I've been a bartender, night club manager, Phys ed teacher, Remedial Massage therapist, Pilates and Gym owner/teacher and somewhere in the middle a Firefighter for 23 years which I'm still doing.
Every day I go to work much of it is spent laughing with the 8 other guys I spend 48 hours with in a 4 day shift.
More like family than co-workers.
Every day is different. I can spend 10 hours on a day shift without a call, working out in the gym, watch a movie with the guys, read a book, a bit of training and pinching myself somedays that I'm actually getting paid to have fun and hang out. Or I can be flat out, hot tired and/or dealing with the odd dead body or two.
I get 4 day weekends every week and get 1 month off every 4 then every 5 months in-perpetuity till I retire or drop off the perch.
Its a great job to indulge other passions, careers and travel.

The money is not amazing compared to many careers but its decent and the pension is pretty damn good.
As far as non-portable jobs go, I cannot think of many jobs where you could work full time and take of 3 continuous months to travel every year if you juggle your leave around. Plus I get 3 months long service leave after 10years then 6 extra weeks every 5.
No complaints here

Matt... Total respect and Kudos to you for continuing with your writing. I love the paper round comparison. You know yourself, money doesn't make a man happy.

I wish you the best of luck. I'll try and spread the word about your books.

By the way... How and where do you buy them from ?? You're website could really do with a shop section.

Ted

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

You are right - that's a good point! I need to add a function for buying signed copies direct from myself.

In the meantime, they can be bought on Amazon or Bookstore.co.uk (and probably elsewhere online). A fair number of Waterstones branches have them as stock too, in Scotland anyway. I believe a few of the big ones in England too.

Any spreading of the word is much appreciated, book promo is a long and tiring road if you aren't JK Rowling or haven't been on the X-Factor.

Matt

__________________
http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

Sounds great. I reckon if I didn't have a medical condition that made it impossible, I would have had a serious crack at fire-fighter. The combination of it being a proper 'hands-on' job, being of real community benefit and being, I expect, properly exciting at times, always really appealed.

Still, gotta play the cards dealt to you...

Matt

__________________
http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

hate my job from my guts ! its destroying me , but then again they pay me good, in my poor country so i keep my mouth shut ;p

i dream of being a scuba instructor somewhere i have license, or underwater welder, or military services, non of those i have in my country

I voted a resounding " I hate my job "

However, Needs Must.

In better times I have left jobs in my specialised field due to moral reasons. I simply cannot abide dishonesty or not working to 100% in all aspects of being a professional, but due to the situation worldwide in trying to get employment I am having to work for a company that grinds against every sense of " doing the right thing ".

The job itself is ( or should be ) very rewarding, training new members of the armed forces in various skills and trades that they will need in the field....the kind of job that demands you do the best you can to help and advise and even go beyond what the job requires on paper if need be.

But when you add a civilian organisation that simply values profit and economy above all else in charge of the training...then you get a very unpleasent experience in the way of a working day. Maybe I am at a disadvantage by being ex-forces and actually caring about what I do and the effects it would have if not putting 100% into the job.

The company appears to lurch from near miss to accident on a daily basis without any discipline to the idiots involved, it appears to be company policy to do the least possible work and investment for the max financial return...and if you help the soldiers/customers...then that is a bonus to them rather than being our main aim.

I will leave the instant I get something better.

I love my job and work for myself. I couldn't go back to being employed as such I don't think.

Really?! You sound like someone who has never known need. Dont fool yourself, money makes people happy.

What makes you think that being exmilitary means that only you care about doing a good job? I find that pretty arrogant as well as being totally wrong. If (civilians)didnt do 100% then the military would be out of a job, being as they only consume taxes and produce nothing.

No, I'm not happy about being told I dont do 100%.

A rather sweeping judgement from very little information. I'm probably the poorest person I know. (Cash wise)

I've had lots of money and I was miserable...

I've got far less now and I'm far happier.

Do you need money to travel..... Yes, you do ! How much though. That's the question.

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I think a certain amount of money is required for happiness; I believe this has been studied and it has been postulated that the optimum amount, after which more does not make one happier, is about 30k GBP per year.

Well done, on doing your job very well.

I was stating what was happening in my particular work place. Where you have a complete split in work ethics, The ex-forces employees being the only members of the company ensuring that jobs get done to the required standard/on time and as safe as possible for the customer and the general public, and the rest ( including management ) taking every shortcut possible or putting as little interest and effort into the job as they can get away with.

As to just consuming taxes....Ever hear of an organsiation called The Royal Engineers?

They are the ones that provide complete year round emergency support to the British Isles and any other area, worldwide as requested. They rebuild your roads and bridges and provide sanitation and clean water supplies as well as producing electricity for those towns that end up getting swept away in floods as happened quite recently up north. They also provide artisans/machinery/materials to rebuild anything from mountain tracks around Snowdonia to walkers bothies for the national trust to adventure playgrounds for disabled childrens charities for free.
Clearing fallen trees after major storms in areas that convential equipment cannot enter etc etc.

Quite a few of their teams are currently using their well drilling specialists creating freshwater supplies around Africa for various charities,and rebuilding villages, again for free. They also get a little busy providing route clearence and vehicle recovery for when ill equipped individuals get stuck in a ditch in the UK during these nasty winters we are getting.

Plus being bin men when required due to strikes.

And being Firemen when required due to strikes.

And being fuel tanker drivers as required due to strikes.

And being security guards as required due to Private company cockups.

Not forgetting RAMC providing a great deal of the trauma specialist Doctors and Nurses that serve in the nations hospitals when they are not on active service elsewhere....just to name a few.

Seems like a bargain to me.

I fit into "its okay I guess" category. I work a lot in the mining and oil/gas industry as a union ironworker. I erect structural steel sometimes ,but my specialty is welding. Long hours, back breaking work sometimes, and the worst is when you get a foreman you don't respect or get along with. Just makes those long hard days that much longer. But on the plus side of things, great pension, great pay, and as soon as the job or contract is done you not obligated to go on the next job, its as easy as calling my union hall's dispatcher and telling him im traveling for the next year, as long as my dues are paid they don't really care. So its great in that aspect, but like someone already posted, it can be booming with work, then all of a sudden its like a switch and there is none. Which is a good excuse to travel I think, but I have no bills or wife or kids, so I consider myself fortunate. I have been on bad jobs which turned into good ones all by changing my state of mind. Which I think is key , when Im at work i only think about the present moment and my task im on, I learned that it is useless and debilitating if you worry about the future, past, why the job sucks etc.

-Scott

That's what's got my attention with the welding...

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Yeah, but Ted, I think he is in North America judging by the terminology; you may want to look into the transferability of your course credentials if you are aiming to work there. Also consider studying there, as it will make a visa much easier to get.

I may be able to get you a welding gig in Vancouver if you would be interested in that - was recently talking to a guy who said he could not get decent welders for love nor money - which opens it up to overseas people. Pay was pretty reasonable too. PM me when you get your quals if you are interested.