What did you want to be

Throughout childhood, I always wanted to be a policeman but after coming to Oz then returning to England only
to return to Oz some four years later all by way of ship, I was seriously considering joining the Oz navy.

I was fifteen when we arrived back in Oz in Dec 69 and was facing having to start yet another school at my parents insistence.
My childhood years saw me attend schools in England, Perth, Sydney, England, Philadelphia, England and was now facing another
year here in Sydney all for the sake of a school certificate.

Within a couple of days of arriving in Sydney I went for a walk to Coogee beach and as I approached the beach I noticed a sign in
a butcher shop window " first year apprentice wanted"
I walked in and told the butcher that I have come to apply for the job. " So you wanna be a butcher d'ya ?. I hadn't given it more than
ten seconds thought from the moment that I first saw the sign but I nodded that I did. Such was my determination to avoid having to
start yet another school and once again having to start from scratch.

My parents were furious when I finally found the courage to break the news to them and after telling them of my starting time on Monday
and my father had stopped laughing, he said to my mam, " Don't worry pet, he'll be fed up in a couple of days, he'll be ready to go back
to school before the school holidays are over.
He was oh so wrong. I was loving it. I had money of my own for the first time in my life and even better was the fact that we had female
customers wearing the tiniest of bikinis. A fifteen year old boy couldn't have asked for anything more exciting than what I experienced daily.

My dreams of becoming a policeman or joining the navy when I finished my apprenticeship were shattered when I told my Aussie friends
and workmates of my plans.
The Aussie interpretation of a policeman or a seaman was obvious to me when they all asked me the same question. " What are ya, a Pig
or a Poof?"

God only knows what would have become of me had I not gone to the beach that day but I can safely say that the chance of me becoming
a butcher would have been highly unlikely. I can't be so sure though that if I did go back to school and stayed until I was eighteen that there
would have been a good chance that I would have been classed by my Aussie mates as a " Pig or a Poof."

Thank god I went for a swim that morning. 🤣
What ship did you travel on going down under ?
 
Jacques Cousteau. Not a diver, but specifically JC.
🙂 Very similar here.
I wanted to become a Biologist, specifically a Marine Biologist and that's somehow what I managed to achieve! Although I currently work in a (slightly) different field.
 
Cycle courier because I knew I wasn't good enough to be a professional cyclist, and thought it would be amazing if someone paid you to ride your bike through London.
 
I grew up wanting to play and Captain the Boro. Even told that to the careers guy who saw me at school….he laughed. Second to that I wanted to be a fireman, but for whatever reason I never went after it. After Uni and some S&@t jobs I joined the RAF as a PTI and then specialised as a PJI. Still in 22 years later.
 
Drummer in a touring rock band, a big one playing arenas etc.

I play weddings and the occasional pub as a hobby.
 
I had to ask my parents about this today because I can't really remember much about being a little kid. My Mam told me that I wanted to be a vet back then. We always had loads of pets and I love animals so it makes sense that I would've wanted that. I was crap at science at school though so it was never going to happen.
 
You don't need to be good at science to be a vet. You just need to know which way up a cat goes and stuff like that. Sounds to me the sort of profession where you could very easily wing it. I'm happy to knock you up a certificate in MS Paint if you'd like to give it a go.
 
You don't need to be good at science to be a vet. You just need to know which way up a cat goes and stuff like that. Sounds to me the sort of profession where you could very easily wing it. I'm happy to knock you up a certificate in MS Paint if you'd like to give it a go.
It's a bit late for a career change now mate. I appreciate the offer though.
 
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