We also had a tea trolley come round morning and afternoon although I think it was coffee in the afternoon. There were cream buns and managers got a free cuppa so of course the highlight of my day was the appearance of Lil the tea lady.
That sounds great.
We had a tatty rest room with shiny seats, a battered teapot, newspapers all over the place and a thick fog of cigarette smoke when you walked in.
It was a great place to be though sitting there as a 16 year old listening to the old-hand mechanics trying to outdo each other with their stories...
There was always some practical joke going on somewhere, one of the favourite ones was to take one of Ron’s cigarettes out of the packet when he wasn’t looking, soak it in something flammable and then put it back in the next morning. Every time he lit one up we’d all lean forward in anticipation, until the inevitable happened and the one he’d selected burst into flames accompanied by a large amount of swearing and cheering...
I can’t remember what the story was about now but I remember laughing so hard during one break that I actually fell off my chair!
All of the older mechanics decided one lunchtime that they were going to catch my friend Lee - who was the other apprentice (he was a small Geordie lad, and strong as an ox too), stick a broomstick through the arms of his overalls and hoist him up on one of the ramps. They soon realised however that they’d bitten off more than they could chew because he went absolutely crazy and they couldn’t hold onto him.
I tried to remove the broom for him (which they’d managed to get up one of his sleeves) and was trying to get it out while he was still whirring around like a damaged helicopter just as our boss, and also his boss - the southwest regional manager (to whom he’d no doubt just said “We run a good tight ship down here, very professional. Come and meet the apprentices...”) walked around the corner and saw what he presumed was us having a fight.
Well we got shouted at for that one good and proper.
When we looked around to see where everybody else was there was nobody to be seen apart from ten blokes quietly eating their sandwiches in the rest room deeply engrossed in whatever newspaper articles they were all reading.
As our very angry looking boss walked back to his office he glanced at them through the window and I think it was John White who made a tutting action and slowly shook his head...