Rings and Tins and Things.........
Water notes and snap notes
Soluble oil and sticking floats.
Busted bagging
Shearer cowl snagging.
Mid face lockouts
Chargie's demanding shouts.
Ripping lips'
Shearer haulage trips.
Rings
And tins and things.
Man riding belts
Knee pad straps causing painful welts.
Childish japes,
Rippers just like apes.
Fill off and get off,
The old collier's cough.
Wet, dark winter shifts
Bouncing headlong down the drifts.
Banking to sunshine
Cheating curly faceline.
Thurling through
Christmas Club Do.
Waistcoat pocket and crocodile props,
Cloddie roof and sticky tops.
Bag upon bag of white stone dust
Tensioners held fast with months of rust.
Broken chains
Bulging veins.
Swilleys and step-downs,
Smartarse clowns.
Pit checks and spanners,
Chisels and hammers.
Bolts with no threads on,
Mates to rely upon.
Saturdays and Sundays
Early dayshift on Mondays.
Coal in my ears
Polar Ajax tears.
Canteen pies
Management lies.
Curly boots
Blocked up chutes.
A tight fitting bearing
Managers swearing.
New boots and kneepads
Cheeky young timber lads.
Fifty-ton air doors, on your own.
Floors to roof nearly blown.
Paddy that's late.
Thin seams with weight.
Miles to walk,
Intellectual talk.
Educated deputies so polite
Meet a director, such a delight.
Flooded stable holes
Hardworking Poles.
Mining college exams.
Leaking rams.
Blackened nail,
Results say fail.
Shearer not hauling.
The fear of falling.
Mid face bladder pressure,
Self-rescuer refresher.
P.H.B. soap,
The time office dope.
Last cig before descending
First cig at the ending.
Dripping on bread
Or ham instead.
One in one drifts
Working three shifts.
THESE once were a few of my favourite things.
Union meetings at the Stute
Vote for action, pay dispute.
Union president stood to shout
Three strikes done and now I'm out !!
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