Bob the Balloon, Al Capone and The Two Bob Bouncer — Michael White

"When I first started work on the docks one of the very first things that the foreman said to me was that as I was new, all of the other Dockers who I worked with would listen quite carefully to every word I said and that they would then choose a name for me from something that I had said, perhaps how I behaved or even perhaps something I wore. To give you an example, the foreman, whose real name was Bob was called, “the balloon”. Bob the balloon, see? They called him that because he had a habit of saying, “Don't let me down lads, or the bosses will blow me up”! To be honest in that first week I heard him say it a fair few times so fair do's. Bob the balloon it was..."

"Bob the Balloon, Al Capone and The Two Bob Bouncer" is one of many short stories contained in the new short story collection, "Liverpool" which is available to purchase separately.