W is for West Yorkshire

 

I was born and raised in Leeds, which whilst not the county town of West Yorkshire, it is nevertheless the major city. It sits at the heart of what used to be the heavy engineering sector, where huge factories supplied the textile, mining and automotive industries.

During a lifetime of travelling, I obviously got to know my home area like the back of my hand. The air was permeated with the tang of fumes from the foundries and glassworks, lorries clogged the roads and the motorway network, bringing in the raw materials, taking out the finished products

Then there were the people.

They’re honest, speak as you find, folk. Hard working and hard playing men and women who really don’t give a hoot what other people think of them. Amongst them, you’ll also find the biggest, most bad-tempered whining old gits it could ever be your misfortune to meet… and Joe Murray is only one of them.

He’s broadly based on a man I met who, like Joe, ran a trucker’s café smack in the middle of a large industrial area. Rumour had it he was making money hand over fist, and yet his demeanour was never better than sour. He was rude with his customers, curt with his crew, and you felt as if he was offering you heaven on a bun when he threw a sausage butty at you.

When you got to the front of the queue, there was no, “how may I help you?” (Thank God).  Instead it was, “Whaddya want?” or “Stop buggering about and make your mind up.”

A classic from West Yorkshire.

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The Filey Connection, first of the Sanford 3rd Age Club Mysteries, from Crooked {Cat} Books is available for the Kindle from Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide and in all other formats from Smashwords