked the day out and the day was on my birthday tut and er i'd had a couple and <&>1:00 er anyway we drive home pick katy up and the baby and we get to the pub and the er the er policeman's waiting old seamus he's very proud and des was very proud cos he's seen his namesake we called him after the publican the doctor said what say it'd been a girl would you call it essie and i said oh jesus i don't know about that i said i'm bloody pleased it's a boy actually you know essie was des's wife <{><[>i take it word <[>yeah yeah <.>sh yeah a good old sort you know a real country lady but um anyway we get into the bar and out he gets he gets a bottle of scotch out and seamus said to me the copper said to me do you think we we do you think voc oh you've got do you think we should have one i said of course we'll have a <.>bloody you know so we got into it and he had the <.>car book out in the car and he said word i'll get the book i'll get the book word have another drink have another drink so by the time we signed the bloody thing now and i'm not kidding we're all spinning a bit and we got the thing signed up tut and then all the local maoris around the bar saying hey what about us boss you know <&>2:00 what about us and of course oh no he had to shout had to do it it must have cost him i reckon well it could have cost him twenty pounds i don't know i'm <.>j word but anyway the baby was born there and er er signed then so we're leaving and it was about you know it was getting on and i said to the copper i told seamus i said jeez i'm a bit bloody full to drive this car right to the cape he said go on get away out of it he said i've seen you driving in a worse state than that when you think of what they go on today you know but anyway we got the little fella home he's um he he's he's a fisherman he's over in albany now he he he he deep sea fishes for tut oh lucans er on the tuna in in the indian ocean and around the south of australia he's a bonny lad and he's been back been back to the scene you know he was back there a couple of years ago and he went into the bar the publican said to him mclean said to him are you a stranger here young fella he said no i was here before you were mcdougal mcdougal <{1><[1>sorry yeah noel mcdougal <{2><[2>he said are you a stranger here lad and he said <&>3:00 no i was here before you were and er mcdougal said um tut oh i've been here a long time he says you <.>d don't look too bloody old to me and he baz said i was born here i was born right in this bloody pub and of course then des told the story and oh he was rapt and he he put it on for him too you know and he even got his put a picture up there on the wall it's still up there born in this hotel <[1>mm <[2>yes i was thinking of the lovely present that er esme on the day that the er we went through esme had a lovely gift all wrapped up a lovely little suit for the baby and an unusual looking parcel from des for the baby as well we found out to be a big bottle of whisky when we got home <{1><[1>laughs he might have been able to drink it now <{2><[2>if it'd still been around if his father hadn't tampered with it <{3><[3>laughs <[1>laughs <[2>laughs <[3>it was appropriate it was appropriate the boy was born then i think you know when you look back er it's some time ago of course thirty odd years ago er but looking back er the rural life the the er the the <&>4:00 easiness of the whole show like er there's no big deal like people in te kao saying have the baby here have the baby it just like you know have another cigarette have another beer because that's the way they lived and that's the way they expected life to run you know expected <.>not nowadays of course you've got to have this and you <.>n you're you're in the shit if you're born out er in in the fields or anything like that there's all kinds of regulations but in those days and i'm pleased to say it worked out right but i think the woman's healthy er well why not and in in an emergency well what the hell can you do yeah the houhora pub must have played quite a part in the social life up there in the far north well it was our stadium really it was the only place where you could let steam off really we had er lots of fun <.>a at the cape itself but er to get the to get the real top shelf stuff you had to go down to des's and er there would be no greater character in the far north than des ellis there's people tried to imitate but er there's only one des ellis and er another thing <&>5:00 that happened up there at houhora alwyn was the the head of the breweries er cameron james cameron sir james i think he was and alex his er accountant made a tour of the northern hotels and of course in due course they arrived up at the CAPE and er tut er alex came in and er <.>mine and one of my brother in laws worked for the brewery had a <.>m had a pub in auckland for them and they said oh your brother in law's got so and so yeah yeah yeah got talking away he said do you take a drink and i felt gee oh yes i said we love a drop and we always drink d b too i said it's a funny thing about it we ALWAYS drink d b up here tut and er des's pub is a lion pub see but we always drink d b he said oh alex go out and get him a dozen of beer so alex goes out and brings a dozen in and oh so of course there's four of us here and we all take a drop and go and get another dozen alex so we had two dozen of bloody beer see and we had a bit of a squirt and we <&>6:00 gave him a cup of coffee and er tut he said er we're going to miss davies's now would you like a lift and he had a he had a um rolls royce i think it was or <.>a tut one of the big ones one of the heavies so i get in there with er er yeah his wife and er <.>an and alex and we get down to the PUB saturday afternoon at houhora you know it was like ringling's circus really any rate in we go and tut er alex went in and he went to des oh james cameron wants <.>the everyone to have a drink of beer on the on dominion breweries tut and of course all the local maoris there they all drink bloody lion none of them drink d b and it was a lion pub and er tut he said er oh we got no oh no none on tap but we've got plenty of bottled beer er <.>li he said yes yes that'll do so he word goes round and <.>openi one maori said hey i don't like that stuff des it gives me the shits he said shut up you're getting it for nothing and he goes <&>beer opening noises psst psst psst opens about twenty five bottles around the bar and there <.>he here's the best mister cameron oh <&>7:00 good you know and they're going swallows and putting the bloody thing down and going like this and he only stayed luckily he only stayed a few minutes <.>he he just er er <.>b shot them a drink and then went around and shook hands with most of the people and everyone said voc what fine beer you make and all that <,> you know stuff and so he went out the maoris said jeez what have you got to do all that des you got the <.>b he said i'm going to put the bloody tops on them right away he said but er no one drank the bloody beer see and of course the ones that did drink it well the maoris did they <.>got everyone did drink it it wasn't wasted but des said he put the tops on because he says the gas hadn't gone out of it you know but oh we used to have it up there um there's one occasion when we're on our way on a shopping trip from cape reinga into kaitaia tut and er we <.>se used to set off early in the morning er seventy miles it used to take you about two hours in those days two and a bit very bad roads any rate <,> on our way down from the cape through to te paki station we come upon a a litter of pigs er so we <,> jumped out the car and we had a sack in the back and we <&>8:00 grabbed one got one <.>and <.>b by the leg and into the sack tut and i said i'll give this to des ellis er cos des fattens <&>pronounced as fatten pigs so we got down there er and er the bar was open of course the the side door was open and there was one or two having a spot in there and <.>the there's all the proverbial dogs all outside scratching themselves real flea taxis they were all out round the front of the pub any rate i got <.>the backed the car up opened the er the boot tut and <.>b got the pig <.>th which was in the sack and just let him go in the bar just in there there was about five in there well the bloody dogs they took off they word they were half <.>carv half pie pig hunting a very you know multi purpose dogs and they into this bar well the shemozzle that was in there it was bottles and bloody oh <.>yo look it was like it was a disaster any rate esme came down and jeez did she give me a lashing but it broke a few bottles and er tut <&>9:00 like we <.>p we proceeded on to to do our shopping and on our way back we called in to have our proverbial we used to always have a drink there ALWAYS have a drink on our way home and er missus ellis come round and she said to me oh i didn't like the way you put that pig in the bar you've broken quite a you know and she was <.>go raving on and old des <,> he was winking over her shoulder and er any rate a year later he said to me come and have come and have a look out the back here and here was this beautiful pig he'd go about a hundred and twenty pounds and er he said er that's the one you let go in the bar that day i said to the old lady well there you are you know it's an ill wind that doesn't blow someone good but er tut yeah des er but that was nothing to des that was just voc part of the show <{><[>laughs <[>no he really looked after us old des oh i think though um looking back at the times alwyn is <,> he often i think what did we do in all those years that we were lighthouse keepers how did we really make fun and i like fun still <&>10:00 do i like practical jokes i like to <.>have play them and i've had them put on me <.>say i mean to say if you <.>can if you're going to give it you've got to be able to take it <&>10:09