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HOURS ON THE ROAD, A FAIR PRICE FOR LIVING AT HOME
00:00 18 May 1995
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Willie
McTiernan
labourer For once in his working life of grafting across central Scotland, Willie McTiernan is on a job not far from home - a new indoor swimming pool being built within walking distance in the next town.
Quite a respite from the norm, which is usually getting up when some of the locals are rolling home, and starting off on multi-stage journeys to small building sites in diverse areas such as Irvine, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and even Edinburgh.
As he doesn't run a car, the stages may involve a long walk out of Croy - not the driest of places - a lift in the team van, or a bus, train or car ride. Or any combination of the above.
Living in a former mining village and bringing up a family, McTiernan has aimed to live at home - like many do in the central belt while travelling from one short term contract to the next.
To that end he has sacrificed many hours on the road before and after site work, which can go on for undetermined periods.
'I've been on jobs when I didn't know when I would be going home at night or going back out in the morning,' he says. And the sites were not next door. 'It all depended on when the tradesmen finished. We had to go in and clean up after them.'
The travelling does not leave much time for gardening, he says, 'except maybe in the summer.' Maybe just as well, given the volume of spadework to tackle on site at times.
'My travelling is getting a bit easier now, though,' he says of being picked up at the door more often. 'I think that maybe the men are feeling sorry for me,' he laughs.
When he gets home, what does he tackle? 'I often take the dog over the hills for a walk, if it's not too dark.' It is an accident if he is back home before his wife, he says. That does not mean that he cooks, though. Even if the family comes round. Nothing chauvinist or that. 'They wouldn't come back if I cooked,' he breaks into another laugh.
Weekend work is not common these days, he says. If he does return from a shift on a Saturday he will, of course, 'go down the road to the bookies and put on a line.'
McTiernan
labourer For once in his working life of grafting across central Scotland, Willie McTiernan is on a job not far from home - a new indoor swimming pool being built within walking distance in the next town.
Quite a respite from the norm, which is usually getting up when some of the locals are rolling home, and starting off on multi-stage journeys to small building sites in diverse areas such as Irvine, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and even Edinburgh.
As he doesn't run a car, the stages may involve a long walk out of Croy - not the driest of places - a lift in the team van, or a bus, train or car ride. Or any combination of the above.
Living in a former mining village and bringing up a family, McTiernan has aimed to live at home - like many do in the central belt while travelling from one short term contract to the next.
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To that end he has sacrificed many hours on the road before and after site work, which can go on for undetermined periods.
'I've been on jobs when I didn't know when I would be going home at night or going back out in the morning,' he says. And the sites were not next door. 'It all depended on when the tradesmen finished. We had to go in and clean up after them.'
The travelling does not leave much time for gardening, he says, 'except maybe in the summer.' Maybe just as well, given the volume of spadework to tackle on site at times.
'My travelling is getting a bit easier now, though,' he says of being picked up at the door more often. 'I think that maybe the men are feeling sorry for me,' he laughs.
When he gets home, what does he tackle? 'I often take the dog over the hills for a walk, if it's not too dark.' It is an accident if he is back home before his wife, he says. That does not mean that he cooks, though. Even if the family comes round. Nothing chauvinist or that. 'They wouldn't come back if I cooked,' he breaks into another laugh.
Weekend work is not common these days, he says. If he does return from a shift on a Saturday he will, of course, 'go down the road to the bookies and put on a line.'
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