"Our Boss, 'E Gives Us Strawberries"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 287, 22 December 1944, Page 11

"Our Boss, 'E Gives Us Strawberries"

"T=, is bosses wot gives their ‘ell, an’ stauffs wot gives their bosses ditto. But our boss, ’e gives us strawberries, Every year, rhand abaht Christmastime, the gel wot brings us our mornin’ an’ arternoon tea brings us a saucerful of strawberries each. From the boss. There is nearly a ’undred of us. But we each gets a saucerful. Luvely strawberries they are. Strite from ’is garding. Me mouf waters w’en I thinks of them, _ Any day now the gel wot brings us our mornin’ an’ arternoon tea’ll be bringin’ us our strawberries. I remember ’ow surprised I was the first. time she brings them in. I was a new chum then. "’Ere," she says. "’Ere’s yer strawberries, Tommy." An’ she sets the bloomin’ saucerful in front of me. Blimey, I was that taken aback I didn’t know wot,ter say. I thinks she’s mikin gime of me.

"They’re from the boss," she says. "The stauff gets them every year. Didn’t ye know?" From the boss! A bleedin’ boss givin’ me strawberries! Cor! But there they was, starin’ me in the fice, a ’ole bloomin’ saucerful of them, strite from ’is garding. Luvely strawberries they were, glistinin’ wif freshness. Big, an’ rich, an’ juicy. a Me.mouf waters wen I thinks of them. There was. even icin’ sugar. j Cor! There is folks wot might say as ’ow our boss can afford ter give us strawberries, an’ that it ain’t any ’ardship on ’im ter do this every year, seein’ as ’ow ’e ’as a ruddy big garding. But ’ow many bosses wif gardings twice as big would do wot ’e does for their bleedin’ stauff? A proper gent, our boss is. A proper gent. Any day now the gel wot brings us our mornjn’ and arternoon tea’ll be bringin’ us our strawberries.

Tommy