Labourer No Thanks – Thats not for me

When I was younger, my parents used to drum a saying into both my sisters and my head!

“Never do the same job as us! Always do something better”

I had never really thought about this saying until Mr L and I had Baba, since then we have joked that if Baba comes along and says he wants to be a groundworker/builder like Dad we will tell him that’s fine but he needs to go to college to get a trade first, such as a carpenter, plumber etc. I always thought that this is what my parents meant – how wrong was I!

Today I experienced being my dad. Dad is a painter and decorator and has just recently gone out working on his own. He is currently decorating the whole of a three bed house and asked whether I could go and help him sugar soap the walls for him so that he could get on with the painting, as he has a lot of work on at the moment.

So off I went to help him this morning. Oh my god, what hard work it was today! I sugar soaped two bedrooms, which is basically washing the walls down with a wet sponge, spraying sugar soap on, and then rubbing the walls where all the marks on the wall are to clean them. I then cleaned all the skirting boards in these two rooms, and washed down all the doors. Am I shattered now!

My arms are aching, and my knees are killing. I don’t think I have stretched so much in all my life! It is painful doing what my dad does, I can only imagine how painful it is doing what Mr L does bending down and digging all day. I can now understand why they all say that they never want their children to do the jobs that they do.

They hurt. They must hurt and ache all the time!

I hurt.

I will not be doing it again, I think from now on I will stick writing and being an Avon lady, they don’t cause me pain.

I promise never to say Dad and Mr L are moaning again, I will believe them when they say they are in pain!