So the 90’s went and the 21st Century kicked in I had made a MASSIVE decision to change my career path, after 18 years with Barnsley Council I applied for a job with a private security firm at Heathrow Airport which involved baggage screening, security searches and other associated airport security stuff, it was totally out of my comfort zone but I needed to move and challenge myself to hopefully stand on my own two feet and do things for myself and sort my life out, I think I had been to London once when I was at school but never what I was about to do. The next few months were nothing like what we had been promised at the interviews, totally opposite actually, but I had made the decision and it was happening.
April 15th 2000 came and I gave everything up in Barnsley, my job, house, everything in the house except for boxes and bags of clothes and things that maybe useful where I was to live. My bestest mate and me packed out his car for the long journey to the Big Smoke. All I knew about the job was I started training on the following Monday, I had an address in Hounslow, West London and that was it, I was nervous and entering a part of my life not knowing what the future held. After about 4 hours we arrived at the house on Cromwell Road, it was a shared house just like all the places I lived in in the 6 years I was in London, there was 4 other people that were starting with the security firm as well, it again was totally out of my zone but if I wanted to succeed this was what I had to deal with.
All I knew about London was the touristy bits and what I had seen on the telly, what we had been promised at the interviews was totally opposite to what we got, the house was okay I suppose but my mate wanted to take me back to Barnsley, but I would have gone back to nothing except my kids, which was hard enough by being 200 miles away. Shared houses were the only way to live in London unless you were on silly money which was never going to happen. I had increased my salary by about £4000 which at the time may sound a lot but in London it didn’t even touch the sides, every day was a financial battle, remember I was paying the CSA too so by the time the company had taken their share of money out of our wages, rent, council tax, tax etc there wasn’t really a lot left but we survived, we made sure shopping was a joint effort, well that’s how it started but fizzled out. Moving to London and Hounslow it was abig culture shock, the multicultural way of life, the people, everything was new to me even the local newspaper I read about a shooting and kidnapping in my first 2 days there, all I knew was a fight on Saturday nights in Barnsley, sort it out, shake hands and forget about it. I spent the first few days before I started training getting my bearings in Hounslow, I did a lot of walking to places including Heathrow which was a experience in itself, I saw Concorde take off one day, that roar was out of this world, it became a regular thing to see this great plane fly twice a day.
Monday came, the training started, all the usual stuff, introduce yourself, where you from and a bit of working life background, the people I would be working with were from all over Britain, probably two I grew close to and can call them friends, one nicknamed me ‘Whippet’ probably because of how fast I walked, he was a great guy from Scarborough. The training lasted 4 weeks which included familiarisation at Heathrow, then we were thrown into the life of airport security, the hours worked were nothing like we were told, we were worked 18 hour days just to make a wage not a lot of sleep either so it started taking it’s toll. I had made a friendship with a guy who was ex Special Forces, he was definitely a character, told it like it was, think that’s why we hit it off so well but he was also my downfall when it came to drinking, we had some heavy sessions in between working and he would never take no for an answer. when we had free time which wasn’t much we would frequent a few pubs in Hounslow, not much else to do except work, eat, sleep so beer was the cure for me sleeping. Four months in and I decided enough was enough, I applied for another job at a company called Airlinks (now National Express), I was back doing what I know best, customer service at Heathrow Central Bus Station. I got on really well with the managing director at Airlinks, he was a straight talking man who reminded me of my first ever boss at Barnsley Council, old school no airs or graces. I was still in touch with 3 or 4 people from Terminal 1 and I had more free time too, no working silly hours, proper shifts with overtime if you wanted it, 12 hours maximum you could work, my wages had gone up too which was a massive relief and helped me live a little better, myself and one of the guys who worked security moved from Hounslow to Tachbrook Road, Feltham in another shared house. Remember these were the days before Drug & Alcohol Policies so the social side at Heathrow CBS was massive, it was a great team to work with and every day was different, we used to finish shifts then go to the pub on the main Bath Road and often leave late then be at work the next morning at 6am, can’t do that now. I gained promotion into the Main Control for National Express, it was a portacabin which was a sauna in summer and a fridge in winter (the portacabin is still there now 20 years after I left). I learnt a lot while in the Control which I suppose gave me the operational background I now have, when things were running okay it was good but when motorways came to a standstill it was stressful.
Me at Heathrow CBS Control 2001
Social side at National Express was great, we had some good nights out but I could see the downward spiral starting again, I had more spare money even after paying my rent and CSA out plus me and my mate shared the shopping bills. Life in London was hard, yes I had only lived here just under 12 months but I was missing my kids, wondering when I would be able to bring them to London, I still have a note from daughter (she was 11 or 12 I think), asking for a Pokemon sticker book ‘it’s only a pound but if you cannot afford it I understand’, this broke me a little bit, here’s my daughter asking for something which I could afford but to say she understands if I can’t she understands. This brought it home to me why I do what I do even now, I wasn’t the perfect dad but I was trying my best to make up for it but still felt I was letting them down. There is a motto I swear by ‘WORK HARD PLAY HARD, LIVE LIFE’ and that is something I always have done, but now my present situation is telling me to calm down if I want to carry on in life.
June 2002 was my first holiday abroad, my mate from security was still a big part of my life, many a night drinking and some of the stories he told me about his time in the Forces, I admired him, he had a brainwave let’s go to Benidorm for a week, now I had never flown and he tried to wind me up a lot but I thought if this is the first of many trips abroad in my life bring it on. Needless to say it was 7 days of drinking and sun, it was hot and at times I struggled with the heat, so bars and pubs in the shade it was. The nightlife and daytime life amazed me, I had experienced some great nights out in Barnsley and even London but this was another level, we drank bottles and it was so cheap. We found a bar called The Yorkshireman on Calle Girona, being from Yorkshire I felt comforatble and at home, the landlord was actually from Barnsley and used to run a pub near where my dad lived in Monk Bretton. One of the nights we stayed there til the early hours, we always sat at the same table, so this night I wondered how many bottles of San Miguel I could get from one end to the other, one of the bar staff we had got to know kept trying to move the bottles as they went along the table but we kept them there, needless to say we found out we could get 19 bottles end to end, that was just mine, my mate put his at the side too, about 38 bottles we drank that night, mad I know but if I challenge something I carry it out. Below is the proof, add the other 2 bottles we drank 40 San Miguel.
Another day it was raining so we decided to go in this bar on Playa Levante til it stopped, 12 hours later we crawled out, looking back my mate was a bad influence on me, not that I needed help. I was never a sun lover heat and me didn’t mix well, add alcohol it was twice as bad. We decided to sunbathe one day, a break from the pubs, weather was extremely hot even in the shade, my mate gave me some nivea cream to put on my legs, big mistake, it was like being fried alive not helped by falling asleep, my legas swelled up and blistered bad I also got sunstroke so 2 days in the apartment recovering. Seven days od madness, drinking and having a great time came to an end, I labelled my suitcase with a sign ‘We came We saw We drank Benidorm dry’, harmless you would think, tell that to customs at Gatwick Airport, we were both pulled from the queue separately luckily we had our story sorted. All we had brought back was the usual bottles of spirits, cigs and tobacco all within the limits. We were okay once we explained what it all meant, they checked our cases and everything sorted. To say my first holiday abroad was eventful was an understatement and I promised myself never to do a daft thing like I had with my case.
So The London first two years had been eventful, late 2002 was eventful too, more to come in Part 2 in a few days.
Life without Alcohol - My Journey from the Beginning 