A Stevedore.

That's right, I'm one of very few qualified female Stevedores in the UK at the moment.

"What's a Stevedore?" I hear you say ... well, the dictionary definition is "One who is employed in the loading or unloading of ships". I first started doing this in Hull, East Yorkshire, in December of 2001, and there being a lot of old school Dockers there was a 'book' on how long I would last, the longest being 2 weeks if I remember correctly. Nearly 6 years on I am still doing the job in a slightly different variation and in a different port.

In the far north of Scotland, at a tiny...