My very first memory is of walking up and down Stuart Street looking for AES Engineering where I had an appointment for an interview back in June 1984. Unable to find anything other than a big anonymous blue door in the side of a seemingly endless wall, I knocked as hard as I could and waited. After a while the bolts clanked and the door creaked open, my soon to be new boss stood in the doorway, covered head to toe in a layer of black dust, very young looking in the face but with bloodshot eyes and no hair, apart from a thin strip supporting an equal amount of the black dust.
For about five seconds I stood staring trying to work out if I should go inside or turn and run for it. I eventually stepped forward, underwent a very short & surreal interview followed by a tour of the premises: no windows (that let light through), no running water, no toilets, electric cables hanging from the rafters, rats the size of well fed cats, spiders that would frighten tarantulas and everything covered in the black dust! What more could a fifteen year old school leaver wish for? I started the following Monday and loved every minute.
