7/7/2023 0 Comments Lighthouse keeper jobs 2021![]() I have two expat American friends who left Seattle in 66′ and came up to a peice of property they bought on Northern Vancouver Island, sight unseen for $10,000. But I’ll pass over that and say most of us probably don’t find “where we belong” in a job until we start one and then say, “Oh, okay, I can do this one happily.” :–) Most of the teachers I know now are passionate about their profession, and those that are passionate and care can make such a huge difference in the lives of others, and not just academically. ![]() I must say, though, that I don’t think people become teachers because they don’t know what else to do. That’s also the problem with “labeling” a student as “college prep” or “something other.” How is one to know who or what he/she is at 17? But I supposed you learned what you DIDN’T want through trial and error. I believe that schools should help their students more with that question before they kick the kid out of the door. Figuring out an occupation that fits the person. I think this was/is the most difficult part of life. You describe that empty feeling of wondering “what/who am I in what I do?” so well here, Roy. A typical journal entry might read, “Day 47, Light went off, light went on.” The first week of December, right before the ice set in, they went back to winter quarters. The shipping season on the Great Lakes is March to November, so they left their base in March, found their spot, dropped their 6,000 pound anchor (four times bigger than other ships of their size), and sat there. If there was a storm, you might die, and that would be exciting, but other than that, it apparently got old in a hurry. Exactly there, and don’t move, no matter what. The purpose of a lightship was, after all, to stay where you were, period. (It was decommissioned in 1970, the last lightship to see duty on the Great Lakes.) Lightships were used where it was too expensive or impractical to construct a lighthouse. There’s also a former lightship at Port Huron, Michigan, about an hour’s drive from Detroit. Also, the states around the Great Lakes have tons of lighthouse history. I’ve spent the night at East Brother Light Station, on an island near San Francisco–way cool. I never wanted to be a lighthouse keeper but I’ve always been fascinated by lighthouses. I used the ticket to go and see a football match instead. British Rail sent me a rail ticket to London to attend an interview. I was invited to interview for an apprenticeship at British Leyland – I didn’t go. I found none in the then heavily-industrialised streets though I’ve since developed a great liking for post-industrial landscapes. I spent hours wandering around Birmingham trying to find inspiration. Perhaps if I’d aimed lower, if I’d been advised where to aim, then my career might have been very different. ![]() Anyway, though I loved my sport I wasn’t considered good enough at it to tempt those bastions. I even went up to Carnegie in Leeds but recall nothing of the college or interview. I wrote (this was well before internet days of course) to the elite PE colleges of the day, Loughborough and Carnegie. I had no plan and no one to turn to really. I was so miserable in the office there that I pushed my resignation letter under the manager’s door, walked out of the building and never heard from them again. ![]() Yeah, I did six weeks at Eagle Star Insurance on the Hagley Road, since airbrushed from any subsequent CV. I think any of us that went to see him got the same takeaways – try Banking or Insurance. He had no more clue than me, which is why he was a teacher I suppose. I recall one interview with a disinterested careers teacher, the task probably an unwanted add-on to his normal job. All you were doing there was damaging their statistics by drifting away into the general world of work. ![]() I didn’t have a clue what to do next.Īt St Philip’s, once you had signified you had no interest in going on to university you became a non-person. I left St Philip’s Grammar School, Birmingham in the early summer of 1971. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |