Murray and Davie are right about shuttering . In my time, shuttering carpenters on sites were not usually considered real chippies by carpenters who had served apprenticeships . I hope that has changed since Davie because the sort of rough shuttering described was often very skilled , but usually learnt the non-city and guilds way. It was more essential to that type of work than fine sandpaper ever was.

I remember actually having to sign a form once when I was working a week in hand and asked for a sub. The form told me that I was signing for a "subvention" ahead of my next weeks wages .I always thought that sub meant subsistence up until then, as well .There was always something demeaning about asking for a sub wasn't there - even though you had already earned the couple of quid they gave you when you worked your week in hand .

Somebody wrote earlier that the Spikes was a pub.Not true. The spikes (always a plural for some reason) were cheap doss houses for men working on large civil engineering projects . There was a network of spikes around Britain - built originally in the nineteenth century I was told - and they were supposed to be in a days tramp of each other.