Best wishes this holiday season, and may 2014 be the best yet, from Janey and Ashley
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Monday, December 23, 2013
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
A Christmas Shelter
"Mammy, look there's Santa" the wee girl said as she stared at the big tinsel dressed window. One mitten fell off her hand and she struggled between the leather clad shoes and big boots to pick it up, a red mitten trampled into the slush and snow, her wee white fingers snatched it up and shook it fiercely, 'don't let mammy know it's wet' she thought, mammy is sad today. Her mother was busy trying to push the big pram with William wrapped up inside, through the crushing city centre, full of people with boxes, and bags all getting ready for Christmas day. Wee Julia wanted to run up to Lewis's window and take in all the colours, look at the dancing toys, the Tippy Tumble dolls, the Hula Hoops the lights, but she knew her mammy was upset and in a hurry to go somewhere.
"Come on Julia" her mammy shouted as the wheels of the big pram slid and slipped through the dirty slushy snow that had been churned by the many Glaswegians who flocked to the city centre to get their shopping done. The lights in the city were fascinating to Julia, the red and green flashes glinting off the chrome suspension of the pram as she gripped on tight with a damp red mitten. "Where are we going mammy?" Julia asked...secretly hoping her mammy would say 'Santa, we are going to see him and let you sit on his knee and get William a big car and a doll for you' but she knew that wasn't what was happening.
Last week when her daddy never came home and the women up the same close gathered round and hugged mammy and made her tea, she knew something bad was happening. In her stomach there was that tight feeling, it was the same feeling when she wet the bed in the night, a slow scary feeling of life draining away. It was her 'daddy and the drinking' she heard Mrs Woods say so, and mammy just sat there with William on her knee. Mrs Woods let Julia into her house to see the American man land on the moon in the summer time, she was a nice woman who made big dumplings and gave them to mammy, now she was holding mammy as she cried. Maybe daddy wasn't coming home this time, he promised her a budgie from Santa. Would she still get a budgie?
"Can you move the pram please" an angry red faced woman shouted at Julia's mum as they tried to cross the road at the bottom of Argyle Street. Julia's mum grabbed her mitten hand and tried to get the big pram across the busy road but all the blankets and bags underneath and on top were making it hard to push in the snow. Julia was scared of the busy traffic.
After what felt like hours, they made their way right up into the West End of Glasgow with the snow slashing into them sideways. Julia vaguely recognised the streets, she remembered her Granny McClure lived up here, she was her daddy's mammy and had a big front door house with a garden. She was scared of her Granny McClure, she wasn't like Mrs Woods who hugged and kissed you and let you pet her wee dog Prince. Granny was skinny, angry and wore fancy shoes that made loud clacking noises on the tiled kitchen floor where she seemed to keep Julia and William sat when they came to visit. Julia hadn't seen the rest of the house but she knew it smelled of floor polish.
Julia's mum bumped the big pram up the five white washed stairs at the front of the house, the two white columns that stood either side of the broad mahogany door were entwined in thick vicious looking holly leaves and a tall tree twinkled in the big bay window. "Look mammy, a big tree!" Julia clapped her damp mittens in excitement, but her mammy was too busy trying to keep the bundles of clothes from falling out of the pram.
Julia bit on her wet mittens as she watched her mammy fix her brown coat and quickly drag a hair grip into the side of head where the brown curls escaped, her mammy had beautiful curly hair, but it looked messy and damp today.
Her mammy lifted the door knocker and rapped on the door. Julia felt scared, she didn't know why, but her mammy's nervousness was spreading to her, why was her mammy worried?
At that moment William screamed and tried to sit up, but the bundles of clothes seemed to be suffocating him. Julia's mammy quickly pulled them off the top of the pram and eased the fat faced baby up into a sitting position as the door was flung open wide.
A formidable thin woman in a pink two piece cardigan set and calf length tweed skirt stood staring at them. Her hair was set in tight curls and her glasses were perched on her sharp nose.
"You need to call me before you visit Eileen, I have the church ladies round for tea" the woman spoke with a hint of venom as she quickly looked over her shoulder and stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
"Donald has left me and the kids are hungry Elizabeth, he is your son and these are your own grand children, we have nowhere to go and he spent the last of his wages on the drink, we have been evicted" Julia's mammy said quickly but with more conviction Julia had ever seen her use when she spoke to Granny McClure. Julia stared up at her granny and smiled, she reached out one damp mitten, took the woman's hand and said "can I see your big tree Granny?"
The thin woman recoiled and shook off Julia's hand and hissed " You listen to me Eileen, I told him not to marry you and get involved in your drunken Irish family, this is not my problem, Donald is up in Inverness now staying with my sister, he deserves a better start in life, go back to Donegal and find your own kind" and with that she slammed the door.
Eileen, Julia and William walked through the streets of Glasgow until night time came. The Christmas lights twinkled down and the people spilled out of pubs and folk were heading home to their warm hearths. Julia watched her mammy make some phone calls from the big train station in Glasgow and finally sit down on the benches and wrap both her and William up in the blankets. Julia climbed into the pram with her brother and even though she was too big, they cuddled up together.
Eileen sat homeless and cold in Central Station that night, and as the Salvation Army played Christmas carols to the people thronging back and forth, she pulled her brown coat around her body and pulled out the dumplings wrapped in greaseproof paper to feed the kids in the pram.
"Excuse me, you can't sleep here with your pram missus" the policeman said. Eileen blinked and slowly pulled herself to her feet and quickly grabbed her bags "sorry sir" she muttered and pushed the pram back out of the cavernous train station and its shelter from the driving snow.
"Hang on" he said as she tried hard to stop the pram from slipping from her grip into the main road.
Eileen didn't want to hang on, she knew full well a homeless Irish woman with two kids would only get the authorities onto her case and take her precious babies away. She skittered and slipped and tried to make off with as much grace and speed with a lumbering pram. The police man put his hand on her shoulder and Eileen froze, she wept silently and turned to face him.
The next thing Julia recalled she was in a bus in the early frozen morning light. She must have slept all night in the pram.
"Where are we mammy?" she asked as the bus bumped along and cut through the frozen countryside. Julia sat up and looked hard for red mittens in her wee duffel coat. William was sitting on her mammy's lap and eating a big slice of cold ham. Her mammy's face wasn't as tight and pinched, in fact her mammy looked happy for the first time in ages and was smiling at Julia. "We will be going on a big boat to Ireland and you are going to meet your Granny Coyle, she will be so happy to see you both."
"Does she have a big tree like Granny McClure?" Julia asked.
Her mammy smiled and hugged her close, she put William over her shoulder and patted his back and stared across the snow covered fields near the ferry terminal.
It was a frozen night in Glasgow on December 2013, the young woman with brown curly hair pulled on her red mittens as she wrapped a big coat round her and crunched into the frozen snow and headed towards the West End. Her friends waved her off and made promises to meet up later at The University Cafe on the Byres Road. The snow came at her sideways but her strong legs kept her going.
She walked up to the big brown door and smiled at the glittering tinsel covering the white portico and heard footsteps in the hallway as she banged on the door knocker. It was all newly painted, just renovated and ready for the coldest season.
A wee elderly woman with curly hair and soft round cheeks opened the door holding a plate of steaming dumpling.
"Granny Eileen, am here to help out." The young woman said as her granny pulled her in the warm hallway "We've got a full house tonight Maggie, lots of people needing a hot meal and a warm bed." the old woman said indicating the bustling sitting room and crowded dining room either side of her.
"Can I see the big tree first Granny?" Young Maggie asked, her face lighting up just as her mothers had done all those years ago, her Mitten covered had reaching out to her hard working Grandmother.
"Through in the big room, I've left the angel for you... away up that ladder and stick it on." Eileen said smiling, as she watched her tall granddaughter bounce, all long limbs and a daft grin, through the crowd of strangers to put the angel on the top of the tree.
Eileen turned wistfully to a brass plaque and pulled a duster from the waist of her apron, she rubbed the lettering carefully and couldn't help the small devious chuckle that emitted from her lips:
The Elizabeth McClure Homeless shelter, in honour of a Christian woman
"Merry Christmas you old cow." Eileen uttered before clearing her throat and turning back to her house full of 'guests' "Right who wants dumplings?" she called before heading back to the kitchen.
So thanks for reading, if you want follow me on twitter @JaneyGodley for updates and daily shenanigans.
Please help the homeless this Christmas, many children in Glasgow spend the season in temporary accommodation, click the link and help them this year http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/
Friday, December 28, 2012
Janey Godley’s Podcast Episode 128
(Please
be aware that this Podcast Contains strong language)
In episode 128 of Janey Godley's podcast, in this
end of year edition the mother and daughter comedy duo give us a rundown of
2012. The Olympics, the Jubilee, the big news stories and enduring memories get
aired, and Ashley tells the full on true story of her favourite school trip to
Greece when she was 18 years old.
Janey gives us a short review of the latest movies
released and Ashley tells us her 2012 TV highlights. Janey's gas & wind
seems to be a domestic problem, Ashley pleads for medical help.
.
Mother and Daughter comedy team get to natter and
the world gets to hear it on Janey Godley’s podcasts, expect some bawdy language
and home truths, as Janey Godley and Ashley Storrie lead you down the roads
less taken in their fantastic weekly podcast. Listen as mother and daughter
banter, bait and burst with laughter.
If you would like to support our podcast then please
do so by clicking onto Our Donate Page
and donate via PayPal.
Click
here
to see the art of Hannah Stone
I hope you enjoy our Podcasts it would be great if
you would pass it on, thanks Janey Godley & Ashley Storrie.
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Woman on the Street
My mum and dad had just split up and it was rough
going, the bedroom was chittering cold and my mum was deeply depressed, swaying
between bitter rages and horrible weeping. I was 13 years old and didn't know
how to cope. My big brother was worried as well, but at a loss as what to do,
we were just kids.
I provided lots of hot mugs of tea as she sang Patsy
Cline in an angry spitting voice. Passive/aggressive singing is something all
the women in her circle were very good at, you haven't experienced rage till
you have heard a Carpenters song screamed into your face at full beer breathe
volume.
Mum was busy shouting at the Morecambe and Wise
Christmas special "Stupid English bastards dancing with that poof Nureyev,
this isn't even funny" proving she could be racist and homophobic it one
sentence.
"Janey, black up and climb over the school yard
wall and steal some coal, that bastard Janitor sells it, we may as well steal
it, am freezing" she said. So I did. I put my hand up the chimney,
blackened my face....did an Al Jolson song (it was the 70s my mammy needed a
laugh) and went off stealing a bag of coal from the stockpile in the school
yard down the road.
I felt like
the man from the Black Magic chocolate advert, all black and climbing over
walls and being creepy.
I was headed home when I saw a woman sitting on the
snow in the street. It was disconcerting, what was she doing? Did she fall? I
got closer, put down my bag, pulled off my woollen hat and offered her my hand.
"Excuse me, you ok?" I said and she looked
up at me and of course what she saw a small child with a blackened face and
ragged clothes, carrying a sack of coal.
"ARRGGHHHH" she screamed and got up,
drunkenly falling about and ran through the snow screaming "It's a wee
black ghost, a wee dark ghost, it a wee black dead wean"
I just stood there and watched her stagger about
running...she fell over and panicked, screaming, clawing at the snow and
finally she got up and wobbled off. I waited ages watching her making her way
up the street, people were staring at her.
Finally, I picked up my coal bag & I headed off
home. We had soup for Christmas dinner and at least we would now have a fire
and if my dad popped by with some cash (which I knew he would) we could have a
good Boxing Day supper and maybe mammy would sing a song without the tears
getting in the way.
So thanks for reading, if you want follow me on
twitter @JaneyGodley for updates.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Janey Godley’s Podcast Episode 127
(Please
be aware that this Podcast Contains strong language)
In episode 127 of Janey Godley's podcast the comedy
mother and daughter duo let rip about the Westboro Baptist Church, Sandy Hook
shootings and chemical castration.
There are very divided views this week, Ashley gives
us some interesting Christmas stories and Janey sings badly. According to the
Mayan's it's the end of the world, so the duo give you their plans for the end
of days.
Mother and Daughter comedy team get to natter and
the world gets to hear it on Janey Godley’s podcasts, expect some bawdy
language and home truths, as Janey Godley and Ashley Storrie lead you down the
roads less taken in their fantastic weekly podcast. Listen as mother and
daughter banter, bait and burst with laughter.
If you would like to support our podcast then please
do so by clicking onto Our Donate Page
and donate via PayPal.
Click
here
to see the art of Hannah Stone
I hope you enjoy our Podcasts it would be great if
you would pass it on, thanks Janey Godley & Ashley Storrie.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Janey Godley’s Podcast Episode 76
(Please be aware that this Podcast Contains strong language)
In episode 76 of Janey Godley’s podcast the comedy duo
tackle The Krankie’s penchant for swinging, Christmas songs and Ashley
appearance on BBC 3 this week. Janey talks about her recent visit to
Easterhouse in Glasgow and Ashley fears Terence the pillow will come to life.
Janey has a rant about foreign aid and poverty and Ashley is
horrified at her mother’s lack of passion over racism in football. The chatty
duo gives us some off key singing and some fun facts from around the globe.
Merry Christmas.
Mother and Daughter comedy team get to natter and the world
gets to hear it on Janey Godley’s podcasts, expect some bawdy language and home
truths, as Janey Godley and Ashley Storrie lead you down the roads less taken
in their fantastic weekly podcast. Listen as mother and daughter banter, bait
and burst with laughter.
Please do listen and comment on the Janey Godley Podcast at:
Episode
76
Order “Handstands in the Dark” Paper
Back or in EBook
If you would like to support this podcast then please do so
by clicking onto Our PodOmatic page
and donating via the PayPal link on the right hand side of the page.
You can find all the info regarding Janey’s live shows by
just clicking Gigs!
I hope you enjoy our Podcasts it would be great if you would
pass it on, thanks Janey Godley & Ashley Storrie.
Monday, December 07, 2009
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