Paper Boy

I did have a job, only for a short time whilst I was at school. It was my Cousin, the one who I played cricket with, he made the cricket bat and I found the balls from the fair. The ones used to try to get a coconut. Small wooden balls just the right size for 19 year olds. I also made the pads out of some old rush matting that we had used in the bathroom.
Anyway, back to the job. My Cousin asked me if I would like a job as a paper boy. The big advantage was that you had the use of the bike which was provided. It didn't bother me that the bike advertised on the side, the shop where we worked. In fact there were 2 Brothers. Mr Stanley, an Alderman and a Mr John. That is how we had to address them. My John was just an ordinary Councillor as he had not been on the Town Council long enough to be voted in as an Alderman.
By Law you was not supposed to arrive at the shop before 7.00am. It was a Newsagents and Tobacconist. I think they had either 3 or 4 shops in Town. They both insisted that you had to be on your way delivering papers before 7.00am. After I had been there a few weeks I was given my own round. It was HUGE. I had to deliver over 100 newspapers daily and on a Friday was the local Journal. Plus such things as the Dandy and Beano. As I had the largest round of all I was paid an an extra 6d for my troubles. Most other lads got 3/- or now 15p a week I was paid 3/6d or 17.5p. The biggest problem was that it took me well over an hour to deliver the papers and I finished up around 2 miles from home, bit I had the use of the bicycle so I just had enough time to get home grab a bite to eat then off to School. This was fine during the Summer and early Autumn but as the early winter came and the weather got wet my Mother decided that I must leave the job and so that was that. Mind you, it did have it's compensation. It made my Parents mind up and I was given a bike of my own. Not a new one obviously but I was now the proud owner of my own bicycle. I no longer had to have School dinners as I could get home in about 15 minutes. As Lunch break was from Noon until 1.15pm. That left me plenty of time to get home eat my dinner and get back to school in plenty of time for afternoon lessons. More soon.