A sei in the day's paper there's a story aboot Ian Landles retirin' frae Hawick High Schuil. A was hink'in aboot that an' it hit es twae ways.
Firstly hei disni look auld enough to be retirin', even at that early age. An' on the other hand, hei's been there forever. In't eet funny how teachers seem that way. An' when A read Jock Houston was his teacher, well how auld must hei be? (sorry Joc
k, ee were ma teacher ana, an' a'm barely auld enough ti hev hed Ian Landles).
A was aboot ti write aboot the different teachers A hed at the schuil when A realised a didni ken a' their right names. Maist o' thum seem ti hev hed nicknames, an' no very complimentary yins either. So A'll no gaun there.
Seeven thoosant, five hunder pupils hei's hed throw his clesses? Mun, that's a fair chunk o' oor community. Nae doobt there'll be a grand representation o' society amongst thame that hei hed, fri frameworkers ti fermers, darners ti doctors, collar binders ti Cornets, an' everyhing' atween. It must be grand ti sei how yer ex-pupils er gittin' oan. An' the opposite wull be true ana. A hink oo a' mind twae types o' teachers amongst the mony oo hev when oo gaun throw schuil. Oor favourite yins and oor least favourite yins. The yins that were neither yin nor the other juist seem to be forgotten. A'm share Ian wull be in the former. Mind, heis a busy man, an' A've nae doobt that hei wull bide busy. Hei says him an' his pairtner in crime Alan Brydon hev got a few projects up their sleeves, so ool nae doobt look forrit ti thame. A'n nae doobt fri that pair, Hawick wull be ti the fore.
Speakin' o' Hawick, that's another hing' Ian Landles broke the mould wi at the schuil. Hei spoke in Hawick, just like hei dis when hei speaks at denners and functions. In his early days at the schuil it wad sharely hev been frowned upon be some quarters, for it wasni seen be some es bein' the right 'hing ti dae. In thame days even the BBC hed a uniform language an' accent amongst its presenters. Wi the notable exception o' another guid Hawick man Bill McLaren, whae somehow managed ti speak clearly ti the entire world withoot pittin' a bool in his mooth.
Nowadays, howniver, it's in vogue ti hev a regional accent and if eev got a dialect it's even better. An' there's even folk strivin' ti save local dialects fri dissapearing a' the gither. A mind yin o' the boys fri Scocha sayin' in the paper when they came back fri New York that the American's fair liked ti hear thum speak in the Hawick dialect. Its something oor ain folk hev cringed ower in the past, when somebody was interviewed on the Border News, bit really it's somethin' ti be proud o', it's pairt o' oor heritage, pairt o' us, and somethin' that links oo ti oor ancestors. Oo speak how oov aye spoken, an' now it's accepted that oo shouldni necessarily change juist to conform ti some harmonisation that'll dilute oo into the same es everybody else. So weel duin Ian for keepin' the bools oot oor mooths an' bein' un unsung pioneer in the preservation o' local dialect, which ithers are now followin' up an' doon the country.
Es fer es history is concerned, a chapter hes feeneshed, bit like a' great stories, A'v a feelin' the next chapter wull be an even better yin.
