In a Former Life

[unclealec]

An anecdote on the MMOC FB page reminded me of a strange shift pattern I once worked.
I was sent to Newquay Police Station as a Cadet back in the mid-1960s. I was even then known to be an avid tinkerer on anything mechanical. My main purpose in life was to keep my BSA Sunbeam scooter running; the fact that I usually managed to branded me as a mechanical genius (if you had seen the scooter you would have understood).
I quickly became the only member of Cornwall Constabulary to have worked a 5-2 morning shift. Everyone else was 6-2, 2-10, or the dreaded 10-6 nights. Or even dreadeder, split shifts. Bear with me, it is relevant.
My peculiar shift involved the small fleet of Morris Minor 1000 Panda cars. They were kept in a block of cast-concrete tin-roofed garages perched on top of Great Western beach, damp and sweaty.
They never started.
My shift started at 5am by putting on the gas cooker in the canteen. Nicely warming, I then had to remove the distributor caps c/w leads from the Minors, warm them in the oven, then when devoid of moisture, refit them and start the cars ready for the day shift. Worked a treat. I don't recall WD40 or the like in those days. And I had most of the day left to go fishing or resume battle with the BSA.

[simmitc]

A lovely anecdote. It reminds me of the printed manual for an old seagull outboard motor that I had. In cold weather, the owner was advised that starting would be made easier by warming the spark plug in an oven.

[unclealec]

I have just noticed that I claimed to have worked a 5-2 mornings shift.
It wasn't that bad; I actually worked 5-1 mornings.
I would have edited my first post but can't for the life of me find an edit facility.

[geoberni]

I have just noticed that I claimed to have worked a 5-2 mornings shift.
It wasn't that bad; I actually worked 5-1 mornings.
I would have edited my first post but can't for the life of me find an edit facility.

It depends on how long the Edit function is active for.
When it's there, it the Top Right of the Post, next to the 3 boxes containing [X], [!] and ["]

There is an anecdote connected to that. Apparently, long before my time, it used to be available permanently, but back in the distant past, an argument or two between certain members got so bad that one or more individuals went back and falsified their past post to gain advantage.
So the facility was time limited after that.

[geoberni]

it's also at the moment, not been set up consistently as it's not available here in this Forum at all, but is available on a earlier post I made in General Discussion.
I'll report it to Simon.

[simmitc]

It's a coincidence that it's been spotted after the migration. As Berni says, it's not consistent across all forums; and it was like that on the old board for this forum - I can still see the old board to check issues like this. It's a permissions thing, and I'll have to look at them all individually, so it may take a day or two to get them all correct - there are some strange historical settings and I don't want to upset anything else!