In my time I must have had dozens of jobs from aged 14 upwards.Gemini's labour story reminded me of my favourite ever summer/temporary job which I did for 2 years. I was a porter at Elsie Inglis. There were 3 of us who did a day/back and nightshift; myself, Mick napier and a polish man called Joe. They were always off sick and for weeks on end I would work 7 days, sometimes 16 hours a day.
I was 19 and had NO idea whatsoever about childbirth. At nights I used to have to go round the ward with a barrow collecting rubbish and take it to the incinerator. In the labour ward there was always brown paper bags, outside the rooms, that contained stuff that seeped and darkened the bags. For ages I thought it was dead babies that I was taking to the incinerator (I honestly did). I used to throw them in and try to watch as the paper bag burned but I would always turn away. It was placenta
Elsie's was a wonderful place especially if you were the only man working there. As you may imagine it was a bird fest; although my aunt worked there too (how i got the job) so she kept an eye on what she thought was me. I met some great people Evelyn Delgarno, Ruth Kettles and Jane Marrin who was a nursery nurse in those days but is now an undertaker in the family business.
The highlight was when i was allowed to attend a birth. The nurses said they would put a white coat on me and the woman would either be oblivious or not care. It was little boy, who should now be about 27!! I told the woman "you are doing well". I really wasn't shy. I saw her 2 days later when I had my porters coat on and she didn't blink.
Several years later I was present at the birth of Flearoy and Bruce in Elsies. Many of the same staff were still there. Happy days indeed.
What about your favourite or least favourite jobs?
) I washed dishes in an old folk's home to enable me to eat. They kept trying to escape and one of them had an imaginery dog which I had to feed every night. That was where the 'live in a clock? Was it a big clock?' joke came from - I'll tell you all about it on the next POL night out 
and although the work was repetitive and boring the people I worked with were great fun. For a bit of light relief I sometimes got to go out in the delivery van and help stock up machines in exotic locations such as Bingo Halls in Kirkcaldy or work in the launderette next door, which was owned by the same guy.
Amazingly this is what went on all year round and nobody seemed to twig. 
