<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>0:44 well my parents were married fairly young in life and my father had come out from ireland at the age of about three with his parents and <&>1:00 they settled in ashburton and they farmed there yes i don't remember my grandparents they had died before i was born but in dad's family he had two brothers and two sisters mm and they lived with their parents in ashburton on this farm and then when the grandparents died the land was sold subdivided and there were houses built on all that land there now and my father with his two brothers started up a grocery business mm and that was in the family as kerr brothers for many many years was in the horse and cart days they had that grocer shop oh right <,,> um <.>di did you move at any stage <&>2:00 no we <,,> my parents had built a large home <,> in princess street in ashburton <{><[>on the land that had once been theirs farm land and <,> the two brothers also built houses along the same street <[>oh right mhm and so we grew up there <,> and <,> many years later we actually sold that house and built on another piece of land we owned on the opposite side of the road oh right and that was a more modern place and and my mother lived there till her death oh right um coughs how how old were your parents when you were born do you know no but they must have been getting on in years seeing i was the youngest of twelve <{><[>my father died <,> at the age of <,> sixty two i think he was when he died and i was just at primary school <[>mm <&>3:00 mhm and my mother <,> died oh so many years ago now when i was just twenty five then oh right tut so she actually had to manage on her own for a number of years <,,><&>4 very traumatic time because they were very close oh right <,,> and um <.>h what was your growing up like fun mm we were a big family so we we did lots of things together <,,> and we were we were lucky i suppose because er we were a caring family didn't have money worries <&>4:00 mm laughs and we had lots of people to our house visitors <,> and there's the the others voc i was lucky i suppose because lot of the others had left home when i was growing up so that <,> they probably had to do more work at home than i ever had to mm they helped look after me <,> and <.>the a lot of them had left home to to work in various places when i was growing up so life was very easy for me really oh right and um <,> did you have any set chores that you had to do any routines yes we all had our own jobs to do mine i hated it was a saturday morning job of cleaning all the brass laughs brass knobs we had in the house and a brass number plate we always had to shine we word cleaned on a <&>5:00 saturday and that was my job everybody else took turns but we <.>we we were lucky mum had a lady that came in to do the washing and she also had a lady that came to clean the house oh right and then somebody else we used to run along the road to <,> to a lady that took in ironing she used to do the ironing <{><[>for us <[>oh right so those chores were shared out mm it wasn't too bad <,> and i remember <.>we when we first got a washing machine one of the first to have a washing machine great big washing machines then wringer <{1><[1>they used to have wringers on the top and and everybody was quite happy to do the washing then auntie dora put her arm her hand <{2><[2>through the wringer word yes <[1>oh yes yes <[2>laughs did it get broken yes it certainly did did she get taken down the hospital <&>6:00 yes she certainly did ah laughs did she stay overnight word um i don't really remember i just remember the yelling laughs for mum to come quickly and <{><[>word <[>was it an automatic wringer yes well it was an a washing machine <{1><[1>and the where you'd had a special knob that you turned for the <{2><[2>wringer to work see once it <{3><[3>was turned on and nobody quite knew how the thing worked and all mum did was rush in and pull out the plug and it sort of stopped everything but with her hand in the wringer <[1>oh right <[2>oh right <[3>laughs oh it's a wonder she hasn't told you that tale mm and she's still got the scar on her hand no no it was very swollen for a long time as far as i remember and she did break some <.>bo bones <{><[>but obviously she hasn't had any deformity which was lucky <[>ah oh right <,,> um and did you have any other appliances like an oven or or things like that oh malcolm <&>7:00 <{1><[1>yes yes wasn't that yes we actually had a gas stove <{2><[2>and then i remember later getting an electric stove the gas stove was one with a destructor at the side and it heated up the water and it had the <{3><[3>always kept the kitchen lovely and warm <[1>laughs <[2>mm <[3>oh oh right you still see those destructors and things around in some of the flats probably oh right those stoves in flats in dunedin yeah <,> um <,> we had a it was a big house <,> a large kitchen <,> and a large dining area and lounge so <,> it wasn't too big a hassle with everybody around mm we ALways had enough room for other people to come and stay mm and as everyone got older we all took our friends home unexpectedly but <,> that didn't really seem to be a problem to mum there was always just enough food <{><[>for everyone <&>8:00 <[>oh right did did you um <,> grow any vegetables or <{><[>preserve <[>yes quite selfsufficient we had hens oh a number of our <{><[>family loved jolly hens that used to get out into the garden and wreck it sometimes <[>laughs laughs and we had we always grew our own vegetables potatoes and and the greens and had lots of fruit trees gooseberry bushes raspberry bushes oh so i suppose yes we were <.>s fairly selfsufficient never had to go out and word was it oh well that was always a mum and dad quite enjoyed doing that mm my growing up yes with dad he had had a <.>v heart condition for a few years and so he voc took semi retirement and he only went down to the shop when it suited him mm so i voc had him i spent a lot of time with him and we <{><[>used to often go out in the mornings especially school holiday time <[>mm how <{><[>how <[>he only had one arm so <{1><[1>he used to do the digging and and we used to pick up the <&>9:00 potatoes <{2><[2>and things for him <,> er but he and mum did everything together <,> and but seeing i was the youngest and there i got to share those things which were good <[1>oh right <[2>oh right oh right and how did he do his arm working <,> for a time at a bricklayer's place and i'm not quite sure how it happened but it WAS an accident <{><[>he'd gone there to help friends out i think they were actually a distant relation of ours <[>right mm and he met with an accident there and he lost his arm but it didn't stop him from serving in a shop wrapping up parcels <{><[>driving the car <,> he did everything <[>mm mm yes um one of the things he couldn't do was tie his tie no word or <,> sharpen the razor to have a shave um i remember dora always stood with him while he had his shave so she could sharpen the <{><[>razor and always saw to his tie <&>10:00 <[>laughs oh right and um and um was your father out working all the time did you see a lot of him or well he he WAS at the shop but as as i say when i was growing up he <,> took things much more easily and didn't go off to work as often <{1><[1>because he had had this heart condition <,> but he was very busy with local body things he was on the council <{2><[2>for many years and he did lots of voluntary work <,> so he he led a fairly busy life apart from the shop <[1>mm <[2>for years mhm but no he was home quite a lot as well and <.>w what did your mother do did she was <.>sh did she have any parttime work or no it wasn't heard of in those days for <&>11:00 women to have parttime work <,> except well we did have people that came to clean came to do the washing mm but they were actually workers <,> there were lots of people who did jobs like that um <,> mum did a lot of voluntary work especially with the church <,,> helped er with fund raising things and she always went to the things with dad <,,> they did they actually did everything together mm so she wasn't really a slave to the house but that was her job and she loved it mm and it was no problem she seemed to <.>alwa we always had knitted jerseys she sewed i don't know she found time for all those things when i think about it now but she she did do it without any effort did she make all your clothes well i can remember going to a dressmaker <&>12:00 having a few dresses special clothes made <{1><[1>they were mine but knitting things were knitted but again a lot all the family were taught how to knit <{2><[2>and sew so i think everyone sort of took a share and that as they grew up <[1>mm <[2>mm oh right <,,><&>3 and er who who cooked the meals and things like <{><[>that <[>well it was nearly always mum right but that was accepted but i also remember that my sisters everyone took a share in doing the dishes after tea <{><[>at night not during the day because everyone was out working <[>mm mm but at night um and certainly it was all geared round looking after dad mm as soon as he was coming in at night he had his own chair laughs and right here's dad and so out of that chair whoever was in it <{><[>they had to go so he had the best seat in front of the fire with the paper and slippers <[>laughs laughs and when i think about it now he was really <&>13:00 pampered right but nobody seemed to mind that that was the way mum was but he looked after her equally mm but her role was as a housewife i suppose you could say mm <,> and and how did you have your meals did you have them in the lounge or around a table oh a big big table it had two leafs that went in it leafs that went in the table and we could all sit round the table and did you all did who helped set it er <.>w anybody that was there set the table mm we did share things mm um never had a meal without saying grace mm never had a meal till everybody was sitting at the table mm er <,> and then <,> it was sort of free for all i suppose and everybody just got up and went and did their own things if they had anything on <,> <&>14:00 but we always had to be seated and always had to have grace <,> and then you could eat as eat what you wanted or as little as you liked you were free to do your own thing so long as dad always said there was somebody to help to do the dishes after tea oh right and were they big meals yes they were big meals well we had <,> ALways the meat and vegetables <,> potatoes that sort of thing and always pudding to follow i can still remember always a large bowl of soup vegetable soup as a rule to start in the winter time especially when you got home from from school voc always remember that loved it and a huge fire um so it was always homely <{><[>always warm and cosy <[>mm and um <,> just a little bit about your schooling how did you find the school hated it laughs i suppose also we weren't geared to education <,> <&>15:00 in a little town like ashburton there was the primary school there's secondary school but you didn't hear as many people going away to university and i suppose my parents especially my father was a a selfmade man mm he did well in business <&>15:24