The Ned Wood Archive

Sam

“I’d like to see Gene October with Decemberists.”   

“Or you could have had August Darnell or Imelda May. “ 

“Or June Carter.”  

“Or Avril Lavigne.”  

“Yeah, but October is more revolutionary. Fits Decembrists better.”

“Ooh, there ain’t no other way.   Baby, I was born this way”

“I saw Twiggy with the Trees back in the day.”

“Poly Styrene and The Plastic People of the Universe, if we’re going back in time.”

“Elbow with Knee Cap. Does that count?”

“Yeah we should allow that.”

“It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can.”

Matty is mixing it up in the recycling centre.  He cycles the teams round during the morning so that no-one has to stand in the full force of the sun for too long.  Six of the eight crews are more or less in shade, but the two at the farthest end of the centre are exposed now that the sun is getting higher and hotter.  So they get first break which is earlier than usual and when they come back they go in the shade, taking the places of the next team to go for a break.  When all the rest of the crews have had their break, Matty says sod it and lets the first team go for another break rather than have any crew fry on the exposed lines.

He’s also mixing up the bags they’re recycling.  At least, Sam thinks that must be what’s going on, because first thing this morning they went through a load of bags that were wet through.  These must have been from the Thursday morning pick when it was absolutely tipping it.  Then they had some good stuff, probably from Friday’s pick, then some much older stuff, maybe from even earlier in the week.  Sam looks over at the piles of bags stored waiting to be sorted.  A few of the professionals with orange bibs are sorting through this mountain, cherry picking the best bits for the volunteers to make sure they are entertained.  Matty tells them that progress is good, which is how he can afford to let them take the extra break this morning.  Then he warns them, with a smile on his face, that they’ll need to make it up on the Sunday.

When it’s the turn of his line to have a break, Sam finds out that it’s Tilly’s birthday.  Tilly – one of the Hebden crew.  Anne’s other half.  The one that’s with the tractors.  June 27th.  How come he didn’t already know that – they are always here on the 27th aren’t they and he’s been hanging round with the Hebden Girls for at least ten years.  Apparently this is a significant birthday, but she must celebrate insignificant birthdays too, surely?

Anne and Bill have cooked up a plan.  They want to get Tilly dressed up for the evening because, apparently, she never dresses up.  They’ve decided that they are all going to wear their best dresses to go the gigs that evening and if they do, Tilly will have to dress up as well.  Bill’s brought a dress with him and has promised to wear it.  Anne has too, which apparently is just as surprising.  They’re going to Thamesmen then Ellie Golding then Lyle Lovett and Sam can come too.  

Well, he’s definitely doing Lyle Lovett and probably Thamesmen, but they should have said earlier, because he left all of his best dresses at home.

No, that’s OK, says Anne.  See what you can do.