NOTICE

It was another hot summer's Friday lunchtime. Taking advantage of
the good weather, we were sitting on the low pub windowsill watching
the traffic and crowds go by. I had Tom Ellis on one side of me and
Paddy Mahan on the other. We were all nursing pints of M &; B's
mild.

Despite the good weather, we were aware of a dark cloud on the horizon,
concerning our employment at Billings Engineering, Co. Ltd. But we were
blessed with the optimism of youth.

"Bloody hell, what's up with the three wise monkeys?"

Vivienne Short from the Progress Office stopped to comment on her way
to the paper shop.

"You make the best of us, while you can," Tom raised a smile, "Cos it
looks like we ain't gonna be round here for much longer."

Vivienne wasn't the best looking girl at Billings Engineering, but the
way she wore her tight skinny-ribbed sweaters and mini skirts, had
sparked venomous rivalry between my two colleagues. All eyes were on
her as she pushed a few strands of light brown hair away from her brow
and frowned, quizzically.

"I thought it was 'last in first out'."

"Yeah, but apparently, our service is only calculated from the time we
finished our apprenticeships," Paddy explained. Then, shifting his eyes
from Vivienne's thighs and onto us, he added, "Remember what the old
'uns told us, lads? '?Get yourself a trade, son, and you'll always have
a job?' Bloody hell, look where it's landed us!" He swung his attention
back to Vivienne. "Anybody in your department heard anything
yet?"

Vivienne shook her head.

"No, but I've heard some in 'Despatch' had letters with their wage
slips this week."

"Well there you are," Tom offered, "maybe the old 'uns weren't talking
out of their arses after all. At least we can do what George and Pete
did, and bugger off if the pickings get too lean here. But them poor
buggers in Despatch ain't got a chance - who wants unskilled
loaders?"

"Me, go to Australia!" Paddy took him to task, "I ain't being shipped
out there like some soddin' convict!"

"Well, whatever," I tried to sound positive, "we made a few bob to keep
us going while the work was there. So at least we've got a bit of time
to look round."

Tom saw it in a different light.

"Yeah, worked our bollocks off with overtime and everything, and what
for? To produce the best plant and machinery possible to be handed over
to some corrupt regime that had no intention of paying for it. Worked
ourselves out of work - that's what we've done."

"And who gets the blame?" Paddy joined in, "Not the stupid top
management who negotiated a bum deal! Oh no, not them! It's union
practices that have caused the problem - factory rats like us demanding
to be paid for what we do."

"Well, I'd love to spend my dinner hour talking politics with you,"
Vivienne told us with more than a hint of impatience, "but I've got to
get a sandwich for myself and Woodbines for Harold Collins. He'll have
his fingers gnawed to his elbows if I don't get back with them soon."
She hesitated with an afterthought; "I'm going to the Alhambra with
Linda and Jill tonight, if you lot are not too miserable to buy us a
drink."

"Try and stop us!" Tom grinned lecherously.

Vivienne went on her way, leaving us to watch the rest of the world go
by, including the assembly line workers from Miller's Jewellery
Manufacturers. These girls were renowned for savaging any unsuspecting
young male who came within six yards of them.

"Buy us a drink, handsome?" One particularly unattractive brunette
winked at Paddy.

"I'll throw you a bone to chew!" Paddy responded.

Tom was looking passed the girls. He had spotted Ray Tyler
approaching.

"How's it goin', Tyler? It's an ill wind, ain't it?"

Ray looked puzzled.

"How d'you mean?"

"Well, if we all get the bullet, you'll have a good reason to cancel
them wedding plans you've got with Olive Oil."

I couldn't believe my ears. Ray had been going out with Helen Groves
for a couple of years. He was besotted with her. Because of her build
she had been compared with Popeye's girlfriend but this was the first
time I'd heard her referred to as that in front of Ray. As a way of
escaping the embarrassment and the outbreak of violence that seemed
imminent, I waggled my empty glass at my comrades.

"Just got time for one more, if you're up to it?D'you fancy one,
Ray?"

They all nodded the affirmative. I had barely rounded the corner on my
way to the bar entrance when I almost bumped into Mickey Reynolds, a
laid back Black Country bloke and deck foreman, noted for his dry sense
of humour. He was heading back from his lunch break carrying a length
of rope - the sort of thing used for lashing down lorry sheets.

"Where you going with that?" I quipped, believing the intention
obvious.

"Gonna 'ang meself, what d'ya think I'm doin'?" he replied
irritably.

"Oh," I shrugged, "just wondered."

When I returned to my perch on the windowsill I was relieved to
discover that, far from indulging in hostility, Tom and Ray were
chatting away quite amiably.

Aware that our drinking time had been cut short by my longer than
expected wait at the bar; I was rushing to get my pint down my neck
when Paddy pointed out the futility of having any loyalty towards our
employers.

"What's the rush?" he asked, "The worst they can do is sack us and it
looks like they're gonna do that anyway. Let's have another after this
and see if we feel like going back then."

Tom put the damper on these plans by reminding us that we would only be
entitled to redundancy payments if we were actually made redundant and
not sacked for a misdemeanour.

Even taking onboard Tom's advice, we were a few minutes late making our
way back to work. To avoid detection, we sneaked into the works via a
back loading bay, leading through to the metal stores.

This was always a dimly lit area but coming in from the brilliant
sunlight made it even more difficult for my eyes to adjust to the
darkness. I followed Ray in this state of half-blindness, with Tom and
Paddy bringing up the rear. The line suddenly came to a halt and
concertinaed when Ray froze at the sight of Mickey Reynolds' lifeless
body dangling from an overhead girder.