Tourist in Wonderland wrote:
alec wrote:
Reminds me of this for some reason
...
https://youtu.be/UBVvy33m2doAnother 'bygone-era' alec, the era of the rag and bone man and horse and cart. I remember them quite clearly from the mid-60s, right through the '70s and we would see them regularly....That video with the Madness song is clearly the 1970's and shows what a different world it was back then...and that lovely horse, you could see how proud it was (and maybe slightly relieved

) trotting back to the yard

...probably one of the reasons I love 'Steptoe and Son' so much.
Yeah, that geezers wearing some really pukka threads..cushty!
What you've laid out here goes well with the lyrics, just found 'em ... with a bit of explanatory info ...
A brown fedora on the side of his head
And interesting metals brass, copper and lead
Colombian cigar, always on the go
He scoured the streets, high and low
Pushing his cart sometimes 15 mile a day
Round Kentish Town up Highgate way
Woah Woah he calls, ringing an old school bell
But the words he’s shouting, nobody can tell
Lucky his terrier, like a figurehead
Up the front of the cart, red hanky round her head
As Alf sails his ship of precious goods,
Up hill and dale through your neighbourhood
Anything unwanted, almost anything will do
But if it’s a nice piece, you might get a cigar too.
Woah woah, ding ding, he’s coming up your road
The cart loaded with everything from chairs to an old commode
With a nice bit of spode
A radiator ascot, he’ll take the awkward things.
A bucket, an easel, a set of gas rings
Rusty lawnmower, a pair of bulls horns,
Then he’s off down the scrap yard to make a bit of corn
He knows all your business
Everything you do
Who’s going where
And who’s seeing who
Who’s not well
Everyone’s afflictions
He knows more than the council about the parking restrictions
Spends ever day pounding the street
In the freezing cold and the baking heat
The only time off, he ever sees,
Is when he’s down at Newmarket betting on the GG’s
He looked like an OX,
Skipped like a flea
He pushed that old cart like a busy bumble bee
But now he’s gone
I swear I still can.
Hear the ghost of the last rag and bone man
But now he’s gone
I swear I still can.
Hear the ghost of the last rag and bone man
The last rag and bone man
The very last rag and bone man
*Spode is a type of English pottery.
Camden Rag and Bond Man Passes Away (From MIS 430 – 2007)
During his ‘Disappearing London’ show, Suggs highlighted the small number of rag and bone men still left in London, and he spoke at the time with local Camden character Alf, about his life and the job.
Sadly, this week Alf lost his recent battle with cancer.
Source:
https://tinyurl.com/y52fl4msAnd with "pukka" and 'cushty' I know I've heard them before. The first time that I remember looking up the word or that I heard or read 'pukka' was in Keith Richards' book, from a few years back.
Keith was describing driving around West Wittering looking for a particular home he wanted until, after taking the wrong turn, he came upon the house he fell in love with, Redlands. The owner was quite friendly and, as Keith put it, quite 'pukka.'
With 'custy' I figured it was something from India, a Hindi or Urdu word or a Pakistani word but, no, it is a Romani word and, of course, many Romani words come from India anyway.
From the Wikipedia entry ...
Bar - 'stone' in Romani, but colloquially used to mean a pound coin
Chav - a member of a youth subculture (from
cha = "child")[1]
Chor - to steal, from the Romani word meaning the same
Cosh - a weapon, truncheon, baton (from the Romani word
cosht = "stick")
Cove (from the Romani word
kova or
cova, meaning "that person") - British-English colloquial term meaning a person or chap
Cushty - good (from the Romani word
kusht or kushti)
Cushy - easy, good, fine (from the Romani word
kusht or
kushti)
Dinlo - idiot (either from the Romani word
dilo meaning "fool", or dinilo meaning "crazy")
drag - to wear clothing carrying symbolic significance commonly associated with the opposite gender (possibly from
indraka = "dress")
drag - a car, to race a car as in drag racing
Gadge - man or bloke, sometimes a dodgy, unpleasant or suspicious man. (Often Scottish slang.) From the Romani word
"Gadjo" meaning non-Romani.
Gadjo or
Gadjie - a non-Romani
Jell - to go, from the Romani word jall
Lollipop - a type of candy, from the Romani
"loli phabai", meaning red apple
Moosh - colloquial meaning a man, a bloke, from Romani
moosh meaning man.
Mullered - colloquial, from the Romani
muller meaning dead or killed.
Nark - a police informer (from
nāk, nose)
Pal - a friend, from the Romani word
phral, meaning "brother"
Ratley - a female, from the Romani word
"rakli" meaning the same
Romanipen - the spirit of being Romani, "Romani-ness"
Shiv - an improvised knife or similar weapon (possibly from
chivomengro = "knife")
Skip (waste-collecting container like on building sites) - from Romani word
skip meaning basket
Togs - clothes (colloquial) from the Romani word
togs meaning clothes