Leigh Hart: My summer job

What was your summer job when you were at school/uni, and what did it entail?
There are not many jobs I haven't done, from working on the Channel Tunnel or re-tarring the Auckland museum roof, to working in a Hi-de-Hi-style holiday camp in Northern England. One of the most memorable however was working in a cardboard box factory in Christchurch. I was about 19 or 20 at the time.

How/why did you end up working there?
I ended up working there because I was in a band by night, but we wanted to save as much money as possible prior to heading overseas on our "Take Over The World" tour. This job took tedium to a new level.

Did you have any embarrassing moments working there, and if so, what happened?
Forever looking for a short cut on a mundane job that literally entailed pushing a button every 45 seconds to reset a huge cardboard roller, I took the liberty of tying a shoelace around my finger and attaching it to one of the moving parts in the machine. The idea was that this would give me a slight tug every 45 seconds and remind me on cue when to push the button again. More time for day dreaming. Needless to say, the shoelace got caught in the machine and my main guitar finger was very nearly severed.

I was able to hit the emergency stop button in the nick of time, saving my very average future career in music. The tour carried on as scheduled and only came to a halt when we had a run-in with the law in France, but that's another story.

What was your dream job at that age?
I wanted to be a famous musician ... or an archaeologist.

via NZ Herald