B

Unit 26- B

1. Well, I left school at 16, you know, and did a secretarial course. I’d always just wanted to work in an office, so I was really happy for a year or two. But then I realised how little money I was getting, compared with other people.

I mean, secretaries hardly earn anything! So I decided to go back to college and in the end I became a primary teacher. Yes, I love it! I love working with small children.

1. I was a baker at first, you see, in my dad’s bakery.

I had to get up really early in the morning - that’s when they bake all the bread. But I’d always had this thing about animals, you know. I really love animals, I always have done, and I began to think, well, why don’t I retrain, as a vet? My dad wasn’t pleased at all.

He said, ‘I’ll buy you a dog if you’re so keen on animals!’ but that was no good, of course, and, er, in the end I did it. It took me over seven years to qualify, and I did all sons of jobs to pay for it.

I was a … a window-cleaner one year, and then another year I was the … the lifeguard at the local swimming pool. It was pretty hard, I can tell you, but worth it…

1. Well, when my parents died, they left me the farm and I ran it on my own for about ten years. I don’t know how I did it, looking back.

A farmer’s life is pretty hard, especially for a woman, even if you have help. Anyway, a few years ago, I just couldn’t stand it any longer, and I sold the farm. I needed some time to myself, I wanted to relax a bit, I wanted to do my own thing. Now I just do a bit of gardening for people - they pay me enough to live on.

I feel so much better these days, it’s …

1. I used to love being a firefighter, all that excitement and feeling you were really helping. I had some good mates I worked with, too. But I fell off a ladder, you see, and my back never really got better, so the doctors said I had to give it up. Sad, really.

Selling fruit and veg isn’t quite the same! We’re the only greengrocer in the village though, so we do pretty well on the whole, can’t complain …