Doug Tait

Another evocative one was used in one of the Winter Olympic adverts. Don't know who wrote it or when but it stuck with me, The Dreadful Menace.

I am the dreadful menace.
The one whose will is done.
The haunting chill upon your neck.
I am the conundrum.

I will summon armies.
Of wind and rain and snow.
I made the black cloud overhead.
The ice, like glass below.

Not you, nor any other.
Can fathom what is nigh.
I will tell you when to jump.
And I’ll dictate how high.

The ones that came before you.
Stood strong and tall and brave.
But I stole those dreams away.
Those dreams could not be saved.

But now you stand before me.
Devoid of all dismay.
Could it be? Just maybe.
I’ll let you have your day.

Not seen that one before, like it.

For a long time my favourite poem has been Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

Find it very evocative.

I'm trying but it's raining and dark! The wind yesterday came with a lovely bright day, not today.

Morning all.

Poor cow

Got excited early on but alas.

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It's a stick boom but I don't know about the fly jib part.

19 minutes ago, Donnie said:

@Doug Tait is this the lot you applied for?

We've had a chat Jake, cheers

Very enjoyable Ash dismantle today.

Branches cut and chucked, when it came to the timber used the the grcs combined with the chipper winch. The guys snap cut them then backed the basket off and I broke them off with the winch, held them on the grcs and floated them out to the drop zone. Great feeling having lumps of timber hovering, one finger on the remote, other hand on the lowering rope, laying them gently in a pile.

Just not much time for photography.

Morning all.

Up with the workers today, out with a mewp so no lazy morning for me. No rain forecast fingers crossed.

Have a good one folks.

Was it one of Mark's mate that bailed you out, ’Dangerous’ Brian or maybe the lad Hunter.

And they say that those who teach can't do.

1 hour ago, sime42 said:

 

I had a similarly exciting experience with wiring once. Though I was sober. (Not sure if that works in my defense or not). The only thing that I know for sure now about wiring is to assume nothing! I was cutting what I thought was an already disconnected wire.

 

Edit. And remember to use one of those electrical tester screwdrivers before touching anything.

 

 

 

 

That's what hurt the most sime, my dad had all the kit, tester, insulated tools, just not at theirs and I had my eyes on the prize, wink wink!

Went out with a lass for a while, she lived with her mum but dad wasn't around. I was quickly accepted as man of the house and did all the fixing and shelf erecting etc. They went to ikea one Saturday, I may have had a few with the lads. Got to the house just as they were leaving for a night out together. Look they said, we got these new wall lights, can you put them up please, we'd be sooo grateful.

Obviously to keep my status level up it had to happen before they returned, and despite having no electrical tools whatsoever at theirs I was drunk, I mean confident. Not a problem, there's a tiny knife from the kitchen that would remove the screws.

Switched off the lighting circuit and got stuck in. Three fittings along one wall changed, only one in a corner to do. Suddenly a flash, I had a loud ringing in my ears and couldn't work out why I was sat on the floor, strange taste in my mouth and a knife in my hand with a melted tip.

They never found out and hero status remained, but I learnt you never assume a light is fed from a lighting circuit. And that doing so is a quick way to sober up.

Had my renewal for the pickup a few weeks ago from admiral. Same scenario, 570 last time up over 200 for renewal. I called, had an argument with the AI bot and it put me through to an operator as a failed call.

He asked how he could help, I said be realistic with the renewal price, he asked if I had got another quote, I said no I'm giving you the chance first but realistically I'm considering just putting pickup off the road. Few minutes later, "valued customer" etc, quote for 610 agreed.

Haggling I suppose but didn't take much effort.

Can't fathom how he navigated the planning system and ancient woodlands to achieve it.

16 minutes ago, nepia said:

Spent many hours as a four or five year old seeing how many stairs I could jump from and land on the Victorian tiled hall floor at the bottom.

I could do seven - just - but never eight.

I must have worn a patch in the carpet on that eighth stair trying but the smashed face, knees, legs, elbows never told me 'you can't do eight'.

 

Stupid?  I'm told it can't be fixed

Some may say stupid, I prefer enterprising, courageous and explorative. Bet Sir Ranulph tested himself from a young age too!

The extension flat roof when I was maybe 10 had a raised lawn close to one side with a distance in height of a couple of meters between them. I remember patiently waiting on the flat roof (completely verboten) for dad to come by before declaring myself the '6 million dollar man' and launching off the roof. Being an experienced stunt coordinator I landed safely of course, but did emerge from the day's events with an extremely sore arse when dad had finished showing the extremes of his displeasure.

Learnt from it though, kind of.

Few years on and playing with a mate and his brother at the farm house they lived in, we decided it'd be great to jump from their second floor bedroom window to the garden below, but it seemed quite high. We needed a pile of mattresses which helpfully were readily available in all bedrooms. The plan worked great and much fun was had, when his dad passed by he laughed but suggested enough was enough and his mum best not find out. Just a few more jumps then we thought, but we misjudged it and his mum appeared. She didn't laugh and sore arses prevailed. I was particularly aggrieved as I got one from her and had the indignity of a second round from my mum when I got home.

Those were the days.

6 minutes ago, peds said:

Did you ever accidentally mix the wrong cleaning products in a bucket and nearly die in a poorly-ventilated bathroom?

No but my old ma did!

She did cleaning for various places around when I was a nipper. At one house owned by a surgeon, she decided to hit the tiled floor in the hallway hard. The usual mop and bucket wasn't getting it done so she mixed (I think) bleach, vim and hot water then took to her knees with a scrubbing brush. The surgeon returned home to mum sat on the bottom step, woosy and not making much sense, he took her outside and after a while she improved enough for him to explain that she'd basically created (iirc) a rough approximation of first world war chlorine gas.

Morning all.

Looks miserable today, colder again and wet and windy.

I'm hanging on to yesterday instead, lovely. We went to one of the many "cathedrals of nature" we're lucky enough to have locally for a peaceful, restorative day out, hardly a soul around.

Have a good one folks.

Edit. Another particular highlight of yesterday was Stubby saying 'sorry, did you just tell me to go f myself?'.

Had visions of Stubs in the beer garden, one of those inconspicuous right hook's that leads to sleepy time before quietly stepping back to the bar to finish his pint. Betty was discovered by the barmaid sometime later, a bit groggy, somewhat sheepish, and was asked to leave.

2 minutes ago, Joe Newton said:

Goodbye

🚀

😂😂😂

5 minutes ago, Steven P said:

A bit disturbing if anyone takes the bury barbed wire where people can't see it / more powerful electrify fences

Especially as the op said it's kids doing it.

There's no need for that.

Pretty sure woody paul is correct, not legal to electrify barbed wire because an animal or human must be able to escape the shock.

But even if he's wrong there's no need for the f yourself comment.

Morning all.

Yesterday's Spring like appearance has awoken meine Frau from the winter doldrums, so it's been decided that we're going out with the kayak today.

We always have a laugh, her picnic skills are high end and Wee Poppes loves it too so a great day out beckons.

Last time we were out we went a few hours down the river, Poppes sat like Cleopatra in her golden barge down the Nile!

Have a good one folks.

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Been intrigued.

In hindsight my starter word didn't get the thought it should've had.