My experiences as a leafleter

God it's a hard job! Certainly when you are not used to it. Not that it's all bad - far from it I'd say there are many benefits. Perhaps I should start with the apparent downsides first - so I can end on an upbeat note.

We would start early - so if you aren't used to getting up in the morning this would be the first thing to confront - getting up at 6:00am in the morning so you can get to work for 7:00pm. Except you aren't at work yet really - you just have arrived in time to get the second bus - van really - and pick up the leaflets and find out were you are going. After a bit of faffing it's off on the second journey were in 10 minutes or even an hour you can actually start work - distributing leaflets. Most companies, though not all, only start paying you at this point! Some do pay well though which helps to make up for it.

We had a map and the streets to "hit". Fairly often we were to target a particular kind of household or avoid a type depending on the services we were promoting. Sometimes we had 4 or 5 leaflets to handout - more rarely just one. Needless to say the weather had a big impact on the feel-good factor! A bit like being a farm labourer in victorian times. I used to wonder why books written in 'older times' had such an obsession with the weather, stars and the seasons in general. I assumed it was because they had nothing better to talk about since they had no TV or Internet. After being a leafleter for a while I realised there was a better reason. When you work outdoors whatever the weather then it all becomes much more important and significant. As Billy Connolly once said - "there is no such thing as the wrong weather - only the wrong clothes!". How true! Forget a jumper of a good waterproof coat and you would have good cause to regret it I assure you. That includes a big hat in the summer when it is hot. This also made me realise why 'hats' were such a big thing in times gone by. They seemed to me to just be a fashion accessory (and a poor one at that) until I did leafleting. Then I discovered how valuable they can be when you are stuck in the rain and need both hands or stuck in a hot sun - and yes, it does get hot in the UK - surprisingly so. It is much easier than I thought to get a bad case of sun stroke and feel really quite ill - even in April.

It gets you fit - that's for sure. I was knackered the first week - tired the second week - and fit the third week! This does have a positive effect in other areas - I was surprised how beneficial it is just being reasonably fit. Taking stairs, running for a bus or any sports activities are all just so much easier when you have a basic level of fitness. I don't work as a leafleter anymore but I have kept in that basic level of fitness with cycling, sports and walking. I also feel I am more in tune with the "outside world" and more aware of why things were the way they were - it wasn't that they were odd at all!