Life at 20 - setting the scene.
10 days before your 21st birthday, do you remember how you were feeling? Or are you even planning it now? Well hey, they say life starts at 21 right? Well maybe you say that after the party wears off.. 3 days later. You wake up at hotel mum and dad, or just dad in my case, you had a job, actually got to keep most of your money you earn and best of all, food cooked, washing done!
The best memories of you’re life right? When you barely have a worry, all your friends are close, the babies and the weddings are low and not quite stolen as many of them yet. You can do something at a drop of a hat.
I had a slightly different experience. 20 was slightly as above, great friends, fun times, my worries were:
If yes, I need to make work tomorrow…… oh yeah and don’t start cooking when you get in and go to bed before you finish. Reasons..
Parental do not like waking up to a house full of black thick smoke.
They make it out like your fault, i mean how did i know the smoke alarm didn’t work?
At that age you can still get told off but when your still ‘tipsy’ you come out with things like ‘I just wanted extra crispy’ and think you are hilarious. Well that was life although I now ate before come home! (that smoke smell I think moved in and paid rent)
Since I was 14 I worked in a place I loved, I enjoyed my job and the staff were all very close, it even felt like family. As a keen snooker lover I managed get to do a cleaning job at weekends in return to get a free snooker table. At 9 I seen Dad play in a team and when bored we would always go down, I was terrible! but I loved it. I managed to join the league at 14, my dad was proud I didn’t come bottom! 3rd bottom, mind.
When I turned 18 I got onto the bar to work and earned my first actual money, I was at college but my thought process was why wait nearly 5 years to maybe get the job I want with a piece of paper, loads other people had, when I could earn my own now??? Well were would beer tokens come from??
Working with people, you form a certain bond and I remember the first Rangers, Celtic game. 200 people, 3 of you. There was problems but you were confident that they were there and we all stuck together. When you ran out of glasses and believe me, in a place which provided free weapons, the fights were more like riots. Its all part of the territory.
I often worked 2-3 jobs, IBM 8-5pm then Riley 5-1:30-2am. Then there’s deliveries for a Chinese a friend had but must have forgot she was 9 months pregnant and needed her shift covered. That shift lasted quite a while, like a year odd or something.
That was me. Then that night…..