Archive: “Work”

My first employer

At the age of fifteen I went to work at a garage in Orpington where the proprietor was a singularly stupid man called Bert Ditcher. In his capacity as storeman he used to wear a khaki knee-length coat. One day he needed to order a new one so he went around to all the employees […]

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A few anecdotes from my working life

On my return to civilian life I tried a variety of occupations, with varying degrees of satisfaction, either to myself or to my erstwhile employer. — Firstly, a couple of tales from my time as a conductor for London Transport. The first of these occurred one afternoon at Petts Wood, a very affluent and, to […]

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Freudian slip # 1

Susan and I worked together, as Librarian and Driver respectively, on a Surrey County Council Travelling Library. We met a great many people, from all walks of life and made many friends. Susan was excellent at her job and readers were constantly enquiring about the latest works from a myriad of authors. This required that […]

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Mad Dan

Just outside Dormansland, in Surrey is a large pile which rejoices in the name of Greathed (pronounced Greathead) Manor. This place houses retired people from such walks of life as the military, the diplomatic service and similar. They are all of a type and mostly slightly dotty. In the mid-60s I used to take my […]

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Now what have I said?

When I first took on the job of driving the Surrey travelling library, I found myself working alongside a chap called Bill Strahan. He was a very conscientious man and went on to greater things in the library world. I was replacing in the driving seat a man with whom Bill had not got along […]

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I say, old chap

During my time at the Marley Tile Company, I met a very pleasant man, by the name of John Himbury. He came from South Wales, where he had been a keen rugby player. He was now living in Sevenoaks, Kent, which is very much in London’s commuter belt and, it has to be said, a […]

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