Mostly as a young 'sprog' at work in my teens I remember those stupid "long weight" jokes (or worse, like a handfull of moly-grease shoved down your shorts, or 'engineers' blue' on your lathe- controls), so beloved by the older workers. One that sticks in my mind- in my 3rd or 4th year they started a new apprentice- this boy was 15, a true 'cockney' from that small area close to Bow in East London. He was sent to the local Engineers store early one morning to buy a "new bubble for a spirit-level". He returned very late afternoon, within minutes of clocking-off time. The Foreman went ape. "Where the bleedin' 'ell you bin all day?!" The little 'cockney-sparrer' then reeled off an enormous list of all the shops he'd been to searching for the elusive bubble. (Actually, he'd been to an all-day cartoon cinema, the crafty sod.) The biter got bit!
Alan
