a cara.....if while youre at school...there is a strange shortage of qualified personnel in a particular field....then by the time you graduate with the neccessary qualifications....that fields employment market is probably glutted....thats how i felt in 1952....i had just completed exams at st.geralds....i always felt school tedious and a very painful ordael....despite the fact that the world of academia came as second nature....i was in st.geralds on scholarship....but i had no real focus...it seemed all this latin....science...advanced maths...irish and english....a load i didnt particularly wanted....and art...well in all exams ...i always got a minus zero in any test....i had for some time entered a dark blank ....unfocussed gloom.......june of '52 was hot....and i already had made many trips to saleen lake....but i wanted to do something with myself.....so a thursday of mid june was to bring a ray of hope .....it arrived in the pages of the connaught telegraph...on page 2.......i was reading the adverts.....and lo in the help wanted section.....a garage was looking for a petrol pump attendent.....josie bourkes ....castklebar's main ford dealer was looking for a petrol jockey....i thought about the add all day....and in fact it caused loss of sleep......so on the friday morning i cleaned myself up.....and headed down to the garage.....i walked gingerly across the mall.....and took a deep breath as i walked into the garage....i went up to the stores counter where my old school mate ...olly pluck worked....olly and i were in the same class in primary school and were good friends ...i knew all the family ....mickey ....and brendan....who incidentally also worked in the upper stores dept.....olly called paddy omalley who was in charge of the stores.....he told me go up stairs and speak with the girls in the office....josie bourke called me into his office....i was impressed with all the certicates and scrolls he had from ford...as a qualified motor engineer.....he asked me all the usual questions....name...etc...although he knew me as my father bought many vans from him and i was often in the garage....he was a little curious about my long term plans....he didnt want someone to work for awhile and quit.....i assured him i wanted to eventually move into the garage.....another old school friend had just been promoted from the pumps and was now working with brendan pluck in the upper stores....this was my friend sean rice....sean too was in my class at school ....so it was if i was realigning my old mates.....after some time josie gave me the nod....and i was in like flynn....he told me to report the following monday morning.....at 9am.....i had to run this job offer by my parents but after some huffing and puffing i got permission.....i couldnt wait for the weekend to pass....and on the monday morning i was up like a lark ....my hair was slicked back in crystofix.....and i headed towards the garage....i was now a man...i thought as i marched to the garage....paddy omalley was my primary source....but josie bourke also met me .....i was given a float.....and instructed on all extra curricular details....we pumped caltex.....regular and high test.....and there was an additive that we sold that we put in the tank.....paddy told me that i was responsible for the petrol cash.....and if i was short i had to pay it......he should me how to read the meters...and balance my sales.....i learned how to check cars for oil...and the pint measures were filled from a hand cranked tank...i was given a caltex uniform....and i was so proud....i got to know the regulars...like butty ketterick....the brownes from breaffy...and others.....mr josie bourke senior....also hung around the shop...and he had me clean bicycles....that he seemed to make his domain....he was a little cranky....but always civil and corrct and we actually got on very well.....down in the garage maurice dunne was shop foreman.....austie gannon ran the graase pit.....mick omalley ...johnny king ....patsy haugh....john burke....johnny later would move into sales....miceal dunne....greg mcdonald....and pete mcdonald...was the main man in the paint dept....my old friend terry heneghan...also worked there and he allowed me use his fixed wheel bicycle to cycle home for lunch....it took some time to get used to this bike....as i forgot that when you stopped pedalling the rear wheel was fixed and like a bronco....it would throw you off...and it did many time.....torn knees....skinned wrists and elbows were all part of the learning process.....every evening when the garage closed for business .....maurice and the bourkes gone...we would shunt cars all over the garage....it was great driving down through the garage.....old srap was thrown in a dump on cavendisk lane....many a wrecked body lay on the heap.....my old friend pat ludden....johnny garvey....johnny mee worked in the connaught....so often we walked home together.....what a feeling to be all grown up....and ten bob at the end of the week....this allowed me move from crystofix...to vaseline hair tonic.....and brilliantine....the odd day i got a tip.....from customers so an ice cream from condons across the street was an added treat...i also had to dip the tanks...and have readings for tommy collins when he came around to top us up...i was cautioned that when the covers were off the tanks....never crack a match...like gussy garvey....whether gussy ever did thst or not i dont know....mary burke....john burkes sister was the housekeeper...and jugs of ice cold water were regular deliveries from the kitchen.....mary and i had alot of fun....i never got tired of this job...and in fact josie bourke tod me many timeshow i could eventually decide on going down in the garage or work in the stores....but all was well until september...my exam results came in ....with pretty impressive results.....i was pressured from home to hand in my notice...the hardest thing i ever had to do...i fought this but eventually i had to go to josie and give him a weeks notice...he was disappointed....but i left and returned to school.....and regressed into doom and gloom.....i knew the world of academia was not for me....and that one day...the horns and whistles of the munster or leinster at the north wall would soon beckon me ...which they did....but for a brief period in 1952....bourkes garage on ellison strret...pumping gas....bathed in valvoline oil...and the smell of grease.... ...for me was equal to the mgm lot.....
what are days for....days are where we live...they come ...they wake us time and time over.....they are to be happy in.....where can we live ...but in days....
....slan agus tog go bog e.....