SOLO London Labour Volume III -ans

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » November 28th, 2020, 6:12 am

Gill,
Section 30 PL okay.

I liked the affection and care of the man with his stilt-walking and tight-roping daughters and wife.

Peter

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » November 28th, 2020, 12:34 pm

Section 31:

Only one little correction to make.
1702 I whistle their music, ... and then gradually dies away in the distance. I think you read "suddenly" instead of "gradually".

You maintained your accent very well; much better than I could manage.

Peter

GillH · Post by **GillH** » November 28th, 2020, 5:02 pm

Thanks, Peter.
It's so funny: I must have read that sentence at least ten times and did think "suddenly" was rather odd. It must be a bit like snow-blindness" and one of the reasons we need proof listeners!

Edited Section 31 (31:58)
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_31_mayhew_128kb.mp3

Section 32 with the Irish accent in particular took a while! - although definitely not as long as Section 33 to come ...
I think I take this whole thing too seriously!

I try to just use my normal accent when possible, but Mayhew has often written the interviews in such a way that it would sound even odder to say it as written with a UK accent.

GillH · Post by **GillH** » November 29th, 2020, 8:45 am

Section 33 (39:45)
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_33_mayhew_128kb.mp3

The English Street Bands; The German Street Bands; Of the Bagpipe Players; Scotch Piper and Dancing-Girl
(Pages 163 - 168)

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » November 29th, 2020, 11:21 am

Edited section 31 is now PL okay.

It's funny how the brain plays tricks on us. Your trouble with "suddenly" and "gradually" sounds a little like "target fixation", where you're concentrating so hard on something you think is important that you miss something even more important which you'd relegated to the background. Oddly, I've bumped into a three different references to target fixation in the last few days, after never having heard of it before.

Peter

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » November 29th, 2020, 1:53 pm

Gill,
I've marked Section 32 as PL okay.

I only noticed one error, which can probably be left, but which you may want to correct:

25.26 Through Marylebone is our best round, and Saturday night our best time. It sounds to me as if you've said "Though" instead of "Through."

Peter

GillH · Post by **GillH** » November 29th, 2020, 3:55 pm

Thanks, Peter. Yes, I was wondering if that were a misprint. Both make sense. I've changed it back.

Edited Section 32 (30:05)
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_32_mayhew_128kb.mp3

GillH · Post by **GillH** » November 30th, 2020, 1:50 am

I'm heading home on Friday (DV) to quarantine and then hopefully Christmas with five other people from two other households of my family

(conforming to the regulations!) so I'll have plenty of time to record etc. when I'm stuck inside, but probably won't have time to do anything before Saturday. That should give you a bit of a rest!

Having said that, Section 34 is almost ready. I can't find the vineyard he talks about so I've done the most probable ( a question of silent letters or not). The other thing is that he misunderstood the interviewee and wrote of a song supposedly called "Loch Harbour no more" which must be "Lochaber no more". I feel obliged by the rules of Librivox to keep it as such but I might add a reader's note.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » December 2nd, 2020, 2:49 am

Edited section 32 ("through Marylebone") PL okay.

Easy to mistake "Lochaber" for "Loch Harbour"!

I should have section 33 done later today. Have a lovely Christmas. I think I'll get out on Christmas Day to feed my local squirrels a treat of almonds, instead of peanuts.

Peter

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » December 2nd, 2020, 3:37 pm

Section 33 PL okay.
Peter

GillH · Post by **GillH** » December 3rd, 2020, 6:27 am

Section 34 (35:46)

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_34_mayhew_128kb.mp3

Street Musicians Part 3: Another Bagpipe Player; French Hurdy-gurdy Player, with Dancing Children
(pages 168 - 174).

Thanks, Peter! Just about to print my boarding passes. I hope you have a truly blessed Christmas (despite the current situation etc. etc.).

If you really want to give the squirrels a treat, apparently walnuts are their favourite!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » December 5th, 2020, 2:54 pm

Section 34 is PL okay.

Have a lovely Christmas, yourself. I've bought some walnuts for the squirrels on Christmas Day. Thanks for the suggestion.

Peter

GillH · Post by **GillH** » December 9th, 2020, 6:28 am

Section 35: (43:39)
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_35_mayhew_128kb.mp3

Street Musicians Part 4:
Poor Harp Player; Organ Man, with Flute Harmonicon Organ; Italian Pipers and Clarionet Players
(pages 174 - 179)

I love how so many of the stories and experiences become intermingled.

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » December 11th, 2020, 5:27 am

Section 35 PL okay.

I remembered recording a little "upcoming projects" snippet about volume one for a podcast long ago (December 2016) which mentioned this harp player (probably this one; surely there can't be two half-witted harp players in the book!). I couldn't find the reference when I went to look in the book itself, but after a bit of searching, found the following note in the introduction to a "selected edition" edited by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst:

The impact of his work was immediate. When it came to the saddest cases, he also raised money. Donations totalling £2 10s were forwarded to "the poor half-witted and very persecuted harp-player" whose handwritten sign explained that "from the delapedated [sic.] condition of my present instrument I only produce ridicule"; it was enough to buy him a new harp.

You're right, it's coloured wonderfully by the biographies of his interviewees. He did so much good ... and his work must have influenced his friend Charles Dickens.

Peter

GillH · Post by **GillH** » December 11th, 2020, 12:23 pm

That's so good. My immediate response there was to defend him: "He's not half-witted!" lol

Section 36: (37:19)

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/londonlabour3_36_mayhew_128kb.mp3

Street Musicians 5: Italian with Monkey; The Dancing Dogs; Concertina Player on the Steamboats

Warning - I'm pretty sure I've left in a repetition but I couldn't find it.
Warning 2 - terrible 'Italian' accents... again!