David Cropper

9 hours ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

 

That's how they do it in Europe. Contraflows no longer than they need to be, go past roadworks on a French motorway at 3am, they're there fixing it.

 

It's a mess here.

Sorry to contradict, Moose. I don't know what part of France you are referring to, certainty not where I live and work. Barriers left in situ after work has been completed, temporary speed restriction signs still there a week or so after the jobs done, in perpetuum. I'm delving into Latin now, to show what a smart arse I am.

24 minutes ago, Rich Rule said:

Karen’s cat was out last night.

 

Becca sounds like the sort of girl to take home to meet  mother.

11 minutes ago, Matthew Storrs said:

Where abouts in the country are you Gary. I’m simply shocked at your success. I’ve put so mu chi work into my veg garden this year and the results are beyond depressing. Guess growing at 1300ft above sea level doesn’t help with 2000mm of rain a year!

Exactly the same for me Matt. Normally we are in a heat wave here now, rained pretty constantly for weeks , one month's worth fell overnight a week ago. My pumpkins, cucumbers and courgettes are crap, loads of leaves and flowers but they just aren't setting. Spuds are pretty tasteless, soil has been pushed into the skins, have to scrape the skins rather than just run them under water. Tomatoes are growing but the fruit seems to be waiting for some sun. Very depressing. Weeds have gone mad, the soil is so wet I can't get in to lift them. Worst year I can remember.

This was sent to me by another of our colleagues from the Mental Health forum. Mr Village Idiot, I shall also send one of these to enable you to prod the servants without actually coming into contact with them.

1 minute ago, agg221 said:

If you can't appreciate Cradle of Filth playing the works of Vivaldi then you sir are a Philistine!

Listened to it, hated it as pretentious rubbish. I believe I and my leather suited friend will be seeing you on the mental health thread also. Till we meet again. 

2 minutes ago, agg221 said:

I always preferred the George Formby grill myself - "I'm grilling on a lamb-chop at the corner of the street" etc.

Alec

Yet another music hating oaf!

2 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

A thousand pardons my Gallic friend. The recording of which you speak is indeed a true masterpiece. I have my minstrels play me selected cuts during my arduous and prolonged nightly dis-robings.

I assume we shall meet again on the thread about Mental Health, we seem to be on a converging path. I have a short booklet entitled " How to escape a strait jacket in three easy moves". It is a classic. I shall send it along with the George Formby material. 

20 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

@David Cropper our cover's blown, he's got us figured out.

Curse him!

29 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Cropper is a fool, you are a mischief maker and I'm going to have my dinner.

I refuse to be judged on my musical tastes by a leather suited gentleman in a gimp suit. I'm now off to listen to my favourite album of all time. " George Formby performs the best of Wagner". If you ask nicely a copy will wing your way shortly. I bid you Good day, sir.

34 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

Whoa, don't look at me, ol' Cropper actually likes it! I'm only the middleman, delivering horrendous nonsense to depraved Arbtalkers!

Philistine! 

9 minutes ago, Moose McAlpine said:

 

Your worst nightmares realised, in awful musical form:

 

 

I must be more mentally ill than I thought, I liked that! Bier keller music to get pissed to.

To bring a bit of light relief to an otherwise serious subject, I propose that we start a club, entitled something catchy such as "The damaged and depressive buggers club." I don't think we'll lack members, I'm the first in line for a badge. 

2 hours ago, Baldbloke said:

Go the whole Germanic hog and get some leather chaps to really freak her out

Do not, I repeat,  encourage him. The thought of him stamping around in lederhosen complete with sandals and socks would put the tin hat on it. His father lives in the next village to me, the last thing I need to see his great lump of a son mincing around glaring at the locals whilst singing the Horst Wessel marching song. I'm shuddering now!

2 hours ago, Gav73 said:

I read this thread with interest and a touch of eye rolling. Please keep an open mind when reading the rest of this.

I used to be in the “man up and get on with it” camp until a couple of years back when I kind of broke down.

A lot of what has been written resonated with me and some of the other comments did make me wonder what would happen if some of the people went through the same things I did, would they man up? Would they turn to substance abuse? Would they open up?

I worked in an environment where people looked for me to lead them through some very challenging times. For 7 years we faced the prospect of being made redundant at any given moment. It was a rollercoaster ride, one day the business looked to be turning a corner, the next it was spiralling downhill. 7 years is a long time to keep up spirits and keep the chin up on both yourself and your staff - yes I did man up to it.

Eventually the inevitable happened and the business closed down. There was relief all round that it was finally over and everyone moved on. I started a new job and I’d like to think I was fine at this point, but 2 years later and the new company I worked for took over a government owned business, they really didn’t do all the checks they should have and ended up with a massive problem - too many staff and a contract that said the previously government owned staff could not be touched.

The business decision was to shut down my office and make the entire office staff (200 people) redundant, so once again I was thrust into the role of keeping spirits up, keeping the office going and putting on the brave face.

This time there was an added complication, one of my guys was diagnosed with terminal cancer - 23 years old, had an 18 month old girl and was given 6 months to live. A shitty situation made worse by the fact I knew if he died before the office closed his family would get a decent insurance payout, if he didn’t they would get a measly redundancy package. My bosses wanted to do the right thing, but they needed to know which was the cards were going to fall and I got the job of finding out.

I was lucky that this kid was probably the bravest, most realistic person I’ve ever met. He knew and accepted what was happening to him and he was open about telling me everything I needed to know. I carried on visiting him every week up until he was taken into the hospice for the final few days. He even called me and asked to see me the day before he died - it took me an hour to “man up” after that visit and go back into the office with the brace face and keep the spirits up.

The office shut down 2 months later and I’d already decided I was going to take a break before going back into another job, but a curveball was thrown my way. I was being kept on for another year to help the people who had taken out jobs get up to speed.

I spent the next 18 months (it got extended because they were so shit) travelling to their office 200 miles away and staying in hotels 3 nights a week - sounds like a nice life until you know that you’re not welcome in their office because they didn’t want to do the work and used it as a means to move around all their problem employers. So there I sat between clients who were going demented with the sub standard work and the staff who didn’t give a shit.

I turned to drink. Every night I went out for dinner and kept drinking long into the night. Mainly on my own, a few times with other people I knew, but mainly alone. Drinking alone is not a good thing. You mull over things and they fester.

After what seemed a lifetime the contract ended and took some time out. I wasn’t myself. I was moody, angry, tearful, suicidal, felt worthless. The slightest thing would tip me over the edge. I refused to go and see anyone because I would “man-up” and get through it.

The crunch point for me was my wife giving me the reality check of what would happen if I didn’t sort my shit out.

I went to the doctor, and he asked me a couple of questions and I literally broke down, I started on antidepressants and got some counselling. I’m not a talker, never have been, but the counsellor was brilliant and I had so many light bulb moments.

2 years later I can now say hand on heart, I should have done it a lot sooner. I no longer see a counsellor or take any medication. I work at things I enjoy at my own pace and with no stresses. My issue was not a single event that put me over the edge, it was years of sustained issues. If I’d recognised this early on and didn’t “man-up” I could have coped much better and not spiralled.

Everyone will have a different trigger point that sends them over the edge, some people will be open about their stress, often this can be perceived as trivial, but this might be their coping mechanism and they may never get any worse. The lesson everyone needs to take from this is don’t be dismissive to your own or anyone else’s issues. Take a step back and ask if you’re/they’re ok. Talk about it. I’ve learnt that I should have done that.

A very brave and honest post, Gavin.

6 hours ago, skyhuck said:

What evidence do you have that getting pissed and ringing a mate would not help?

 

Its well known that the only time most blokes (well northern blokes) show their mates anything near affection is when they are pissed.

I'm a Northern bloke, Oldham, but for me getting pissed and ringing a mate wouldn't enter my head. I've never felt comfortable discussing my problems with anybody. If I relied on drink to help, I usually ended up getting even worse, bottling it up, then taking it out on some poor sod who looked at me sideways. I ended up seeing a psychiatrist for "my anger issues", didn't do me any good, I just felt a pillock and a bit of a tart. It took my then new wife to read me the Riot Act to bring me to heel and realise I could lose everything unless I changed. I did, although I still have an extremely quick temper, but now manage to control it. I've never taken it out on my animals or children, I'd walk away and fume on my own till I got under control. Again to reiterate,  everyone is different, what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another.

49 minutes ago, devon TWiG said:

nowadays everyone ( almost ) is encouraged to be sensitive and thoughtful and care about everything and everyone which is mostly positive but makes people easily upset and in a way " soft " ( not a criticism )  

 

Is that a bad thing, being "soft" ? I'd rather that I can now listen to someone who needs to unburden their self than how I was a few years ago. I come from the generation were being sensitive was seen as a fault,  get a grip, man up, don't be a girl etc. That works for some but not everyone. When I was a very young Trooper, we had a lad about my age, 18, hung himself with a towel in the block drying room. That's something I won't forget. I expect he'd been told to "get a grip of yourself ", nobody would ask for help in those days, sign of weakness. It turned out he was working himself into a lather because of the constant patrols , he was basically frightened, couldn't see a way out. Took his own life rather than appear weak. What a waste of a young life. In case some of you think I'm a soft arse, I assure you I'm not. Just finally grown up. The World has changed, hopefully for the better.

I had a case of this today. My french pal a gardener/forester, 36 years old, was at my place and I'd got him some work with a Brit neighbour. He then starts to get upset as he's worried he can't cope with extra work. It turns out he was working at the local chateau at the edge of the village this morning,  rained very heavily in the night meaning he was struggling to get the grass down. He told the owner he would return later after lunch when it was drier. Owner started moaning etc, turns out he constantly micro manages ever job that Franck does. Whilst he's telling me the tale,  he starts to cry. The stress of it all has gotten to him in a big way. I took him into my kitchen, sat him down and we went through his options. The end result was that I've told him that when he's finished and the owner has paid him, thank him for the previous work but unfortunately it is impossible to continue due to his behaviour. Be polite but firm, his mental health is worth more than a few euros. I was worried he would take the stress home, a wife and two little ones to consider. He was thinking of future work from this chap,  not worth it in the long run, something else will turn up. Quite worrying at the time as he's a nice lad but prone to thinking the worst will happen. I'll ring him in awhile to see what happened.

9 hours ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

OMFG WTAF?

 

Should I change my inherent hostility to sympathy?

 

For anyone that bemoans the state of the current government - and I’m not suggesting it would be entirely unjustifiable in certain circumstances - just listen to the state of what would have been a ministerial alternative:

 

Diane Abbott incomprehensible in latest car-crash interview

FOXHOLE.NEWS

---

Diane Abbott struggled to get her words out on Friday evening in an exchange with Cathy Newman on Times Radio. The...

 

Pissed as a pudding. Or stupider than ever.

6 hours ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Cropper is refusing to send it back!

You can have it! It stinks of unwashed matelot and abused cabinboys. 

I havent forgotten or forgiven him for saying he's anti horse as well. I remarked that you shouldn't trust the Boche with women and horse flesh. 

17 minutes ago, Big J said:

Not a joke as such....

 

I'm in Sweden later this week for work. Being half German, I've always felt the irresistible draw of sandals and socks, but being married to a English lady (notably not suffering from a visual impairment) I've never been allowed.

 

So in Sweden I'm going to go nuts. Sandals and socks all the way. 

 

Kathryn asked for photographic proof. I asked if it that could be considered sexting. She said no - it's the exact opposite 😄

You, sir, are a barbarian. 

1 minute ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

None taken Mr C!  Your turn in the barrel next week!

Not again!

1 hour ago, kevinjohnsonmbe said:

Bent as a Turk’s dagger!

I must be slipping, Mr Johnson,  I can usually spot a Sausage Jockey straightaway, no offence to your good self. I don't think he is to be honest.

57 minutes ago, Commando said:

That’s interesting David, have tried both on Makita MM4 and Husky 343r and have found the tri-blade seems to keep speed up and less jolts when I hit something large. I would have thought the geometry of the tri-blade much more forgiving in that respect.
I was advised same by dealer.
Thx Craig

I've got the Husqvarna 535, Craig, only 35cc but was powerful enough when I did lots of brushcutting. I once was cutting stuff that was 3 metres high, around 5000 mtrs sq , and had been untouched for donkeys years. Found a hay cart completely covered in brambles, then 3 metres plus of that I hit an empty gas cylinder. Actually pierced the metal. First thing I knew what it was, was  the smell of gas. Blade was knocked out of true but I think I was only paying 20 euro each for the two blade. Excellent bit of kit. Thankfully all that sort of work is behind me!