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

[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'?

[Guss109]

Left school at 16 and cleaned Petrol stations and window cleaning for a year Then joined the army as a royal engineer. Did my 7 month basic training then my combat engineering then moved onto my trade training at Chatham. Joined my regiment and got trained in bomb disposal went to cypress and Kosovo then got caught on my bike with no license so got grassed in by an officer so decided to leave. Moved back home to Aberdeen as had bought a house and worked as a self employed joiner till the recession hit and re trained and got my cs30/31 and spent a fortune on tools ever since

[Al Cormack]

Also that most of us seem to have muddled in to it somehow.
Not many career arbs on here!

I left school in 1984, started working for a tree company in the New Forest, Wessex Tree Service, in Nov '84, then Durston Woodlands in Somerset.
Went to Merrist Wood in 1987-1991, working for a tree company in Cobham, Gifford Tree Service, at weekends and during my middle year of college.

Went full time with the same company after leaving college. Left to start up Advanced Tree Services Ltd with a partner in 1997. The partnership got rocky in Dec 2002 so parted ways.
Worked for Continental Landscapes for 18 months setting up a tree surgery division in London. Got fed up with driving across London to Tower Hamlets from Woking every day, so when an opportunity came to start another company on my own so Cormack Tree Care Ltd was born in Nov 2004, and going strong today.

That career enough for you Mark? [emoji23][emoji1360]

[felixthelogchopper]

Started working with my Dad in the school holidays in the mid 1980s, mainly doing refits on Taylor Walker pubs in central London. Didn't get the A level grades I wanted for Uni so trained as a croupier with Brent Walker(long defunct) in sunny Sarfend on Sea, starting as a dealer in 1989 and working up to senior inspector by 1993 when I took a demotion with a 50% pay rise to start work in London at the original Sportsman Club in Tottenham Court Road. Made Inspector again after 6 months and worked in that job until 2002 when I left for a better job with Grosvenor in South Kensington where I stayed until taking redundancy in 2009. I still do fun casino work at parties and weddings etc. Took my chainsaw tickets later that year and have worked as a freelance cutter/ groundie since then, apart from 2 years managing the estate of a Sunday Times rich-lister. I'm also working towards more environmental based work and wildlife surveying.

[Mark Bolam]

26 minutes ago, Al Cormack said:

 

I left school in 1984, started working for a tree company in the New Forest, Wessex Tree Service, in Nov '84, then Durston Woodlands in Somerset.
Went to Merrist Wood in 1987-1991, working for a tree company in Cobham, Gifford Tree Service, at weekends and during my middle year of college.

Went full time with the same company after leaving college. Left to start up Advanced Tree Services Ltd with a partner in 1997. The partnership got rocky in Dec 2002 so parted ways.
Worked for Continental Landscapes for 18 months setting up a tree surgery division in London. Got fed up with driving across London to Tower Hamlets from Woking every day, so when an opportunity came to start another company on my own so Cormack Tree Care Ltd was born in Nov 2004, and going strong today.

That career enough for you Mark?

 

Masochist!

[jfc]

Still young and plenty of time to replicate a similar CV to many on here[emoji3]

Hopefully replicating the good stuff!

[Mick Dempsey]

On 10/12/2018 at 00:29, Vespasian said:

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

 

 

 

 

 

If “The desired effect” was to further reinforce the perception that you’re a habitual liar.

Then yes, mission accomplished.

Edited December 13, 2018 by Mick Dempsey

[Vespasian]

Just now, Mick Dempsey said:

If the desired effect” was to further reinforce the perception that you’re a habitual liar.

Then yes, mission accomplished.

habitual liar?...   I'll have you know sir I never tell lies..  

 

That was produced to give some on here some Friday night entertainment...

 

I was gonna come clean later that evening but I was having so much fun I couldn't help but keep the charade goin for a day or two..  its all good fun.. you miserable sod.