On the Leeds & Liverpool


Young lads being catapulted towards Clitheroe

In seldom reported boating accidents

Of mills and warehouses being burned to the ground

Never in a million years were they insurance jobs

One of them never burned down you know

It was on a hill away from canal

 

Our Albert used to love these trips 

I have not seem much of him recently down butchers

That is because he is dead 

Oh I am so sorry I am really sorry so is George 

You are sorry George 

I never knew the chap but if you say I am sorry then I suppose I am 

It has been a long time Elsie 

He died at 1940 

Was he killed in action 

No he fell into the canal not far from here 

Pissed as a newt they say but I knew him better

He never touched a drop when I was around 

The funeral is on Tuesday

Albert always loved Tuesdays 

He liked Wednesdays but preferred Tuesdays

I like Saturdays so I watch the Rovers 

Nobody asked for your opinion George 

Reality is a necessity my dear

Come again 

It was nothing just look at those silly ducks

I think that the captain of this barge is rather rude 

Ricky

Yes

Cecil’s youngest

He has never been the same since his Tracey went to university

If you say so 

Jo thinks that he wants us to fall into the gap or into canal

And remember our Pat came from Wigan 

It is not just a town of pies

He has rather insulted her memory 

She is still alive Sue and works in Smiths 

Look at them 

Look at who 

Those two at the front

Proper Southerners 

That is not a crime Nora 

People have to live in the south

It is so easy for them to look chic and beautiful 

Never done a hard days graft in their lives 

They will probably buy a second home in Skipton and only visit it twice a year

So what 

It is plain wrong look at her with her golden mane and those beautiful features 

Not all of us were born pretty 

She is not pretty but timelessly beautiful Nora 

I used to be pretty when I were a lass 

Pretty awful your dad said 

And him with his arrogant manner 

Knows everything he does 

My father and his father and his fathers father were down the mines at fifteen 

Diseased at forty and dead at sixty I bet that has never crossed his mind 

He might be a poet 

Come again Jim 

I said that he might be poet 

He certainly looks soft enough to be one 

There look he buying that yellow bucket from our Lucy 

He must be poet then 

Looks a bit like Fred Trueman if you ask me 

Fred had dark hair Mary

No his features are northern like yours 

A minute ago you were saying that they were southerners 

He might have had folk in the north

 

 

 

Will and Jane took a barge trip on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal on the 19th of September 2021