Things I've learned about my paper run

[Deleted member 20519]

• It's hard to cycle fast first thing in the morning
• Stretching is a good idea
• You'll feel sick if you eat before you go
• Lucozade is fantastic
• Music makes it faster
• Don't cycle up peoples driveways, they don't like that
• Wear cycling gear and not a non-breathable jacket
• Rain makes things nicer

I managed to beat my personal best today - down to 27 minutes. It's sort of like a Strava lap except I'm the only one to go against.

 

[yello]

Blimey jazloc, you've just whisked me back in time!

I used to deliver newspapers. I had a morning and evening round for national dailies, and a Wednesday afternoon round for the local rag. (My parents had the news agency so I also used to pick up other rounds too if kids were on holiday or sick etc)

I didn't have music (except if I sang to myself!) since I'm talking pre-walkman days! I loved the rain. Absolutely adored it. It made delivering newspapers seem heroic! It's where I learnt that getting wet didn't matter so long as you were warm. I also had to collect the money too (once a fortnight) and I'd get way more tips if it was raining!

I think I liked the morning round most. I covered more distance on that one as fewer people had the morning paper delivered. But it was mainly for the time of day. During the winter, it'd be dark (I don't suppose I had lights!) and I'd get to see the sun come up. We lived near the beach and on the foothills of a mountain range, and my round included a shore-front street called 'The Esplanade' - a long, straight street. If the timings were right, I'd get to see the first rays of the sun coming over the ranges and hitting the sea. That's a sight I love to see to this day.

 

[Deleted member 20519]

Blimey jazloc, you've just whisked me back in time!

I used to deliver newspapers. I had a morning and evening round for national dailies, and a Wednesday afternoon round for the local rag. (My parents had the news agency so I also used to pick up other rounds too if kids were on holiday or sick etc)

I didn't have music (except if I sang to myself!) since I'm talking pre-walkman days! I loved the rain. Absolutely adored it. It made delivering newspapers seem heroic! It's where I learnt that getting wet didn't matter so long as you were warm. I also had to collect the money too (once a fortnight) and I'd get way more tips if it was raining!

I think I liked the morning round most. I covered more distance on that one as fewer people had the morning paper delivered. But it was mainly for the time of day. During the winter, it'd be dark (I don't suppose I had lights!) and I'd get to see the sun come up. We lived near the beach and on the foothills of a mountain range, and my round included a shore-front street called 'The Esplanade' - a long, straight street. If the timings were right, I'd get to see the first rays of the sun coming over the ranges and hitting the sea. That's a sight I love to see to this day.

Whoah, that sounds amazing. I live in a pretty built up area, the best I get is seeing the sun rise behind the trees (still pretty good though.) I hadn't really considered winter, I suppose it will be getting dark in the mornings, need to get some extra lights

 

[yello]

I don't think cycling gear had been invented when I did it, we just used to wear flared jeans

I can't remember what I wore. I had some yellow corduroy trousers and a denim jacket, I'd guess those. Pride of place (for winter use) was a red & black swandri shirt (commonly referred to as a swani)

...probably NOT something you'd wear cycling today but a damned fine shirt for the cold and wet!

 

[yello]

It's sort of like a Strava lap except I'm the only one to go against.

Those are the best kind of strava laps! Nobody else to distract you.

Thanks so much for your post jazloc. It really has made my morning.

And, yes, you'd probably best keep an eye out for some lights

 

[Aperitif]

At this time it was still considered healthy to have a large fry-up when you got back home!

No change there, then!
I disliked Sundays - The Sunday Times, Telegraph and Observer were a burden to the scrawny youth that was me. I used to do a Saturday delivery service for the U.D. (United Dairies) too. Our next door neighbour, Betty worked in the shop and she really looked after me. It was an enormous bike with a double stand and big container in front. Only about five or six deliveries but it took a fair while. That bike would probably have been a Pashley - I knew nothing, except that it weighed about two tons more than my Carlton!
And, as a result of my paper round, I did start to read The Sunday Times (for Jilly Cooper and the colour magazine), The Obs.(Still read it mostly) The Telegraph (for Frank Johnson, sport & Crossword). My Dad was mortified at all the paper everywhere. His idea of a good read was to take the News of the World to the upstairs toilet for an hour or so, with a packet of Embassy. (Best for coupons apparently!) I think my Mum and Dad got a kettle with their vouchers one time...here we go..!

 

[ianrauk]

I used to love my paper round.
Couldn't wait to get up and out the door on my Yellow Chopper then a Grifter.
The owner of the newspaper shop was an old boy called Giles. He used to have a toast machine in the back of the shop of which he would make toast for the 5 paperboys before we did the round.

On sundays the papers were huge, this was when the News Of The World was a broadsheet and more people had that paper delivered then a normal daily paper.

A bonus also was that my mam used to work part time in the local chippy so me and my brothers got the job of going round the houses with my mams wheeled shopping trolley collecting all the old newspapers. These were for the chip shop to wrap the food in. We used to get 50p per shopping trolley of papers and used to manage about 5 or 6 trolley loads every Thursday night. All ready for the big fish and chip nights of friday and saturday. This was way before recycling ever started.

 

[yello]

chips in newspaper .... ah, them were the days

My 'on bike fuelling' (to use the current terminology!) consisted of either a twirly whirly or a peanut slab (a block of chocolate with peanuts in it).

I think we need paper round stories. I hope this thread sparks the memories of others.

 

[Night Train]

I think I really missed out on not having a paper round, my folks thought it was only something 'poor kids had to do'. I guess what they didn't take into account was the level of independence and responsibility it can bring into a young person's life when they can most benefit from it.

My first 'job' was teaching Maths to special needs children at a local school. I was just 16 at the time and was officially a voluntary teaching assistant, though I was often taking the class on my own.

 

[Aperitif]

Ian's post also reminds me that I used to search 'n stash lemonade bottles and sometimes beer bottles, then take my Mum's shopping trolley to drag them back until a Thursday night, when the Corona lorry used to call round - 6d each iirc. Beer bottles went to the off licence, of course for a 3d return on each Watneys Pale Ale or Worthington...
(And I soon found out that 20 pfennig coins (I think) did the job of a tanner in the chocolate machine on the Underground station. No idea of what the comparative values were either...just happened to have a lot of them!

 

[classic33]

In a built up area wouldn't it be quicker to the round on foot?

 

[ianrauk]

In a built up area wouldn't it be quicker to the round on foot?

And were would be the fun in that?

 

[classic33]

And were would be the fun in that?

You'd not have to worry about the bike being pinched. Would you get another paper round so you could replace it?

 

[ianrauk]

You'd not have to worry about the bike being pinched.

at 6am in the morning?

 

[classic33]

at 6am in the morning?

My brother had his pinched doing a morning paper round. Whats the six am bit, I used to be finishing then.