Exercise in ingenuity and dexterity

[Brianc]

For my last 13 years at sea, I did two months on, two months off.   The off time being with full pay!
Bob

That sounds a bit like the Alley Pally shift the BBC worked with some operational and engineering staff. Not quite the two months off/two months on but it was a great shift to be on. A fortnight was divided into a 7 off 12 hour day periods giving 84/2 hrs per "week". The "Working Week" comprised Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The other days were non-working days.
There were two shifts interleaved to cover the full working week.
Many worked on their days off such as TV service engineers, Aerial erectors and the like and some teamed up with someone on the other shift to hold down a full-time position.
I remember my father could not get used to me being at home so often and would say "Another day off? You'll get the sack, mark my words!".