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Earlydays at Work
My father ran Aylesbury Cattle Market and I liked what
I had seen of the work that was entailed and the conviviality. On my first day
I was introduced to Mr Green who would give me my task for the day, "you
will need this Rogers" he said, giving me an object with a handle and a
three sided blade, "come with me down to the market". Mr Green explained
that on Friday there was a sale of attested dairy cows, today was Thursday and
all the shit from the unattested fat stock sale on Wednesday had to be scrapped
off the pens for tomorrow. Over to Rogers.
In a year or two I was doing all manner of things. Surveying, property negotiating, helping in the market or whatever. One Wednesday was spent in the market as usual and I learnt that Mr Jones had come in to see me to buy a house in Limes Avenue, but as I wasn't there he bought it from Percy Black, who would collect the £100 commission that I had missed. Decision taken to spend no more time messing around in the market for five shilling commission. Hugh Dix was my mentor at this time, not surprisingly known as Tubby in view of his vast size. A man with a sense of humour, a love of people, with an ability to mix at any level and a desire to natter on forever if it was a case of reminiscing about the past. I think Hugh would have found his funeral arrangements hilarious. On the occasion, Wingrave Parish Church was packed to overflowing and the cortege was at the house only two hundred yards distant. However, Ron Miller was extracting some dead elms and the timber lorry got stuck, blocking in the cortege. Hugh eventually turned up late for his funeral with everyone looking at their watch declaring that the old bugger was late again.