found your site through courier,lucky i actualy flicked through it as normaly i bin it! i joined Royal mail in october 81,and was the last of the telegram boys along side the mate who joined 2 weeks later,and looking back,we had a bloody great time!
only down side was,we rode those awful puch maxi 50cc mopeds,one of which only had kick start,which got harder to start as she got hotter.
loads of memories from those early days: being tested by the instructor,who was in a rm van,following us over to maidenhead do,we we're sent back to Ascot via virginia water spdo,and we managed to lose the instructor on the twisty roads back but he had no idea how to get to vw,so we got a phone call from the phg from Ascot to get ourselve's back pronto as he (the instructor)was a tad miffed at being shaken off by two learners on 50cc mopeds!
trundling through wentworth golf course during the pga tournement (we covered virginia water from Ascot),being stopped every half mile by over zealous security gaurds,who would begrudginly (?) let me carry on to the club house when they realised i was from rm-the looks on the toffs face's as i popped popped passed em was a picture.
the baffles flying out of my mates 'bike' exhaust,and the daft sod picking them up-he was off work for 2 weeks with burnt palms-my first introduction to overtime and the extra money that came with it!
reading the telegrams as they came off the printer-i used the excuse 'i needed to know if it was good or bad news',as it was strictly a no-no for us to read them.the colour of the envelopes was meant to let us know how to treat the reciever,but it did'nt always work that way in my experiance.
falling off my bike on a hot saturday afternoon on the day of the womens final at wimbledon,and not a soul around to pick me up off the road (the classic resurfaced road,at a junction,hit the tri angle of loose chippings-off you go!),i guess the tennis must of been good.ripped my knee open pretty good but the bike was ok,so the phg was fine with that!
trying to deliver a telegram from a worried father from sheffield to his daughter,tried with 3 telegrams,never got a answer-he drove down and broke into her place,to find her dead,killed by a jealous boyfriend.it was in the national press at the time,that one played on my mind for years afterwards
delivering to a very posh all girls school-bliss for a 17 year old lad!!!
being told that,no,infact you carnt use your 125 suzuki scrambler to do the job,even if it meant i got there quicker!
shame it only lasted 18 months or so,i look forward to reading the memories from all the other ex 'red bike boys',as ive only ever heard those from my old school telegram boys from Ascot in the early 80's,like riding through Ascot high street during Royal Ascot race week,standing on the seat of his bantam and getting a rollocking from the police.
i joined Royal mail in october 81,and was the last of the telegram boys along side the mate who joined 2 weeks later,and looking back,we had a bloody great time!
only down side was,we rode those awful puch maxi 50cc mopeds,one of which only had kick start,which got harder to start as she got hotter.
loads of memories from those early days:
being tested by the instructor,who was in a rm van,following us over to maidenhead do,we we're sent back to Ascot via virginia water spdo,and we managed to lose the instructor on the twisty roads back but he had no idea how to get to vw,so we got a phone call from the phg from Ascot to get ourselve's back pronto as he (the instructor)was a tad miffed at being shaken off by two learners on 50cc mopeds!
trundling through wentworth golf course during the pga tournement (we covered virginia water from Ascot),being stopped every half mile by over zealous security gaurds,who would begrudginly (?) let me carry on to the club house when they realised i was from rm-the looks on the toffs face's as i popped popped passed em was a picture.
the baffles flying out of my mates 'bike' exhaust,and the daft sod picking them up-he was off work for 2 weeks with burnt palms-my first introduction to overtime and the extra money that came with it!
reading the telegrams as they came off the printer-i used the excuse 'i needed to know if it was good or bad news',as it was strictly a no-no for us to read them.the colour of the envelopes was meant to let us know how to treat the reciever,but it did'nt always work that way in my experiance.
falling off my bike on a hot saturday afternoon on the day of the womens final at wimbledon,and not a soul around to pick me up off the road (the classic resurfaced road,at a junction,hit the tri angle of loose chippings-off you go!),i guess the tennis must of been good.ripped my knee open pretty good but the bike was ok,so the phg was fine with that!
trying to deliver a telegram from a worried father from sheffield to his daughter,tried with 3 telegrams,never got a answer-he drove down and broke into her place,to find her dead,killed by a jealous boyfriend.it was in the national press at the time,that one played on my mind for years afterwards
delivering to a very posh all girls school-bliss for a 17 year old lad!!!
being told that,no,infact you carnt use your 125 suzuki scrambler to do the job,even if it meant i got there quicker!
shame it only lasted 18 months or so,i look forward to reading the memories from all the other ex 'red bike boys',as ive only ever heard those from my old school telegram boys from Ascot in the early 80's,like riding through Ascot high street during Royal Ascot race week,standing on the seat of his bantam and getting a rollocking from the police.
regards to all
steve