From sand artist to teddy bear surgeon, these jobs have taken people in quirky, unusual, or unexpected directions. Clockwise from top left: Gavin Wallace, Ryan Richardson, Siobhan Rice, Matthew McMahon and Carrie Hanna We all know the saying that when it comes to your career, “if you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life.” And while not entirely true — there are still plenty of us who love what we do but still find elements of it frustrating — it does speak to something of a universal truth.

Doing a job you enjoy, find worth in, or get satisfaction from does make the working day easier. In a world where “the grind” and “the slog” can become the norm, or even the goal, we speak to five people who have found a job that’s just a little unusual, but which they couldn’t love more..