In 1970 I was the Okitu Paper Boy, delivering the Gisborne Herald to all of the residents of Okitu, six days a week, earning $1 a week. They had trouble finding a replacement in Dec 1970 when we all went off on our Nelson Christmas holiday. I remember meeting the new boy and being told they raised the money to $2 per week.
Plenty of vivid memories of that time . . .
- delivering to the kitchen of the Chalet Rendezvous and occasionally getting a hot bread roll or other goodies
- cycling against the strong wind and rain coming back from the Chalet along that long stretch of road
- being stressed out on a Saturday if we had gone into town to go to the pictures, and being worried about getting back in time
- delivering them from the back of Bob's scooter when my leg was in plaster
- paying Kerrian and Martin 20 c to deliver Douglas St for me
- getting down to the shops early so i could stand there reading all the comics for free while waiting for the lady to bring that day's papers.
- racing against myself at times to set the record for quickest time to complete the run
- receiving my weeks earnings and immediately buying Olly a box of chocolates for her birthday, and then thinking "well that $1.00 soon went!"
- my nice new canvas bag that Bob & Olive purchased for me, that sat nicely across the top-bar (cross tube)
- rocking up to one of the customers and seeing an old man looking at me embarrassed as he peed in his garden
- being proud of the fact that I knew all of the residents of Okitu at that time (over 100 houses)
- occasionally varying my routine by doing it backwards
Remember the paper-run well too, and reading the comics at the table close to the front door of the Okitu store. Sometimes Mrs Finlay ?? would give an icecream if changing over to a new box and removing the dregs of the old.
ReplyDeleteFridays were the best day as the papers were small (thin) but on Mondays were quite thick.
A lady used to deliver in a car, we'd take the papers to the back room and put them in the sack that was reworked to fit over the bike bar with a pocket on each side. Then later a very professional purposed canvas
bag for paper delivery.
Used to roll some papers, with rubber bands, to throw over a fence etc or put in a tube. Geoff Porter/Michael Phear were before and I recall Owen W taking over when we went to Aust.
Remember the Chalet R as well and going to the Kitchen at the rear, I used to be scared of dig that resided there!