Paper Round Girl

Work Experience A.K.A Life Participation: Part One 

Paper round girl did an after school paper round as she couldn’t get out of bed in the morning to do the normal round.  After school she would sit in the living room surrounded by stacks of papers, boxes and leaflets, shoving the leaflets into the papers ready to post.  Her face and hands were spattered with black ink, as were the white door frames around the house with inky finger prints much to her mother’s despair.  After the ordeal of layering the papers in the provided fluorescent ‘Make sure everyone can see me’ trolley, she attempted to drag it out the front door and down the street. 

In summer it was attack of the bees and overgrown gardens.  A technique developed to run at full speed up the path or to swiftly jump over next doors wall to avoid.  Winter brought an array of additional weather conditions to help with the heaviness of the dodgy wheeled trolley. Snow, wind, and rain, you name it.  A combination could entail coming back to find the trolley tipped over and papers blowing up the road or disintegrating.

Night’s drawing in meant a race against the light, running home from school and a marathon sprint around the neighbourhood.  Favourite encounters included dogs that lay in wait behind front doors until the moment of reaching the letter box so as to install a combination of surprise, shock and horror when the barking began.  Letterboxes with bristles that you had to put your fingers inside along with the paper, letter boxes practically on the floor, in the sky and sideways also added much excitement to the job.  Gangs of older kids hanging around outside particular houses presented new problems, wanting to ignore and walk past but having to enter the territory of their front garden whilst trying to remain invisible.

Christmas time came and paper round girl saw a distinct light at the end of the tunnel.  Eagerly she knocked on some doors of friendly neighbours to introduce herself as the paper girl who works so hard not to shred their paper as it goes through their door in all weathers.  She receives approximately £2.50.  All is right with the world, she looks forward to the New Year and abandoning the trolley to the next fortunate paper girl who she can pass the baton too.  She considers the positives, now in possession of the strongest arm muscles you ever saw on a twelve year old girl and has enrolled a steely determination.