I came home from Borstal Concrete Construction was big in the USA but not so much here in the UK, I was to qualified, when I went for jobs they never even knew a City and Guilds existed for concreting, no wonder things are how they are, I was over qualified.
I had a friend from Borstal who lived in Handsworth and I went to visit him and we went the pubs and clubs we went to one bar in Handsworth which was totally dreadlocks, we were the only two white guys in there, the only other whites were women, things were cool but there is always that feeling when you’re the minority.
I have been in a predominantly Pakistani pub in Coventry in the past with Merlin, I do know that racism exists among all colour and races, however we can only beat it by facing it, never be captive to fear or you lose.
I still get down with them regardless unless danger is evident and then it is time to leave, just like the game, you gota know when to hold um and know when to fold um, know when to walk away, and when to run, I gained respect and friends.
I went to visit Ethel she had been spilt with her ex again, this was only a visit and one of my dreadlock friends had come to see me, I told her I would bring him over with me, she nearly messed herself, I had no idea what the problem was later when he had gone she said he was so scary, she didn’t feel safe, I suppose he would come over in that way but he was a Rastafarian after all. Rastafarians can often be recognised from the way they style their hair.
Rastafarians grow their hair long, before coiling it into dreadlocks. The wearing of hair in dreadlocks is believed to be spiritual; this is justified in the Bible: They shall not make baldness upon their head.
So many people have been killed over religion, I believe that so long as the beliefs of people respect the rights that we all share, and do not infringe on them, and uphold the law then what’s the problem? Killing is a crime and to do so because they believe different or are a different colour does not justify it.
He was judged by how he looked and yes if you messed with him he would rightfully defend himself but otherwise he was harmless.
I ended up back with Ethel I was an idiot she really was not a person to be involved with, the kids were thrilled I was back and they were a big part of me staying, someone needed to stand for them.
We went on for many years to come and then we decided to get married, the kids decided of their own accord to call me dad; this was an honour for me the lad wanted my last name and he asked his mum who took him to the solicitors and changed his last name to Evans.
They had not been treated very well by their real dad or there step dad this was from their own mouths, to them I was there dad, and I did my best to live up to that, I was always there for them.
My life of roaming was over; I now had a woman and two kids to support I was never afraid of work and that was now my priority, I was not long from Borstal but I had my City and Guilds for concrete construction which made me over qualified for building sites in Coventry, they had never heard of any qualifications for concreting, in fact I got laughed off some sites.
However I could lay concrete as good as the best of them because I had done hands on, I had laid granite floor for a dairy farm in there milking shed, I could use a weigh batcher do a slump test and compression test I could also build a manhole, do scaffolding, render a wall, all of which was hands on, my experience not only covered concrete.
To cut a long story short I ended up doing a variety of work I did the concrete panels for Batley garages taking them out of the moulds which totally blistered my hands but I would just go and pee on them this eventually hardened them. The acid in your pee helps dry the blister quicker, and the sooner your blister dries up the sooner it will heal and close the wound.
I worked in a brickyard making bricks, scraping the floor in the kilns, setting the bricks and firing them up I was use to rough and ready work, health and safety was much different back then we would scoop a mug of tea out of a big tin bucket while being covered in dust through to my skin, a cold beer would go down well except our beer was warm in them days, but it still wet the whistle. I also got work painting the Dunlop factory.
These were all steps to progress I would always move on in search of better pay and better prospects, expanding my skills, and so I went into factory work and did compression moulding at Courtaulds, injection moulding at Litholite in Leicester.
I was not one for the pubs but I would sometimes stop and have a pint on my way home, work was not over at the end of the day, I would go home and work in the house, there was always something that needed doing.
We would sometimes go out but it would mainly be to family functions she didn’t drink in general which meant I could have a drink and she would drive, that was probably the best part of the relationship, she was a very complicated woman and would cause arguments like no- one could ever imagine, however I do not intend to speak bad of anyone.
We went out to Birmingham one day and went for a drink in a pub when some big Jamaican guy came over to our table and said to me are you the one they call Cowboy, she instantly said no, that was the only time I ever saw her show any concern for me, he just grunted and walked away, I said nothing but I think I was the cowboy he was looking for.
I still enjoyed my music and so did my wife and we would dance at family functions but on odd occasions I went to the Red House Pub which was predominantly Reggae music and I would get down with it, this would mainly be when things were rough at home, we argued over the kids a lot because I believe a home is to be lived in and kids have the right to be kids, but she would fight over anything, even when my sisters visited from the States and I would go for a get together she even came on one occasion and was always made welcome and yet she would pick a fight later.
She was very fiery and would throw whatever came to hand, she even threw a house brick at me, I never retaliated the only thing was hold her by the shoulders and sit her down.
I would let my hair down and chill out for a few hours and on this occasion a band was on and it was not a reggae night, they were looking for singers and I was bet a pint to sing I took the bet and I got up, my favourite song at that time was the wonder of you by Elvis Presley, although it may not get them dancing it meant a lot to me plus it was the only one I knew all the words to, and so I rose up and walked to the stage and then when the band started I forgot the words, I still got the pint for embarrassing myself.
This is a brief insight the rest of my varied work life and experiences.
I worked at Triumph Motorcycles machining the cylinder heads I also took part in the conversion of the 750 Bonneville for Her Majesty the Queens Silver Jubilee in 1977.
I was told that at lunch times the Sportsman’s pub had a stripper performing and a couple of lads were going up there and if I wanted to go, I said yes, I found her performance interesting, it was an eye opener but nothing to get excited about, that stuff just has no attraction to me, I only went the once.
Having a drink at lunch time was normal back then and acceptable.
Triumph Motorcycles closed, and I went to work at Triumph Cars where I started as a material handler at Tile Hill on the night shift we use to pop out to the Bell Pub for a pint on our lunch break.
When it was Christmas time I was taking my wife and sister in law shopping, but first I had to call into the plant to pick up my wages it was snowing, I was driving a Vauxhall Victor 101, when we got in the car park I went and got my wages then when I got to my car it would only go in reverse, whatever gear I put it in it only went backwards…
I said I would take us home in reverse, as I started going backwards the ladies started to panic and so we had to get a taxi this meant I would have to leave the car in the car park for the Christmas period.
We got into town and we were walking by the market, some kids above in the Market car park had rolled a huge snowball and rolled it over the edge it smashed right next to my wife, sadly they just missed their target but to see her jump out her skin which made my day, it was funny.
I had applied for the job of material handler with the intention to progress, for me it was a way to get my foot in the door and then to move up, I applied and got a job at Canley on the TR7 I also worked on the Spitfire and Dolomite, I was not one for just doing repetitive work so I was a float which meant I covered absentees, so I was always doing a different job, when not doing that I would be on rectification, my knowledge and experience grew as I learnt many jobs and skills.
Triumph Cars also shut down and I watched the last TR7 roll off the line.