I have had some strange jobs in my day. I think the first job I ever had was a one day gig dishing out bags for rags in Balclutha. 

This involved going to people’s houses and asking if they had some rags or old clothes they could donate to . . . I am really not sure who. 

If they were agreeable, we gave them a plastic bag and I think they then left the bag outside and the boss picked it up the next day. I’m a bit vague on details, but that is because this was a long time ago. 

I would have been ten years old and, incredibly, walked from Rosebank at the south end of Balclutha to do the job across north Balclutha, which was very adventurous given that this was where those rough kids from Balclutha Primary School lived. 

It beggars belief now that at ten years of age I was wandering up to people’s houses like that. 

I remember one old lady giving me an absolute serve because I had come to the front door when I should have gone to the tradesman’s entrance around the back. Very different times.

A few years later my mate Luke and I got a one-day gig looking after the local video games arcade. 

My mum had forbidden me from doing it because, having never set foot in the place, she had determined that the spacies parlour was a den of iniquity. 

On reflection, that was a bit odd because she didn’t ban me from going there and spending my money, just from being there and earning some back. 

She was a great lady my mum, but she confused me on this one which is why, for one of the very few times, I disobeyed her and took the job. 

As rotten luck would have it, a boy had an epileptic fit while playing Pacman and we had to call the ambulance. Guess who’s mum worked at reception at the hospital and got told what a great job I’d done looking after the kid and how fortunate it was I was working there at the time.

Anyway, there’s a point to all this. 

Despite my advanced years I took up a new job this week, which I never saw coming. 

I’ve become a parking attendant/meter maid/enforcement officer. Yes, you read that right; I’m walking the streets with a bit of chalk, marking people’s tyres and handing out . . . well, nice wee reminder letters about the parking rules in Alexandra and Clyde. Community Board member Bob Scott is doing the same thing in Cromwell.

Why, you may ask and indeed some on Facebook have. The answer is pretty simple. 

One of the most regular complaints I get across my desk is from retailers and businesses who feel they are losing customers because the staff of other retailers and businesses are parking all day outside their premises. 

They could well be right, but before council undertakes the expense of bringing in real enforcement, we need to actually know the extent of the problem, the places where the problem is worst and whether education will work better than enforcement, hence Bob and my wandering the streets over summer.

The other reason this mahi has value is that it is crucial that we must clearly know the extent of the problem before we even contemplate going to the significant extent of building more car parks.

It's taking a lot more time than expected to get around the streets, but that’s because there is a lot of yarning to be done along the way. 

Generally speaking, people who I’ve spoken to as I’ve walked the streets have been generally appreciative of the effort and many have commented about how hard it can be to find a park near to where you want it. 

I am really hopeful that this wee exercise will make those who are selfishly taking up short-term parks all day so they don’t have to walk a little bit further to and from work have a think about things and the problem will go away. I’m ever the optimist.