A predominately outside and varied work life. How has yours been?

[AHPP]

We're never going to be able to moan about pikeys again after this thread. We're all criminals!

[eggsarascal]

3 minutes ago, AHPP said:

We're never going to be able to moan about pikeys again after this thread. We're all criminals!

...... Said the bloke highly trained in law. I rest my case.

[Stubby]

As others have said there was not much in the way of advice for school leavers when I young . So in 1674 I left school at  the age of16 .  I had 8 CSE exams  ( certificate of secondary education ) one of which was a grade 1  , equivalent to an O level . What are you going to do was said a few time . Oh I dunnow , my mate Steve works there so I will as well . There began a 5 year apprenticeship as a dev. engineer/toolmaker .  Stayed with that firm till I had completed the apprenticeship .  Got married ....7 years later got devorced .  Bought a house . Bought an old J4 post office van and went to Morocco   ( via Amsterdam , Belgium, France , Spain , Gib and on to Ceuta . Then in to North Africa )  Lived there for a bit . Came home , got another job as a toolmaker . Then got a job as a game keeper So very busy with both jobs . Had several girl friends . Always had a saw so went to work in woods/for tree surgeon . Got married again , had 2 kids . Had bad accident on Honda Fireblade and got smashed to bits . Metal shoulder , metal rod in leg , metal knee . Got better after a year . Went back to work on the saw . Much harder this time  Stuck at this for 15 years or so then retired cos my body was fucked .  Spent the last 3 years delivering  blood  and specimens for testing in the labs  for the local Nuffield hospital .  Still cut my own fire wood as I seem to have a never ending pile of arb waste .  66 in January . Probably missed a load out but don't want send you all to sleep .

[Mick Dempsey]

Reminds me of something that my mother said at a PTA evening.

 

One of my teachers trying to explain to her about my dramatic downturn in behaviour and marks opined that “Michael seems to have fallen in with some bad company” to which she replied “don’t blame those other boys, it’s him, he’s the bad company”

 

She was right.

[eggsarascal]

2 minutes ago, Stubby said:

As others have said there was not much in the way of advice for school leavers when I young . So in 1674 I left school at  the age of16 .  I had 8 CSE exams  ( certificate of secondary education ) one of which was a grade 1  , equivalent to an O level . What are you going to do was said a few time . Oh I dunnow , my mate Steve works there so I will as well . There began a 5 year apprenticeship as a dev. engineer/toolmaker .  Stayed with that firm till I had completed the apprenticeship .  Got married ....7 years later got devorced .  Bought a house . Bought an old J4 post office van and went to Morocco   ( via Amsterdam , Belgium, France , Spain , Gib and on to Ceuta . Then in to North Africa )  Lived there for a bit . Came home , got another job as a toolmaker . Then got a job as a game keeper So very busy with both jobs . Had several girl friends . Always had a saw so went to work in woods/for tree surgeon . Got married again , had 2 kids . Had bad accident on Honda Fireblade and got smashed to bits . Metal shoulder , metal rod in leg , metal knee . Got better after a year . Went back to work on the saw . Much harder this time  Stuck at this for 15 years or so then retired cos my body was fucked .  Spent the last 3 years delivering  blood  and specimens for testing in the labs  for the local Nuffield hospital .  Still cut my own fire wood as I seem to have a never ending pile of arb waste .  66 in January . Probably missed a load out but don't want send you all to sleep .

Not bad for a young'un.

[Baldbloke]

What is apparent reading through all these posts is that there is lots of other practical skill sets amongst chopping up trees.

[Mark Bolam]

Also that most of us seem to have muddled in to it somehow.

Not many career arbs on here!

[Joe Newton]

Fuck it, I wasn't going to bother as mines a fairly boring one. I've not survived prison attacks and had "Undisputed" films made after me, and I've not had much in the way of hardship.

 

My dad's work meant I moved to Belgium aged ten, then France aged thirteen and back to England at fifteen. I did pretty well at school until after my GCSEs, when I was more concerned with getting stoned and going to underground rock gigs. After one hand arsed year of a levels both myself and my school mutually agreed that the second year was a waste of time. I had no interest in uni and they had no interest in students that had no interest in uni. The fact that I was to clever for my own good didn't help things.

 

I got an apprenticeship as a groundskeeper at a private school. General maintenance and tractor driving, along with maintaining the sports pitches between multiple breaks. Cushy shit.

 

I did that from 17 to 22, when I finally got bored and pestered my local tree surgeon for a job. I think the boss was happy to have someone so keen for a job, so took me on. It was a small three man team and I was keen to climb so they threw me at whatever they could. I was an intolerable gobshite, but competitive and didn't like failure, so before long I was running a crew and ended up thinking I was pretty good.

 

I want happy with the money though, and getting a bit stale at that firm, so I handed in my notice and went freelance, whoring myself to whoever would have me.

 

Two years into the subby thing and its been both humbling and refreshing to work with some great lads. I've worked with people that I wish I'd meet sooner and others I hope I don't cross paths with again.

 

I guess I'm lucky to have lead a pretty sheltered life!

[Vespasian]

OK I'll come clean, I tried three times to write my story but it always seemed so dull.. so made up the bit about the prison and bank robbing bit...  thought it might be entertaining for you lot and give one or two somethin to get stuck into..   I think it had the desired effect..

 

So, were was I..

 

Yes the scrap metal thieving..  well that bit was true as was the workin in the mill..  after dossin on the dole though and doin odd jobs I got a job working in a paper mill..  did that for a few years then got made redundant..  must of been in my late twenties early thirties, can't exactly remember.. 

 

I think I spent a couple yrs after that doin nothin much at all..  all seems so vague now..  But I do remember coming to terms with myself at some point..  I new I couldn't stand working for other people, being told what to do..  having my destiny in someone else's hands.. I vowed never to be in that position again...   

 

I decided I needed to go self employed in some manner, what that might be is any ones guess.. I hadn't a clue myself..   all I knew is once I got going and started to make some money I'd invest it in a new venture and move up the ladder till I was doin all right in life..  couldn't be hard I reasoned, any one can do it..

 

Well it might be easy if your motivated by money, I soon discovered that I wasn't.   I was for a self employed situation, but not the ambition for money..   my brother was workin for a local gardener between jobs and this fella gave him a old petrol mower, which he gave to me.. why don't you do garden work for a bit of extra cash he says..  fk off I told him, I wouldn't be seen dead doin that kind of work..

 

Well after givin it some thought, it dawned on me that this might be at least a start to build my own business empire..  so I gave it a go.. first a few friends and neighbors to get a feel for garden work then an advertisement in the local paper..   I was a bit nervous of that part.  total strangers phonin up mitherin an such..  anyways discovered it wasn't as daunting as I first suspected.. neither was doin gardens for new customers..  I soon found I liked doin it.   the chit chat, the brews and the gossip..

 

Trouble is after a few yrs of doin this I found I wasn't exactly coining it in and moving to the next level, the next project..  Not only that I didn't want to move on, or become successful.. I was happy as a pig in shit  having a small grass cutting round that paid the bills and allowed me to winter in idleness.  

 

And that for the most part is what I've done for the last twenty yrs or so..  I've made a couple of false starts into expanding into doin tree's.   stopped dead in my tracks early on when I nearly had a fkin heart attack in an apple tree..  chainsawing through a lower branch and my foot slipped ever so slightly, enough to give me palpitations that sounded like my heart was gonna burst through my chest, then the fker began to slow down, and that went to extremes as well.. I could hear every slowing beat till it near on came to a standstill..   fk this I thought..  I do fancy doin tree's but not if I'm gonna be the subject of the headlines in the local news.. 

Man found dead ten ft off the ground in apple tree.... fk that..

 

The other time was a few yrs later, nightmare situation this one..  one of my customers sisters wanted to know if I'd cut her tree down.. OK I said, when do we start..  I'll keep this short.. one week later I was still there finishing the job with her threats of none payment ringing in my ear if she wasn't satisfied with the job.  This after half of Bolton council had turned up mob handed during the job to threaten me for cutting their tree's down..  they're not your tree's I said..  any tree above two mtrs in or on council property is ours they explained.. well fk this for a game of billiards I thought.. next time anyone wants a tree choppin I'll get em to phone the fkin council..

 

I'm still expanding into tree's mind, got most of the gear now..  got a place to dump the waste, got most everything I need to do it properly..  but once more winters here and I find myself slipping into hibernation mode..  perhaps we can make a push early the new year..  or perhaps early spring..

 

see, thats the trouble with me, always lookin to do it tomorrow..  Manyana.. I swear I'll be a thousand yrs old before I croak..  Oh he should of dropped down dead yesterday but the fkrs put it off till tomorrow..... hahaha

 

 

 

 

 

[Tommy_B]

13 hours ago, Joe Newton said:

Fuck it, I wasn't going to bother as mines a fairly boring one. I've not survived prison attacks and had "Undisputed" films made after me, and I've not had much in the way of hardship.

 

My dad's work meant I moved to Belgium aged ten, then France aged thirteen and back to England at fifteen. I did pretty well at school until after my GCSEs, when I was more concerned with getting stoned and going to underground rock gigs. After one hand arsed year of a levels both myself and my school mutually agreed that the second year was a waste of time. I had no interest in uni and they had no interest in students that had no interest in uni. The fact that I was to clever for my own good didn't help things.

 

I got an apprenticeship as a groundskeeper at a private school. General maintenance and tractor driving, along with maintaining the sports pitches between multiple breaks. Cushy shit.

 

I did that from 17 to 22, when I finally got bored and pestered my local tree surgeon for a job. I think the boss was happy to have someone so keen for a job, so took me on. It was a small three man team and I was keen to climb so they threw me at whatever they could. I was an intolerable gobshite, but competitive and didn't like failure, so before long I was running a crew and ended up thinking I was pretty good.

 

I want happy with the money though, and getting a bit stale at that firm, so I handed in my notice and went freelance, whoring myself to whoever would have me.

 

Two years into the subby thing and its been both humbling and refreshing to work with some great lads. I've worked with people that I wish I'd meet sooner and others I hope I don't cross paths with again.

 

I guess I'm lucky to have lead a pretty sheltered life!

What do you mean 'was'?