'...laughing my head off' that should say.

Ugh Steve, how horrid, emptying smelly buckets!!
And your potato-peeling machine sounds like the same one I wrestled with in Edinburgh. If you left it on for too long, did the spuds come out really small?

I had to use the ham-slicing machine in that kitchen. I was a tiny little lass, weighing seven stone and very skinny. I was still only seventeen. And the whirring circular blade had no guard on it. You had to impale the great ham on a spiked plate, then slide it backwards and forwards into the blade after setting the number for 'thickness of slice'. It's a miracle I didn't serve up sliced arm!
I don't think there were any safety rules in those days.