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Biography Page
I applied for both jobs, one being with the Post Office, the other within the Civil Service. I ended up being called for interview with both, but the Post Office interview was first. Smartly dressed and scratching at the uncomfortable tie around my neck, I turned up for the interview very nervously. All the candidates were shown into a room where we were asked to complete a aptitude test. The adjudicator implied that this was a very simple test and would not stretch most of us. Whether due to nerves or not, I made a complete hash of the test, and was informed by the adjudicator in a snotty tone that I was ‘Below average intelligence’, and that I would not be required to go any further. Now I’m the first to admit that I’m not a genius, but the attitude of this guy made me angry. Anyway, after this demoralising blow I went a little while latter for the interview with the Civil Service. Thankfully the interview went very well and I joined in September 1985, although at the time I thought this would just be for about eighteen months until I joined the Royal Air Force (RAF). 1986 was a bittersweet year for me. But now it was 1986, and it started really well with me having the opportunity to see Queen live at Wembley Stadium, then an outrageous eighteenth birthday party, and a few days later I flew off to sunny Ibiza on an 18-30’s holiday for two weeks. This was my first holiday on my own, away from my parents, and able to drink alcohol legally. As you can imagine I had a great time, but had to ring my Gran half way through the second week for extra money (it’s always amazed me how much money you get through when on a drinking spree). I never want to see Spanish champagne ever again! I was also swatting up on my numeracy and English so that I could achieve my ambition of entering the RAF. Then, after just completing my probationary period at work on the Friday, I travelled up to Chalfont Heights Scout Camp to join the service crew for the weekend. This is where I had a diving accident, which has left me paralysed from the neck down. This accident started a chain of events that have been hard to overcome, but ultimately they have made me a stronger person. It was a brilliant hot Saturday afternoon, September 6th, when some of my friends and I who were on service crew, decided to cool off with a dip in the pool. I tried to dive through a tractor tyre inner tube that we were using as sun loungers… THUD! |
1985 had seen me leave school just before my 17th
birthday, and luckily find a place on an YTS (Youth Training
Scheme). While on the YTS I had found that I had enjoyed all the
messing around with print machines, and that my skills were not too
ham-fisted to achieve passable results. Towards the end of my YTS,
Thorn EMI for whom I was working informed most of us that they were
probably not going to find permanent positions for all of us. They
suggested that we checked out possible avenues in the local job
centres, and taking this advice I spent a couple of afternoons
searching through the options. I started to think that print jobs
were very scarce after searching for ages in the Feltham job centre,
so I asked one on the staff if there were any positions which had
not been put out for display. After a while she returned and told
me that there were indeed a couple of jobs, but asked if I had any
concerns about working for the government?