Eccentrics

Memories of the past are often those of childhood when adults are large, and sometimes frightening and whose mannerisms and speech are alien to children. But that is surely not the only reason for the stories of strange behaviour that are passed down. Some people would blame the media, which has made us more aware of each other, and more likely to conform., and so regard the behaviour of previous generations as strange.
The village children seem to have had a nickname for everyone. “Meek the Antique” has been mentioned already. One man named Jones who lived at Parkers Cottages, actually had the distinction of two nicknames. He was known as “Sounder” for the amount of volume his voice produced. When he walked to the “Cliffe Arms” with his dogs, he carried a big stick, and if the dogs ran in front of him, he bellowed “All dogs down and under” in a voice that could be heard two hundred yards away. He shouted at his pigs too. Sounder married three times, and perhaps there was some disapproval involved in the choice of his second nickname which was “Sounder the bounder” The young Margaret Fitzer provoked another explosion from him, when passing him in the lane, and not knowing but what it was his real name, she greeted him politely “Good morning Mr. Sounder”
Whistling Jinnie was a lady who lived in Southend and whistled wherever she went. She also had long conversations with her hens. The children would lie on their tummies and peep through the garden hedge to watch her feed them, and say “Come along, come along and have a bit of tea. Now say “Thank you” “
But far stranger was the behaviour of another lady known locally as “Mad Ellen” who would walk down her garden, climb a tall tree, and shout at the top of her voice, “They’re coming, they’re coming”. Nobody ever found out who the poor woman thought were coming.
Mr. Tandy worked at the sewage farm and supplemented his income by selling rabbits. He had a special word, known only to himself to describe the way he got the rabbits out of their burrows. He said “I pithered him out” He also sold tomatoes, but only to people who did not know where he worked. Mr. Tandy was another man who liked to create a lot of noise. He sang loudly all day.
It is impossible to find a reason for some of the nicknames. “Pubbles” Noble lived at Lane End and kept a flock of guinea fowl. And “Jervy” or “Gervy” Jones was not exactly an eccentric but a considerable character. He was the son of the landlady at the “Cliffe Arms”, was the pig-killer, sheep dipper, grave digger, worked in the sand quarry, and did a bit of rabbiting, and the children loved to watch him dipping the sheep at the bridge and even getting a sip from his cider bottle.