In Feb 1968 I started work at a new Social Security office in Portsmouth, called Portsmouth/West End Contributions Office, after doing the official course. We did the work involved in collecting NI contributions for London West End Social Security, where they were understaffed.
What a mess it was - there were old cases that had been festering in 'too hard' baskets for ages, and there was regular work too. A Scottish friend and I got put in the section for sorting out the problems. We were new to the job, but had to battle through - I never used my brain as much as that, ever, not even when I did a tough university course years later.
I was also newly married, and living in Gosport, 400 miles from my home town. My husband, a submariner in Special Boats, often had to go away to sea so it was quite lonely at times.
We pretty much had to ignore any political issues, and demonstrating was absolutely out, as the military got very shirty if you got involved in political bother-causing!! Paranoia ruled back then: they even opened all my letters from my Hungarian penfriend and stuck them back with brown civil service glue. The domestic chitchat must have bored them rigid.
So long ago, but sometimes it seems like yesterday, though my husband is no longer the blond, bronzed, muscular Adonis he was back then.