Marriage, families and work 1

Eastern Scottish Coach

Marriage, families and work

 

I left school halfway through 4th year to start a job as an apprentice printer in West Calder.  A job I wasn’t in hindsight cut out for and it didn’t last more than 8 months.  I then went to work for Scottish Omnibuses in New Street, Edinburgh.  I started in their Purchasing Department as a trainee clerk. Both my sister Isabel and I worked in Edinburgh so the residents of the Chapelton estate in Polbeth could get their early morning laugh and set their clocks by Isabel and I racing down the road to catch the bus.  My sister Moira worked in Edinburgh too, when she first started, she used to get the train, so she had a longer mad dash, that is until one day she slipped on the frost and cracked her nose.  One of the other times she was going to work, she had been reading Alistair MacLean’s HMS Ulysses the night before and had been crying at the end of the book plus next morning she had to take a suitcase into work.  She left for work with puffy eyes and dragging a large suitcase looking truly in a sorry state, anybody seeing her would have thought she was running away from home.

 

Whilst I was in the Purchasing Department at Scottish Omnibuses in New Street, I became involved in one of life’s little jokes that requires a cast of many, the annoying person (me), the innocent but annoyed work colleague, the top management of the Company and the Edinburgh Fire Brigade.  I must have been sixteen and my older colleague Bill must have been nineteen or twenty, we were walking along the corridor towards the main office door on the first floor.  I must have been teasing Bill badly for as we reached the door he had had enough and gave me a push.  The next thing fire sirens were going off all up and down New Street and believe me it is a very long street, occupied solely by Scottish Omnibuses Offices and bus depot. Staff were starting to make their way out onto the street, which was quickly lined with people, shortly to be joined by a number of what seemed to be enormous, sirens blaring, fire engines filled with firemen who quickly and calmly took charge.  They did a thorough check of the building and could not find any problem and we were all allowed back in.   The rumour was that the Company Secretary of the time had been doing some handy work with his wiring in his office which some how or other had triggered the alarm system, Bill and I had our own theory however, in these days fire alarm buttons weren’t protected by boxes, they simply stuck out of the wall and what was directly behind me when Bill pushed me?  The rest as they say is simply speculation.

 

During my time with Scottish Omnibuses, I stared saving for my first car. By this time, I had moved from the Purchasing Department in New Street to the Extended Tour Department in the Bus Station.  To help me save I needed extra income and to do that I took a part time job as a bus conductor working at the weekends. I started off working in the Bathgate Depot then moved to the Edinburgh depot.

 

One weekend I was on the Edinburgh to North Berwick to Edinburgh route. After our outward journey I stood at the Bus Terminus in North Berwick, ticket machine and cash bag both hanging from my neck, ready as we prepared to set off back for Edinburgh.  I was about to board the single decker bus and ring the bell to start our journey when this well-dressed man ran up, “Excuse me, can you hold the bus while I collect my golf clubs?” he asked me.  The driver and I looked at each other and we both nodded “As long as you are quick.” I said. It could only have been a couple of minutes later when the man re-appeared with his clubs and off we went on our way back to Edinburgh.  We were only about 20 minutes on our journey when a police car passed us, lights flashing.  Much to my surprise it pulled over in front of us.  The Policeman got on board “Did a man board the bus with golf clubs in North Berwick?” he asked.

“Yes.” I replied at which time I was asked to point him out.  As it happened, he had left the bus earlier on.  Turns out it was a very cool thief who had asked us to wait whilst he went and stole someone else’s golf clubs!

 

Whilst I was heading out of Edinburgh as the conductor on the Edinburgh to Broxburn bus, a young woman hurried down the stairs from the top deck of the bus at Ratho Village Road end, it was a more modern bus this time as I was standing talking to the driver at the front of the double decker.  She had obviously been out enjoying herself in Edinburgh.  She asked the driver and I if we could let her off the bus and wait as she was desperate for the toilet.  The driver and I looked at each other and I looked at her, we all knew there was no toilet there.  She jumped of the bus and dodged through a hole in the fence and went behind some bushes.  She re-appeared calmly got back on the bus and of we headed.  What I don’t think she had considered was that it was a double decker, and all the top deck would have seen her!

 

I later worked for an electrical wholesaler in Rutherglen for a while and it was during that period that I was involved in one of my most embarrassing experiences, not once but twice.  I worked in the Credit Control department situated on the first floor, downstairs was the wholesale section and the gent’s toilet.  One afternoon I was using the loo, sitting down as it were, I don’t know if I stretched my legs or what, but the toilet fell over spilling water everywhere, as it started to fall, I managed to leap to my feet, gathering my trousers before they filled with water.  Think that sounds embarrassing, try explaining it to someone so that the toilet could be fixed, he thought I was from the twilight zone…….If you think that sounds embarrassing, the same thing happened again a week or so later, I cannot remember if I reported it that time.