जोब्स

I keep promising myself that I will press on and finish the task that I set myself in this blog. That was to record the events of my life that I can recall, while omitting the most life changing ones, ie the relationships. It isn't easy to leave them out but I am trying. I would say that any relationship is a worthwhile experience, and that from each one we bring something and we take something. One thing that is clear to me is that I remember every one of them with a startling clarity, and perhaps that is why I choose not to write them down.

Mostly so far I have dwelled on the formative years of my life, and in them i include my college days. College was a place that i went hoping to grow up, and I suppose on that I scored about 6/10. College was a rollercoaster ride and included some of the highs and also some of the lowest points of my life. It is easy to talk about them in glowing terms, and indeed, they were some of the best days of my life. In the end though, it was three years in total and in the great scheme of things, probably not of great significance. I did meet my wife to be there, and that is all i will say about that.

I left college in the summer of 1970 and by now, any chances of me going home were pretty slim. I found a holiday job working in a bar on the Isle of Wight, where I spent the summer. My boss, found me a room - a tiny box without a window, in someone's house. It was grim but then I only slept there and not for long either. The work day began at 10am and we were there to clean the bar, restock and then open in time for lunch. The lunch session finished at 2pm and we were provided with lunch. The afternoon was usually spent sleeping on the beach, or grabbing a quick shower back at the boxroom, and then we'd be back at 5 for the start of the evening shift. Again we'd grab some food before hitting the bar for a 6 o'clock opening. In the evenings there was a band - a group of ancient players called "The Gay Bachelors!" They played what the early evening punters wanted to hear I guess, but the same things night after night. It seemed to make the night go slower if anything. They would play until 11pm and then a DJ would appear and the disco would begin and go on until 1am. Most of the night the largely drunken clientelle were six deep at the bar and very demanding. By closing time I was exhausted and believe me i earned every single penny of the thirty pounds a week.

It was the summer of the great Pop Festival, and Jimi Hendix's last public performance. We did go to look at the site but the festival passed me by, as did the 600,000 hippies that turned up to make it so memorable for so many.

The summer went quickly and I had a job to go to. I had been appointed to a High school in Alton, Hants, where i was to be based in an annexe along with the ne'er do wells, the then fourth year leavers. So I left the pub and headed back to the mainland and began the search for accommodation.