<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:09 yeah when WAS that now it was after mum died voc naturally um <,> and dad and me and word dad <.>come it might have been about a year after mum died <.>or two years and i <.>remember it came on SO quickly now one moment that's not the pleurisy time is it no this was <{><[>pneumonia and i um had a friend <.>around it was a cold day i'd had a friend around um and we were talking and i remember going out and grabbing the washing in about just before lunch and it was absolutely freezing out there and i came in mandy went home and i just started feeling cold and <&>1:00 shivery so i lay on the couch joelly coming home from school and i was just absolutely rotten and kevin came home and i just felt worse and worse and went to bed and then <,> i was just so cold and i couldn't warm up and THEN um <,> in the night <.>i there was mum at the end of the bed <[><.>l yeah <{><[>really? <[>i could still see her standing there <{1><[1>and i can remember saying i'm not ready to go yet <{2><[2><.>i <[1><.>well <[2>did you really <,> and did <.>you voc did you sort of sit up or <{><[><.>s get up or anything <.>just <[>no no i don't remember that i just remember her there <.>and and i said i'm not ready and then <,,> tut the next day <.>i i <.>think sometime i coughed up blood <{1><[1>and then of course that frightened me so voc we went to the doctor and i was just feeling absolutely dreadful <,,> went to the doctor and he said well go down to the x ray and have the x rays <&>2:00 taken and i went in and had my x rays taken and the <,> doctor in charge of the x ray came with my x ray and he said <,> YOU take these straight back to doctor charles NOW and i said oh well he didn't want to see them until monday or whatever he says no you take them back NOW you're not a very well person <{2><[2>so I took them back and then he um said oh i don't think i'll hospitalise you just go home and um <,> blah blah blah and come back and <{3><[3>eventually it came right <[1>mm <[2>word <[3>well do <.>you well do you remember what month of the year that was it was winter mm but i don't really remember no well <.>and when you saw mum did you er did you think of her or see her <.>as sort of <{><[><.>like <[>as i knew her? <.>no not as she was when she died when she was <.>like over the years we always knew her as you know as you know <.>s <{><[>rounded <.>and and that and she's more like that <[><.>but yeah no she was rounded <.>and and healthy <&>3:00 looking she <.>wasn't gee yeah as thin <{1><[1>or as sunken or anything as <.>she no she <{2><[2><.>just was mum as you'd <.>probably i mean when YOU think of mum what do you think of <[1><.>so yeah <[2>oh yeah <{1><[1><.>it it depends what <.>area <.>i i might if i'm thinking of a memory that depends when it WAS but yeah but no mostly i LIKE to think of mum sort of chubby and <{2><[2>smiling and that i mean in her last couple of years she was just SO thin <{3><[3>and so frail word yeah <[1>do you picture <.>her <[2>yeah <[3>see <.>i yeah of course she was and i can't remember <.>her what she was wearing that night i <{><[>just remember that she was just at the end of the bed <[>mm and did you speak it out loud you know <{><[>i'm not ready or was it <.>just yeah <[>i <.>don't <.>i whether that was in my mind or what i don't know but <.>i and did you actually have probably quite a high temperature oh yes so YOU sometimes when you read about things like this they'll say that because you've got a high temperature you're sort of hallucinating oh well <.>i i mean <{1><[1>that's very well what it could have been it <{2><[2>could have been that <{3><[3>or delirious or something but i <.>d um <[1>so i wonder if <.>it yeah <&>4:00 <[2>mm <[3><.>but but <.>it but i <{1><[1>like to just to think that <{2><[2>she came to see me <[1>mm <[2>that it <.>was yeah yeah i know that's what i would want to think it was so and did you see a ghost in your room or something yeah laughs i mean that was <.>just i've <.>tr have i told you this <{><[>story before i HAVE <[>no i <.>don't no you haven't and um WELL there were two things remember when um we changed the bedrooms into a sitting room mm tut well er er they were <.>th when the sitting room was <.>finished well just before we took our bed out of it and put it in the room across the hall well we were um tut just one night i just <.>s woke up and it was sort of moonlight and i <.>could i could see somebody standing at the end of the bed and i could see that it was blue and white striped pyjamas and BOTH robbie and his <.>father they both have the same colour pyjamas incidentally mum had bought them for robbie for <&>5:00 his birthday so it must have <.>been that was sort of winter too not that that's anything to do with it anyway i <.>said i looked at this figure and i said robbie what do you want and he didn't answer me and i said it again you know what's the trouble what do you want and so then i thought oh maybe it's not robbie maybe it's his father so i turned my head and saw his father was lying there asleep so i looked BACK at the figure and i said again robbie what do you want and he didn't answer me so i put my foot out to touch him to see why wouldn't this person answer and as i did that it just glided back and disappeared in the surround of the doorway <,> <{><[>and it was just so vivid <[>and you didn't <.>re you didn't <.>recognise you just saw pyjamas you didn't recognise the face? well it was <.>just it was a moonlight night and so the room was fairly bright but all i could see was the blue and white striped pyjamas and it was a tall person and at that stage robbie WOULD have been about fifteen or something so <&>6:00 he was as tall as his father but yes <.>i because you imagine a moonlight night but <{><[>it was partly dark just <[>mm did you feel frightened by it not at all not at all and that was just soon after we shifted into the new room so not like <.>our a different room which years ago had been the sitting room but tut when um tut i always used to <.>say when i told the family about it oh that <.>would that was probably the old grandfather coming just to <.>see er because we'd changed the place around a bit and just have a little look mm so who knows and did you see <.>it it again tut well what i saw and i now cannot remember which came first but a few i don't think there was a lot of time difference between it but one night i woke up and i was just lying in bed and i could see this orange ball of light next to me but up in the air a little bit and um tut anyway <.>just i was just like half asleep and i <&>7:00 <.>saw because it's an orange light it was <.>probab i just thought it was <.>like it might have been john's face and i sort of <.>w in my sort of sleepiness i just said oh what's wrong you know cos he was sitting up and then when didn't answer i sort of opened my eyes properly and saw it was a round ball of light probably smaller than a basketball bit smaller than that and <.>i i thought you know what's an orange light doing just floating there and i just lay there watching it and it just slowly um glided down to the floor and i sat up in bed to look over john to see if i could see it and it had gone now i didn't tell the family about i only told john about it i didn't tell my kids cos i didn't want THEM to be worried something was strange going on and so um tut about a week later i was tucking robbie up tut in his bed and he said mum a really strange thing happened last night he said i was lying here in bed in the middle of the night and i was <.>looking just looking towards the end of the bed and suddenly <&>8:00 there was an orange ball of light just floating in the air and he said i just lay there and it just suddenly just floated away <{><[><.>and <[>was he frightened by it no but it <.>must it must have been on his mind all day because <.>he <{1><[1>he didn't tell me until i'd tucked him up <{2><[2>that night <[1>word <[2>what age was he he <.>was it would be about fourteen or fifteen and THEN i said to HIM oh that's so strange because a few days ago i saw the same thing now several years later tut i picked up one of my books er cos i've got a lot of um nonfiction books and this particular one i just flicked it over and there it said <.>a <.>a a ball of energy an orange light and i thought OH that might be what happened i must read that and i put the book BACK at that stage and i was so busy doing other things at the time and i went to look for it a few months later and i looked in every book in the bookshelves and i can't find it but i definitely saw that heading so i <&>9:00 <.>think and i have heard VAGUE comments of other people that there is a sort of an orange <.>light an energy mm <.>like but i don't know anything about it because i haven't well there's <{><[><.>auras people have auras and things like that so <.>that er that didn't frighten you either that thing <[>read it mm yeah word NO it was just so strange but i didn't TELL the kids cos i didn't want THEM to be frightened and <.>there so it wasn't like robbie was saying it because he'd heard me talk <{><[>about it because i was very careful not to let them hear about it and so once he said it i told him what i'd seen too er so i don't know and i don't know where the ball of energy comes from or anything about it <[>yes oh well if you read it up i'd be interested to know more about it <.>did you didn't um tut what did <.>john's what was john's reaction to you seeing this figure <{><[>and word <[>the ghost <.>and well whenever we had visitors he wanted ME to tell them about the ghost that i saw so he didn't pooh pooh you no no which was good and over the <&>10:00 years um old auntie mary oh and auntie nancy too <.>w they were <.>b brought up in the house and um my aunties in <.>law there were <.>s quite a few things that happened in the house and yet THEIR father had the house built so it hasn't got any history that we DON'T know about but we used one day mum and dad were sitting <.>there nana and pop and it was easter and i think it <.>w er whether <.>th that was just before katrina's wedding i'm not sure but we were all sitting around the table and laughs <.>anyway yes cos it was patrick's birthday <.>so and that was just before katrina's <.>wedding and suddenly everybody at the table stopped and listened because we could hear <.>these sounded like running feet up the hall and patrick said oh there goes mum's ghosts again <.>and mum and dad heard it and it was just something all over the years i'd be standing at the bench baking or getting tea ready and everyone was at school or <&>11:00 out and i sometimes walked into the hall cos i heard like the running feet and i walked into the <.>hall i KNEW there was nothing there cos i was the only one home but i just wanted to look again now i don't hear <.>that i haven't heard that for several years but mum and dad that day actually heard it too <&>11:16