It was not until you reached this age that you could work. I got a note from the family doctor to say I was fit and able to start working. My first job was as a paperboy at the age of almost 13, the shop was in Cowbridge about 200 meters from home. I worked 7 mornings a week delivering papers around Old Cross and out as far as Hertford North station. On Sundays my round was along Port Vale, Fanshaw St. etc. The pay was 1 shilling & 3 pence per day, the grand sum of 9 shillings a week. I had to deliver papers in all weather, rain, hail or shine. I was bitten twice by dogs and fell of my bike many times. There was one thing I enjoyed about this job getting up early. Being first up in the mornings I had the house to myself. I got my breakfast of cereal and by not shaking the milk poured all the cream on it. My mother was always complaining that the milk had been watered down.

I got a Saturday job at Ernie Wrens Bakery. I was still doing 6 mornings on the paper round. I had to be at the bakery by 5.30am on Saturday and help load the van. When we couldn't get as much as another roll on it we set off to do deliveries. Our round was west of Hertford and covered much of the country between Hertford & Hitchen. We usually got back about 4.30 in the afternoon when I was dropped at home with a big basket of bread and cakes. The pay was about 16 shillings for the day. With that and 9 shillings for my paper round I was doing well.

My first real job was as an apprentice electrician with Bush's Electrical in St. Andrews st. near Old Cross, the pay was only 35 shillings a week which was not much more than I had been getting. Things got worse, when I got my first pay packet Mum took half of it for board leaving me less than I had been used to for the last 3 years. I told her I was going to give up the job and go back to my paper round. I was told in no uncertain terms that I would be out on my ear if I tried that.

The job was OK except for the man I was to work with. He was grumpy and threatened to clip my ear if I didn't pull my weight. I soon learnt that I was much quicker than the other young boys and one day they put me with another guy who taught me all about Electronic control panels. In no time I could wire up complete heating systems for factories by just following the wiring diagrams. I asked for a raise as I thought I was worth it, they didn't so I left and went to work for a small company in Ware.

This job had much more variety and often I was left to work on my own all day. We worked at a mental hospital once and I was chased by a mad women who kept lifting up her dress to reveal no underwear. The other guys thought it was hilarious and rolled around in stitches. She used to lay in wait for me. I was working in the laundry one day when the door banged shut and there she was. My only escape was through a trap door in the floor that covered the heating pipes, I had seen rats down there but I was more afraid of this naked women than the rats.

This company had the contract for the local slauterhouse and we had to install a new machine for removing the hair from pigs. This was my first time inside an abbitouir and I didn't like what I saw. It was bad enough that the animals were being killed but it was the workers disrespect and cruelty that disturbed me. One morning they were slautering the cutest dewey eyed calf's and that was heart breaking. It was then I decided to give up eating meat, that was 40 years ago and to this day I have never eaten red meat.

I got bored with being an electrician and found a job as an apprentice mechanic at a garage on the Old North Road at Hatfield. Creasey's was a car show room that had a workshop at the back. There was about 5 mechanics and a Spanish forman. I was quick to learn and soon could do most of the servicing and repairs on my own. Paul Creasey raced cars at the weekend and I was put on the race team. This was when you worked for nothing just to go to the race and work in the pits. We used to test the car late at night and as there was no speed limit on the Great North Road we would race up and down at speeds of up to 160mph ( 240km ). It was here I bought my first car, a 1953 Humber Super Snipe Limousine for the hansom price of 15 pounds. It had a 5 litre side valve engine and when it was wound up you could watch the petrol gauge racing towards empty. I made friends with one of the mechanics and we often had our lunch together at the transport cafe next door affectionately know as "The Greasy Spoon". One day he invited me to have lunch at a friends house in Hatfield. We arrived and two young women served us sandwiches and coffee it made a nice change. On the way back to work he asked me if I recognised one of the girls, I said no, then he told me I had just had lunch with Dusty Springfield.

I finally got fed up with having hands black with engine oil and took a job at the Addis brush factory in Hertford. I was to be the driver of an electric tug that pulled pallets around the factory delivering goods and materials between the different workshops. The factory girls took great delight in embarrassing me. Their favorite trick was to wait till I was in the managers office and he had his back to them then they would pull up their tops to show off their boobs. A group of them would rush me and pull me in to the storage area then run off in fits of laughter. I soon caught on and gave them the same treatment.

My job took me to all areas of the plant, so I could take my time have several tea breaks and always blame other workshops for holding me up. The tug was only supposed to go slow but downhill it could get up a bit of speed. My first accident was to run into a fork lift truck, but the second incident was to make me well known. The doors into each workshop were rubber with a small perspex window at about head height. I just had to blow the horn then push them with the tug and they would swing open.

Each workshop had a tea lady and Aggy was the worst of them, she was grumpy, slow and had the worst tea imaginable. On this day I was running a bit late and had a load of broom heads to deliver to the shop that filled them with bristles. I approached the doors blow the horn and bumped the doors. They flew open and hit Aggy on the bum as she was just inside the door. She pitched forwards and sunk slowly to her knees, releasing her grip on the tea trolley which being on a down hill slope slowly gathered speed rattling its way through the factory spilling cups and biscuits as it went. Finally it hit a drilling machine fell over and spilled it urn of tea all over the floor. Everthing went quite for a moment and then a big cheer went up. Aggy was not impressed her stockings had big holes at the knees and both were grazed.

I was taken off the tug and put to work in the filling workshop. It was here I met my first real girl fiend Jane. My time at Addis was drawing to an end. I worked with two older men, one Tom was over sixty and found the work very hard. David the other man and I used to cover for him and do some of his work. The foreman pulled me up twice for doing Toms work he really had it in for Tom and gave him extra work just make life hard, I'm sure he was trying to get rid of him. The day finally came when the treatment of Tom was more than I could take, during a heated row I punched the foreman. While he was picking himself up I walked down to personnel and handed in my notice. Just as I was about to leave the office the foreman telephoned to sack me but he was too late.

Janes father worked for London Country Buses and got me a job as a bus conductor. I attended the training course and turned up for my first days work. Now I must not have thought this one through very well, I have always suffered from car sickness. Did I think, you can't get car sick on a bus well I was wrong. The first 2 days were terrible I spent them standing on the platform at the back of the double decker wishing I was dead. It got better slowly, I had to keep looking up to see where we going and get my bearings. My driver was Tom Hunter, he was near retiring age and no one liked him. He had a complete disregard for authority so we got on like a house on fire. Far from driving like an old man he went like a rocket, we were always in trouble for running early. If he saw an inspector standing at the bus stop he would look away and drive straight past. When questioned by the Depot Inspector he would just deny seeing him.

I used to Pick Tom up on my way to work and on one of the mornings we were late Tom was reported for being late for duty. When interviewed by the inspector he couldn't say I brought him to work or I would be in strife too. So when asked why he was late Tom said I don't have a reason, the inspector said I have to put something down. My bicycle had a puncture, well why didn't you say so before. The inspector noted down Toms reason and said that will be all. Tom reached the door then stopped turned and said to the inspector, there's just one thing wrong with that , what is Mr. Hunter . I haven't got a bicycle, get out of here shouted the inspector.

When driving through Cheshunt one day a woman who was parked opened her door with out looking and Tom being very close to the parked cars as usual hit it and bent it back. The woman was in tears what was her husband going to say. When we got back to the depot there was a note for us to see the Depot Inspector. We knocked and entered. I've had a call from a woman who says you ripped the door of her car. Tom jumped as though offended "I didn't rip her door off" he shouted, then with a grin on his face he leaned across the inspector desk and whispered "But I'd like to see her get the bugger shut".

Most shifts ended at Hertford bus station then we ran empty back to the depot at Fairfax Rd. On this day we were just turning off Fore St. heading for the bus station when Tom ran over a bike. A young guy had his bike about 2 feet out from the kerb. He had the bike at 45 degrees and was leaning on the saddle, he and his bike were like a letter A while he chatted to two girls. I'm sure Tom did it on purpose, he ran the front wheels of the bus over the bike wheels and bent them in half. By the time we got back to the depot there was the note on the sign off sheet " Please see Chief Inspector". Tom said let me do the talking you didn't see anything. We knocked on the Inspectors door and went in.

Inspector --- "Ah Mr Hunter, I've had a call from a very angry young man saying you ran over his bike"

Tom --- It can't be my bike its at home and anyway I don't ride it these days I'm to old for that.

Inspector --- No Mr Hunter you don't understand, its not your bike that was run over it was a young mans.

Tom --- What's he doing with my bike has he stolen it.

Inspector ---- It's got nothing to do with your bike you ran over his bike.

Tom --- How could he run over my bike its locked in the shed at home.

Inspector --- Its NOT your bike Mr Hunter.

Tom --- Oh good I'm glad we've sorted that out I was getting worried.

Inspector ---- Leave it to me Mr Hunter I'll think of something.

Tom had one of those grins on his face as we left that says see how easy that was.

Tom worked on past his 65 birthday but they finally made him retire, it was then I decided to become a driver. A 2 week course followed where they trained us how to drive including a day on the skid pan. Spinning a double decker bus on a skid pan and learning how to get it under control is a skill that has helped me to drive safely for 40 years.

I drove mainly on the 310 route from Hertford to Enfield, and providing you could keep to time the work was easy. The time gap between the buses at peak time was about 10 minutes. If the bus in front was 5 minutes late then they were picking up about 15 minutes worth of passengers. We came up behind about 1-2 minutes early, so the bus in front was in view only 3 mins ahead. Most of the stops had no one waiting so we could just go past. The bus in front would be full and have to stop at every stop to pickup and drop off. We would wait until we were about 5 mins from the terminus at Enfield then over take them. This would give us some work but we would still get in ahead of them. We usually had a 10 minute turn around and as we were 3 mins early could stretch that to 15 mins. The bus we had just over taken was now 10 mins late so had to go straight out to make up for lost time. We weren't liked by most crews as they often found us tailing them, all they had to do was keep on time and we couldn't catch them.

In the room where we used to sign on for work was a seniority board showing years of service. Some people had been there 40 years but you had to have 3 years service before your name appeared on the list. One day when I was just passing time reading the notice board I saw my name in the 3 years service list. It came as a real shock, I got them to check it, yes I had been there 3 years. Within 1 week I had resigned, I was not going to go any higher up that list.