Grandad’s First JobWhen I was 10 years old my Mother decided it would be good for me to have a job ! We had moved from London into the country and our house was very remote. We were many miles from any town and the only thing of interest was a red telephone box right in front of our gate. The house was built in 1540 – yes 1540 – and was made out of clay from a pond in the garden and laths – sort of wooden strips dipped in the clay. This is the house today from internet maps and I have a painting of the house here at home in Christchurch.The garden used to be a really wonderful leafy dell and very farmlike – we had two geese , Josie and Pedro, 14 ducks , lots of goldfish in the pond, frogs, three cats, rabbits, squirrels and lots of chickens ( about 120 ) that I looked after. Apart from looking after the animals , life was a bit dull and so it was decided I should have a job and earn my own pocket money. I was taken to a farm nearby with a huge field full of cabbages. There my mother introduced me to my first Boss. She was a thin sharp nosed lady with a nasty look about her. I was told I would receive 4d ( 4 cents) an hour and my job was to hoe between the rows of cabbages and pick up all the weeds.Looking at the hundreds of rows of cabbages and the vast field I knew I had a job that would last forever.So I picked up the hoe which felt quite heavy and began the miserable hoeing and weeding.My back began to ache within minutes and my nose was dripping in the damp and cold. The sky was grey and a drizzly rain fell, raindrops were running down my neck . “Things are not looking good “ I thought miserably and considered my fate . A miserable 4d wouldn’t even buy a packet of lemon sherbet sweets and it seemed to me I may well die of exhaustion and exposure before day’s end.To add to my awful task, the sharp nosed lady kept snapping at me , “You are too slow!” , “Hurry up boy!” , “You’re missing weeds!”.About an hour after I started my first job , after the lady snarled at me for about the hundredth time , I made my first decision as an employee.Staring into that horrible vicious face , I made my first reply to her and introduced a bad bad word my mother told me never to say.“Hoe the DAM cabbages yourself – I am going home !”With those words , I hurled down the hoe onto the cabbages and ran off heading for home. I left the Boss gasping at my language !!!My first job, no good, low pay, no way !