'When a vacancy came for Brussels and as our son was there I applied and got it '

'When a vacancy came for Brussels and as our son was there I applied and got it '

Margaret remembers taking over her daughter's job in the Civil Service and working in Brussels for seven months.

Margaret McLoughlin

Trinity College Dublin

1975

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Margaret McLoughlin

Work and Employment

Life Story

Dublin

1970s

My daughter left the Civil Service and went to Australia and when she came back worked in an Accountancy Firm. She then decided to go to Saudi and I took over her job. I had also applied for a job in the Passport Office so I went there. It was temporary at first but then we did an exam and were made permanent. Then I was transferred to Ivy House to work with the Archivist. When a vacancy came for Brussels and as our son was there I applied and got it. By then Sean was retired so off we went and left our son of 34 home alone. We stayed with Mark while getting an apartment. We had the most wonderful time. We travelled all over the place visiting France Holland Luxemburg and Rome. In the office they again had a hiking group. Some of the men would arrange the route and we would set off early on a Sunday morning and hike in the Ardennes starting off at one village and walking to another where we would have our break. Another girl I knew went to Rome with her husband so we went and stayed in the Irish College. They had a car so we had a great time with them. In Rome we stayed in the Irish College as a couple I knew, a couple who were sent there, so as they had a car, they brought us around to all sorts of places which we wouldn't have gone to. The Irish College put up people in the summer when the students go on holidays. We had a lovely audience with the Pope, which was wonderful. We really enjoyed our stay with our grandchildren in Steerbaak, when they were small. In the office we had to go in on a Sunday once a month, just to check all the faxes that were in. I was in one Sunday, the security man spoke only French so I went up the seven floors in the lift but, on my way down, the lift jammed. Luckily I knew the French for ' the lift is broken' so I started calling and pressing the emergency bell. Eventually, I could hear him coming up each floor and calling Madame. Once located, he called the lift people and I was let out. It was funny as the next morning when I went to work I was greeted by everyone 'were you not terrified?' They couldn't believe I wasn't.After seven months we returned in January and I retired in April.

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