Johnny tries lots of jobs after grim find in Glasgow gutter

Maintenance man turns his hand to variety of tasks

A former maintenance man who made it his mission to try as many of Scotland’s jobs as possible, including a few in Angus, has written about his exploits.

Johnny Gauld was working on a rooftop in Glasgow when he encountered a grim sight that spurred him to travel around the country and try his hand at an array of jobs.

His journey began with making Arbroath smokies, tending to Arbroath FC’s turf at Gayfield Park and heading out to sea from the town’s harbour to collect lobster creels.

His other jobs included working at Scotland’s oldest cinema in Glasgow, making Harris Tweed and Stornoway black pudding, working in a distillery, crafting bagpipes and being a minister.

The end result is in book form, entitled Gie’s A Shot, which was the centre of an evening of anecdotes at the Commercial Inn in Arbroath at the weekend.

“The basic gist of Gie’s a Shot came to me whilst I stood on top of a roof in Glasgow in the pouring rain,” he said.

“I was working as the maintenance man for Scottish Opera at the time. I was on the roof with a blocked gutter. After pulling a manky torn poly-bag and the rotten remains of a dead pigeon from the downpipe of the gutter, the idea for Gie’s a Shot suddenly came to me.”

Mr Gauld, 42, runs a business as Caledonian Cowboy and was the official piper for the Queen’s Baton Relay.

He has performed for British and Italian royalty, at music festivals including T in the Park and Rockness, and with bands such as Madness and Alabama 3.

He took some time to research what jobs could be seen as Scottish, or with a flavour of the country.

“I quickly knew what Scottish products and institutions that I wanted to work with and immediately emailed the various contacts,” he said. riwatt@thecourier.co.uk

Johnny applied for jobs around the country.