G A F

[phil d]

ok so I'm not well again, my spondylosis is playing up so I can't sleep very well, as I have pains in my neck, I'm stressed about work and I've run out of Brandy. Last night our 7 year old granddaughter stayed over, we left the landing light on, the lounge light on and the kitchen light on in case she needed the loo in the night (it's downstairs). At precisely 4.55 AM I'm woken up by a knock on the bedroom door, "grandma I need a wee", it was the first decent sleep I had had in about 3 days!

This got me thinking about recent events, while in A&E I overheard a young woman (late teens) telling the woman at reception why she'd come to the hospital, "well I've had something in my eye for about 3 weeks and my boss doesn't like me taking time off to visit the doctor". after being told there was a 4 hour wait her friend piped up "in that case can you book my in as well? I've had a splinter in my finger for ages and I might as well get it looked at while I'm waiting for her".

They no longer provide foam collars as "people were wearing them too long and causing problems to their necks".

My GP will not provide me with the occasional dose of Diazepam, "because people abuse it and become addicted"

The government introduced a sugar tax on fizzy drinks "as people were getting fat through drinking too much"

They want to set a minimum price per unit on alcohol " because people are drinking too much and becoming ill".

Nothing tastes like it did, it's all been mucked about with to cut down on things that you shouldn't eat too much of.

Why oh why are young people today incapable of looking after themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions?

Then to cap it all I get a call to a job from a landlord, single mother with 3 kids and the shower isn't working, I agree to call on my way out at 9 AM yesterday. I arrive at the address and get no answer, apparently I didn't knock loudly enough! any harder and I would have knocked the door of the hinges.

Life, don't talk to me about life. 

 

[ProDave]

After reading the above, it makes me glad retirement is not far away. Hopefully.
 

 

[Sharpend]

I must say Phil this is an improvement on some of your previous postings, so stay positive you're moving in the right direction. Keep moving forward and you won't return to to where you've come from. 

Remember this: you may not be where you want to be but at least you are not where you were. 

 

 

[Sidewinder]

True dat Sharpie, Phil you can do it.

 

[apprentice87]

I have had Diazepam 2mg x 84 a month for at least ten years, and I am not addicted...

It is the whingers; "you made me addicted so i will sue you" that have caused the situation where doctors will not prescribe it..

Diazepam is trully a wonder drug....

john..

 

[Evans Electric]

ok so I'm not well again, my spondylosis is playing up so I can't sleep very well, as I have pains in my neck, I'm stressed about work and I've run out of Brandy. Last night our 7 year old granddaughter stayed over, we left the landing light on, the lounge light on and the kitchen light on in case she needed the loo in the night (it's downstairs). At precisely 4.55 AM I'm woken up by a knock on the bedroom door, "grandma I need a wee", it was the first decent sleep I had had in about 3 days!

This got me thinking about recent events, while in A&E I overheard a young woman (late teens) telling the woman at reception why she'd come to the hospital, "well I've had something in my eye for about 3 weeks and my boss doesn't like me taking time off to visit the doctor". after being told there was a 4 hour wait her friend piped up "in that case can you book my in as well? I've had a splinter in my finger for ages and I might as well get it looked at while I'm waiting for her".

They no longer provide foam collars as "people were wearing them too long and causing problems to their necks".

My GP will not provide me with the occasional dose of Diazepam, "because people abuse it and become addicted"

The government introduced a sugar tax on fizzy drinks "as people were getting fat through drinking too much"

They want to set a minimum price per unit on alcohol " because people are drinking too much and becoming ill".

Nothing tastes like it did, it's all been mucked about with to cut down on things that you shouldn't eat too much of.

Why oh why are young people today incapable of looking after themselves and taking responsibility for their own actions?

Then to cap it all I get a call to a job from a landlord, single mother with 3 kids and the shower isn't working, I agree to call on my way out at 9 AM yesterday. I arrive at the address and get no answer, apparently I didn't knock loudly enough! any harder and I would have knocked the door of the hinges.

Life, don't talk to me about life. 

I think there was a GENERAL swing towards mommy- coddling kids continuing right through their teens & twenties ,like running them around in cars when walking would have done them a power of good , doing everything for them at home , feeding them like giant cuckoos in the nest .

I pause here to say that ,  yes ,  there are some great , well ballanced , unselfish, hard working kids  around .

I'm thinking of instances of the rich, well to do father living in the proverbial 5 bed detached in the leafy suburbs , money no object types who , upon their son's 17th birthday present them with a 900 MPH  Porsche  for them to go out and kill themselves in , instead of telling them to get a job ...save your money and buy yourself a 2nd hand Mini  or Ford Escort . 

Many instances of turning up at a property to replace light fittings ,say,  to find its a young couple , recently married or moving in together but  its Mom , Dad and In- laws are there doing all the work , cleaning , re-decorating , painting , gardening  with the young couple sitting watching or at most taking stuff to the tip, generally looking on helplessly while older parents do all the work .  

 

[kerching]

My next door neighbour has 4 children between 31 and 26

2 live with him, 2 withnthe mother around the corner

they are all like the walking dead

the two,next to me don't see daylight and look like Michael Jackson. There life revolves around online gaming

cannot even make a brew and can barely master the intricacies of toast

 

[phil d]

I think that parents being too soft is indeed part of the answer, one of my stepsons had not had his dad around for years but when I came on the scene he was quick to learn and seemed to take great pleasure in extracting as much knowledge from me as possible. He got married and his wife was always wanting jobs done but would always ask me to do them, anyway he started to borrow tools from me and carry out his own work, apparently she didn't see the need for him to have tools as "he can't do anything", it appears that because she can't do anything she thinks everyone is the same. I started buying him tools for birthdays and Christmas presents as well as giving him some of my old stuff, and he's doing fine with things. Recently they were decorating and she asked me to hang 3 new doors as "Jim can't do them", I went round and he'd been reading up on how to do it as well as watching video's, he couldn't do it as he didn't have a plane to trim them down, I got my plane and showed him how to hang the first one then sat back with a drink as he hung the other 2, she couldn't believe he'd managed it. He has now started to make a list of tools he needs because he's told her not to ring me every time something needs doing as he's quite capable but it's embarrassing having to come round and ask to borrow tools. She kind of fell out with me over a present I 'd bought him for his birthday, he really wanted a proper set of insulated screwdrivers so I got him a set like mine, Wera Kraftform, he was made up when he opened the present, then he opened the one she'd bought him, it was a set of cheapo electricians screwdrivers from B and Q, she can't understand the need to buy good tools, even though he's explained that I've had some of mine for years, and I use them for work.

His idea is that if a tool lasts me say 5 years and it's used every day then it should last him a lifetime as it isn't used as much, unfortunately she only looks at the price, the cheaper the better. He's been eying up my expensive Wera torx drivers since he borrowed them lately so I may get him a set of those this year.

 

[Rob.]

One of the things my dad instilled in me from an early age, use the correct tool for the job. An buy cheap buy twice. 

Yes no necessarily always true, but it's not far wrong.

 

[roys]

Like most trades people I like / need and have a wide selection of expensive tools covering my own trade and others, when It comes to Christmas I make up my Santa list with stock numbers and suppliers and my new tools that duly arrive Christmas. 

However last year for some bizarre reason my mum took it upon  herself to buy me a set of imperial Allen keys for Christmas, looks like they are the Rolston Maplin type cheapish looking. I put on my grateful look even although I have countless sets of imperial and metric sets and put them at the back of a drawer in my workshop.

Forward wind 6 months, in the summer I had a problem with my old Colchester lather, needed a very short reach imperial Allen key, guess what, the one I needed was in the set my mum gave me, brought a wee smile to my face.

 

[phil d]

Like most trades people I like / need and have a wide selection of expensive tools covering my own trade and others, when It comes to Christmas I make up my Santa list with stock numbers and suppliers and my new tools that duly arrive Christmas. 

However last year for some bizarre reason my mum took it upon  herself to buy me a set of imperial Allen keys for Christmas, looks like they are the Rolston Maplin type cheapish looking. I put on my grateful look even although I have countless sets of imperial and metric sets and put them at the back of a drawer in my workshop.

Forward wind 6 months, in the summer I had a problem with my old Colchester lather, needed a very short reach imperial Allen key, guess what, the one I needed was in the set my mum gave me, brought a wee smile to my face.

My wife got hold of one of my stocklists and ordered everything and I do mean everything, a new power clampmeter, an ethernet tester, a peli case, several long drill bits and last but not least a bag of M3.5x35mm screws, that really made me laugh on Christmas day.

 

[Sharpend]

I think she's trying to tell you in a wifey way that it's about time you got yourself back to work full time!! 

 

[binky]

try sports massage for your neck - it certainly helped me, but seeinga s I don;t know what spondylosis is I could be talking rubbish.

Kids - how many firkin 'princesses are the current generation raising? Far too bloddy many FFS. No wonder we need immigrants to do the work!

Tools - if wifey bought me those for xmas I would be very upset. It's easier to buy what I actually want anyway. I only want boooze and cigars at Xmas :slap

 

[misssweden]

I'm starting to feel a slight sting of jealousy here, because I have never been given tools for Christmas. I got a frying pan once, that's about as close as it gets. 

 

[Andy™]

i think the frying pan and lack of tools may have been a hint

 

[roys]

My neighbour gives me a shout every month or so to do wee odd jobs, why because he owns no tools, doesn't want to own any tools and has no intention of using any. 

Last time I was round he was telling me that his wife suggested getting him a basic starter tool kit for Christmas, his reply to her was "perhaps I will get you a new iron and board for Christmas" Tool kits were never mentioned again in that house.

 

[phil d]

 I'm starting to feel a slight sting of jealousy here, because I have never been given tools for Christmas. I got a frying pan once, that's about as close as it gets. 

That could be seen as a bit sexist, a woman's place being in the home and all that garbage, many years ago You'd have been the girl of my dreams, cosy nights in, sat by the fire drinking beer and discussing the latest tools and techniques. Then one day a thought occurred to me, yes it would be great to have someone to talk to after work, someone to go out and buy the latest "must haves" with, but what about the other side? "you've had my drill, what did you do with those spanners, did you blunt my drill bit?" It could end up like 2 kids fighting over shared toys, lol. No I guess I'll stick with my wife, she humours me, i.e pretends to be interested when we go buying new stuff, mind you she did haggle with a guy recently when we were buying a new diamond core machine. There was a bloke on a car boot selling a load of his gear and he wanted £15 for this core machine, she got him down to a tenner because "we don't know if it works", it did actually, ran like a new one, I was well chuffed.    

 

[phil d]

try sports massage for your neck - it certainly helped me, but seeinga s I don;t know what spondylosis is I could be talking rubbish.

Kids - how many firkin 'princesses are the current generation raising? Far too bloddy many FFS. No wonder we need immigrants to do the work!

Tools - if wifey bought me those for xmas I would be very upset. It's easier to buy what I actually want anyway. I only want boooze and cigars at Xmas :slap

Oh yes, you see the signs in car windows, "princess on board", What it should read is "warning, spoilt brat on board". I must get something done about the neck though, sometimes you can feel the bones grinding, trouble is round here they want you to do all kinds rather than sort it out, which there's nothing they can do anyway apart from painkillers. They send you for scans, x rays and all kinds of other stuff then months later give you painkillers, just give me a collar and the pills, I'll skip the scans and x rays and save the nhs some time and money.

 

[Sharpend]

Have you tried a good osteopath? I have a neck issue whereby it tightens over time and then crunches, a trip to the osteopath and a few clicks later and all is good for another few months! 

????

 

[Slowhand]

I'm starting to feel a slight sting of jealousy here, because I have never been given tools for Christmas. I got a frying pan once, that's about as close as it gets. 

I got a tajine for Christmas and l was chuffed to monkeys about it.

A very thoughtful present.

On the other hand my ex missus got me a frying pan one Christmas

To be more accurate, she got me with a frying pan one Christmas.

Right on the back of my head.