Inside the General Weigh House in the Grainger Market, Newcastle

Image: © Jeremy Bolwell Taken: 8 Jul 2023

Here a customer gets their weight taken. The scales are very accurate and sensitive (as opposed to most people's own bathroom scales for example) and allow for a high degree of certainty when weighing anything. There is a small or nominal charge involved. Some 50p I think. This customer is asking questions of the weigh house operative and an in-depth conversation in two of the local dialects ensues; the operative in broad Geordie and the customer in broad 'sand dancer' or South Shields accent. I simply could not understand a single word. They might as well have been talking Swahili or Punjabi - in fact it sounded as if they were. Both employed facial expressions, hand signals and body language to add further emphasis to the points they each made, which, if anything, added to the impenetrability of the conversation. Anyway, the upshot of the exchange was that the customer has lost some weight and seemed happy with the outcome. The operative was, I am sure, relieved that the customer didn't take up any more of his time and left happy and ready to engage with the rest of their day. The customer, that is, not the operative, who remained in situ, ready to deal with fresh members of the great British public. Not a task or role suited to everyone!

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