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CONNECTING ORANJEMUNDERS  
  
 

 
 Jasper House
 

 
 
TRENCH DRUNKS!

 

Back in the 1950’s when they were digging the trenches for the sewer lines the trenches were DEEP.

These trenches extended up an down the streets and in certain sections even crossed roads, and linked up with the route to the main hole for the Pump station. All these trenches were dug and laid with a thin bed of sand to cushion the SGEW pipes ( Salt Glazed Earthen Ware ).

Most of these trenches and the closed off roads were demarcated with Red and White, Paraffin lanterns, which occasionally went missing to be used in some other enterprising endeavor. Lamp posts were also very rare and widely spaced

Anyway the pub closed and everyone heads home, you can see the way this tale is going. Needless to say, inadvertently one of the inebriated chap’s falls into a trench, fortunately so well lubricated he doesn’t even register what happened except that he stumbled and fell. Can’t find his way home starts shouting and making a racket, his mate locates a lamp and goes looking for him, clambering over the piles of rock & boulders excavated from the trench, he slips and falls in, the lamp breaks and instead of catching fire goes out,. There are now two in the trench feeling around in the dark. Calling out does not help, no one’s listening, they can find no way out and instead decide that one will go forward and the other walk back the opposite way. The one that gets out will come looking for the other.

Off they go in their separate directions, after what seems like hours they bump into each other and end up having an argument about who decided to turn round instead of looking for a way out.

These two spent the whole night out in the trenches & it was only in the early morning when people started going to work that someone discovered them and arranged for a ladder to get them out.

 

I don’t have names and it may be a tall story but some one out there may be able to authenticate it.


(Submitted by Clive Symes)