14 year old wee Ted hired on 12 pounds a day
Hello Hello Silver Bloggers and everyone else hello!
I have the writing bug back! The photo above is of Wee Ted when we were in Orkney.... There is method to my madness and this is a relevant photograph to this article ....
All will be revealed in due course, he says with a mad laughter!
Look at this though .....
Well fluff me... I published a post every day of the last week!
It has been a long long time since I last did that!
I am chuffed and forgive me for a second while I pat myself on the back!
I suppose it is also appropriate that I got this badge in time for this post!
What the fluff am I no about I hear you asking, well in my head I hear you 🤣
Today is Monday and I thought it was about time that I joined in again for the Memoir Monday initiative that was created by @ericvancewalton
You can catch his original post here or the prompt for this Memoir Monday #24 (8/19-8/25) -
How did you get your first job?
First things first ...
I am going to make no apologies for the fact that this first job was for four days but it set the tone for my whole working life!
I got paid cash in hand! So that makes it a real job in my book even if I was only 14.
The Background
My father was a Quantity Surveyor in Edinburgh where we lived and I went to school.
He then got a job on the construction of an oil and gas terminal in the Orkney Islands off the North coast of Scotland.
We all stayed at home in Edinburgh whilst he worked in Orkney and then came home on leave.
I cannot remember what his leave/work rotation cycle was.
At the end of the year it was apparent that the terminal was not going to be finished in one year.
The family moved up there and stayed in Edinburgh at the same school but now as a boarder and went home at holidays.
One week when I was 14 , father asked if I would like to come and work with him for a few days.
It meant leaving when he did and coming home when he did.
Flotta was the destination and it is another island. I was yeah damn right, as it meant a half hour car journey to the ferry terminal and then catching a ferry for the half hour crossing.
It was summer so the weather was good. Winter was a different proposition!
So off we went.
I was on a little ferry with all these roughtie toughtie construction workers.
We got there, and his car was a landrover, ya dancer, I got to ride in a boxy landrover!
Good times.
Dad was on the construction management team.
Here's my Job details
Job Title ... Dogsbody
Duties Whatever I was told to do!
Pay £12 a day
Twelve pounds a day, man was in heaven! It bought me loads of things next term at school!
The job well, I mostly photocopied memos for people and this was before computers and email would take them to other people in portacabins on different parts of the large construction site.
It was brilliant fun, I got to eat in the canteen, whatever I wanted! I remember the first day having a ridiculously juicy steak and chips (french fries).
Some of you will know that I was a Chemical Engineer then a Project Engineer then Projects Manager in the oil and gas industry...
The head honcho for the Oil and Gas Terminal was an American as the company was Occidental...
He was a Chemical Engineer, and one of the reasons Dad got me working there for that week was for me to meet him and ask questions.
I liked the guy and loved how he got paid to travel the world and work!
My mind was made up and a Chemical Engineer I became!
I did travel the world and was paid to do it, my first job paved the way for my international career!
Back to the picture of Orkney and wee Ted
I am called Edward and so is my father.
He though, went by Ted to his work colleagues.
So when I was working there that week I naturally got called wee Ted!
The little amigurumi crochet bear is wee Ted and was made and named by Mrs T. So the picture is wee Ted back in Orkney and I thought quite an apt picture for this prompt about a wee Ted many years ago in Orkney!
It is the small or wee things in life that often give us the most pleasure, so celebrate them and don't lose sight of them!
Thanks for visiting and enjoy the new week ahead!
All images and ramblings are from me, the mad Scotsman TengoLoTodo. Photos taken with my smartphone.
@tengolotodo 19th August 2024 (Aug 14 Prem 4 VR)
DO WHAT YOU LOVE AND DO IT OFTEN
Posted Using InLeo Alpha
A new memory to add to my series of collections from the life of Edward the Great! I am sure that you more than enjoyed yourself there... heeheheheh
Yes it was fun, a boat trip, lunch with the big boys and getting paid! Yeah a kid's dream.
Wow. What a beautiful story of how you got your first job at age 14. I love why your dad had to bring you to him so he could allow you ask questions. Your job role was kind of easy, with no stress and a good pay just okay for a young boy you were then.
Nice reading your story, Teng.
Thank you Busayo,, yeah it was a fun and easy job. The experience was what made it though, and then meeting a guy who made me realise I wanted to be what he was was pretty cool.
Waw! A week of blogging! Got only that badge once !
Been a long time, but I am on a roll now!
Hahaha... Your first job lasted for 4 days?, you almost made it to the Guinness book of world records.. 😁
Hehe thank you Edith it was a life defining 4 days though!
How cool that those four days set you on the path of your life's work! It sounds like you did a fair amount of traveling for your job. What was your favorite country you visited?
Oh boy, you know I have been to numerous countries, and I will say Gabon in Africa, as that was where I first encountered a wild elephant as it trampled over my friends jeep trying to get to her dog who had the audacity to bark at it 🤣🐘
That's one continent I haven't experienced yet! Whoa, that elephant sounds like it was a little too close for comfort.
So fun to look back at those memories. Got a job, got paid and build your dreams at that instant.♥️
Yes it was a fun memory indeed!