"In the beginning"

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this blog are not necessarily the views of the blog management, (on the other hand, they are not necessarily not the views of the blog management).

No effort has been made to stay within the bounds of the truth in this blog as it has always been the view of the management that the truth should never be allowed to stand in the way of a good story.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Fun Monday July 21


Irish Coffeehouse (doesn’t that name conjure up some pictures in your mind)

Is hosting this weeks Fun Monday

http://irishcoffeehouse.blogspot.com/

.

Here’s da rules;



Careers- Then and Now

THEN: As a child day dreaming of what your future would hold for you, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you ever pursue or achieve it?

NOW: If you could be trained and placed in any career beginning tomorrow, what would it be?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This one is nearly to easy to bother with… but here goes;

In my youth I wanted nothing more than to be a Motor Mechanic, possibly the best Motor Mechanic around but still a Motor Mechanic.

There are more romantic names used now “Automotive Technician”, “Service Personnel” These guys all seem to wear white overalls or dust coats and are all presented to the public spotlessly.

Now in the real world, and I’ve been there, while you might start the day looking all neat clean and tidy come lunchtime and things have changed quite a bit, now you have the large grease patch on your chest where that stubborn *&$$##@& transmission landed when it suddenly let go the hold it had been maintaining on the engine.

On another day by 10 AM after you have wrestled with the front suspension in a nice clean (ON THE OUTSIDE) vehicle you have effectively removed the skin from three knuckles, made 3 trips to the washroom to flush the debris from your eyes and look more like a homeless tramp than an “Automotive Technician”.

Couple all this with a constant battle to get your fingernails clean and the hair you are washing daily with industrial strength products in a vain effort to have it looking stylish for the love of your life… Oh yes this all tends to happen at that time in your life when you really want to impress someone!!!

OK by now I think you are getting the idea that my career choice wasn’t perhaps quite right? Never one to quit early I stuck to my chosen career for the 5 years necessary to complete my apprenticeship plus another 12 months while I desperately applied for Jobs that had nothing to do with motor cars… I eventually got into a sales career that saw me through most of my working life.


There is VERY LITTLE evidence of this stage of my life surviving but this photo
gives strong support to the dirty fingernails and wrecked hair that I mentioned.
By the way don't waste your time trying to enbiggen this photo I'm not silly
enough to enable that function and show up the flaws on a larger scale.

As for the “Dream job” part of this weeks assignment…. I have it now and it suits me perfectly, What is it? Its called retirement!!!!

That’s all I have time to write for now, I have a nap to take and lots of important stuff to put off until “tomorrow” so go and see what all the others have to say at Irish Coffeehouse’s.







24 comments:

Faye said...

So why are you complaining about the negative impact of all that automotive technician grease on your hair? At least there was hair to damage, right?

I'm with you 100% on the charms of retirement. On a serious note, what a relief to have the time to step in and support family members such as your daughter when they need it.

Jacqui said...

You forgot to mention the "mates" coming with their cars to be fixed, working till midnight with someone holding the trouble light, or waking up one morning to find the driveway blocked with McQuinn's Austin that he had had an accident in the night before.
Aren't they called the good old days?

Molly said...

As usual Peter, your posts make me smile. But even with the dirty fingernails and what you call wrecked hair, you look rather handsome in the overalls (Motor Mechanic clothes.)

Puss-in-Boots said...

Yes, I can remember my brothers and cousins as lads, tinkering with their cars and getting their clothes ruined, much to their respective mothers' rage. And they weren't even mechanics, just teenagers fiddling with motors and revs. Aaah, the good old days. But I agree, I really enjoy this staying home bit.

Big Momma said...

Retirement....I should have picked that as my dream job!!!

Junebug said...

I truly wanted to enbiggen your photo, Peter. Gee.

karisma said...

Ah, who needs to embiggen? "Is that a bowl cut your sporting there?" LOL you looked a lot like one of my uncles when he was younger.

And hey whats a little grease? I bet at least you could fix the car if it broke down. My hubbies soft clean hands would never know what to do. He freaks out if the NRMA on road runs a day over!

Gattina said...

Did you never dream about becoming a train conductor when you were a little boy ?

Robocop said...

Sorry it has been so long since my last visit. Great post about your mechanical experience before you went into sales. But yes, you have the dream job: Retirement. These days, I cannot see this in my future. Enjoy yours!

ChrisB said...

Now you would have been a very useful friend to have~ I wonder if you still keep your own car serviced to occupy your retirement!

Hootin Anni said...

My dad was a mechanic for the government...I remember the god-awful smell of grease and oil on him when he'd come home...but you know...now that he's gone, I'd LOVE to have that smell again with him at my side.

And yes...Retirement!!! It's tops.

Sayre said...

Dude - I want your job!

Dave said...

Wow, that's you Peter??? Handsome young guy you were!

Irish Coffeehouse said...

My father was a mechanic, and I agree. The words clean and mechanic do not go hand-in-hand AT ALL! lol

Retirement... that's something I look forward to one day. Enjoy yourself during these very deserving days. :)

Walker said...

I have never wanted to be a grease monkey but found myself slicked up like a dude on a Friday night more than once because of working on one of my clunkers to get it ready for friday night LOL

Anonymous said...

I remember one of my uncles with the ever present grease under his nails and embedded in all the cracks of his skin. Oh yeah, and the nasty Lava soap in the bathroom.

Our car always ran well though!

Driftwood and Pumpkin said...

I think you are right, Peter. The perfect dream job must certainly be retirement!

LZ Blogger said...

Peter ~ G'day mate! ahhhh... retirement so far (for me)... just a fuzzy concept! ~ jb///

Jan said...

I agree, retirement is the best. We can do what we want, even nap.

Alison said...

I love that picture of you...it is great!!! I have the same dream job as you...but I have a few more years of earning a paycheck left!!

Pamela said...

That's a sexy mechanic photo there peter!

Gwen said...

Hi Peter.
Been awhile but enjoyed your post,
hope you enjoy your retirment.
Hope al is well with you and yours
Stay Well

Cliff said...

I see by the picture that a lot of water has gone under the bridge since your mechanic days.
Nothing has changed much except for the fact that the dealership charges about a $100 per hour for their services.
Good post.
Sorry I woke you up from a nap.

Anonymous said...

I want your dream job now!! too bad I have to wait some decades