I sincerely hope she meant jackets, backpacks and the like.

Speaking of which, I don’t see anything terribly wrong with “They was pulling” when people are talking. It’s no different than educated whites slipping “ain’t” or “goes” (said) when they talk. But the image of “swinging their things around” left me laughing.

“They wanted a black mayor,” said a philosophical Mr Fava, 71. “Another Obama – I think that’s what brought it on. I ran on ’30 years of dedicated service’ and he ran on ’Change’. He promised a swimming pool and a recreation centre, which he can’t do.

“He beat me by 10 votes because he had enough family folks to put him in. But we get along good. He used to work here at the store and there ain’t no problems between us. They were ready for a change and I was too – it’s a weight off my mind.”