Well, readers, how many married readers have reached the point where the spouse says, “No, Honey, that was after we married”?

This is a life-switch time for mariner. He knows his lifestyle in art is too slow for depending on artwork. He chose to drop artwork and work for a large utility. At his local gas and electric company, he walked in open for anything. He became a meter reader (job 8).

Meter reading is one of those jobs that are good and bad at the same time. Walking and climbing broken gates was bad; weather was a nuisance. On the other hand, it was learning the body language of dogs and interpreting the tone of their bark or growl that was interesting. Many times a loose dog would come at mariner, protecting his territory. Mariner never had a problem because he would advance toward them rapidly while speaking the appropriate growl. The dog was always neutralized. One situation where this technique did not work was with trained attack dogs but these dogs were restrained by fences. Typically a resident became involved. If you learn dog attack language, never apply it to toddlers. It so scared one of his grandchildren that they went silent instead of squealing.

Being a meter reader provided a first class education on social classes. A reader has an interface with all of them. There were homes with dead dogs; Female residents in a surprising number of homes made sexual advances; many had just one chair in the living room. At the other end were mansions. The residents had servants; dogs weren’t dead.

Nevertheless, readers, in a time of life when you are still young but noticing the shadows, what new experiences did you have that changed your core attitude toward life? What was your worst accident of any kind before age 40? Turn it around. What was a really good experience away from work? What was your boss’s name two jobs ago? Exactly how much did you pay for your first automobile?

Ancient Mariner