1950- ,Civil Engineering, The Runway Job,1

DIGGING FOR BRASS – LETHAL WEAPONS During the Hitler War, rubbish from most of the main industrial complexes in Belfast, like the shipyard, the Aircraft factory, the big engineering works, included furnace ashes, off-cuts of wire and road excavation arisings, indeed anything which was surplus and required to be quickly dumped out of sight, out… Continue reading 1950- ,Civil Engineering, The Runway Job,1

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1950-, Civil Engineering

JOINING THE ADMIRALTY FOR THE SECOND TIMEUltimately the model work and the designs of the harbours were over and the quality of work as far as I was concerned dropped remarkably, to the extent that at time there was absolutely nothing to do. I would go to the bosses asking for work and the general… Continue reading 1950-, Civil Engineering

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1950 -,Engineering

CHICANERY IN THE OLD DAYSWhen I was looking for my first engineering job I had taken part in an interview at the City Hall, faced by a phalanx of about fifteen councillors, They had asked a number of questions without getting to the meat, so I decided I would ask the question – How much?… Continue reading 1950 -,Engineering

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1946-50, The University years

FINALSIn second year we were tackling the more technical subjects and I had been persuaded to buy a text book which the others in our group thought was easy to grasp and a guide to what we were finding difficult. Lectures were never contiguous and sometimes we even had to walk down into the centre… Continue reading 1946-50, The University years

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Yet another Rant

Is it self-service that we really wish I was talking to a young woman trying to make her way as a florist. >From what I’ve seen of her work, it has been of the highest standard, but not only she is worried about the future, but the wholesalers, selling the flowers and specialities to the… Continue reading Yet another Rant

The building site

In Third Year at Queen’s, Engineering Students were required to obtain a holiday job as training on a building site and, as I have said, I had managed to be taken on at a building site constructing houses to reduce the post-war housing shortage. I was involved in the supervision of the road and sewer… Continue reading The building site

Civil Engineering

For the sake of those who are interested in engineering, and those who know nothing about civil engineering, I will write a short description of how the system works, and the variety of work that it covers. Civil engineers, per se, are generally people who have had university training followed by three to four years… Continue reading Civil Engineering

1946-50, Hostelling, then

My brother-in-law and I decided we would walk from Ballycastle to Coleraine by every inch of the Coast, instead of sticking to the roads. In those days we would hike in the Mournes, and the Antrim Coast at weekends, and with rationing still a serious consideration, our pack weighed about forty pounds because we had… Continue reading 1946-50, Hostelling, then

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