Hello you orrible lot.

Who knows indeed..

" TandemJeremy – Member

guys – I think some of you have rather got the wrong end of the stick here.

Sharki is not asking anyone to put him up and feed him – he is offering to work for his keep.

Don't criticise a man until you have walked many a mile in his shoes."

are you for **** real! you daft **** shit! why should his kids suffer for his selfish needs? i have kids myself with an x, and would'nt dream of leaving them for a selfish dream i have, if i didn'nt see my kids every other day they'd never get out of the house! there mother takes them nowhere, they're both now mad on biking and i feel so proud of them! you dont half talk some **** shit sometimes tj! you make my blood boil you **** dick!!!1 👿

shaggmeister – do you know sharki and his situation?

Don't criticise a man until you have walked many a mile in his shoes

Just 'cos you are full of angst and guilt.

Steady on now…

i realise if i'm to live, i need to feel alive and too that i need more than a few weekends away, perhaps a holiday a year and the rest of the time struggling in a job i hate, in a place i despise.

I dare say most folk feel this way. THe vast majority don't have the option to simply go walkabout though.

angst and guilt"!!! why would i have that you stu[pid fecker!!!!! have you no kids or are you just a selfish **** like him!!!!!!!! 👿

BINGO!! This one will run n run I fear. I suggest letting the guy speak for himself.

Yeah, pity this ain't a Monday Morning thread, or it could run for days.

Now, how long before Godwin's Law is invoked?

if i wanted to i could do what the **** i wanted!, but because i really care about my kids i would'nt dream of leaving them, i understand some people can'nt see there kids for what ever reason, i've been there, but with a lot of perseverence, i got through it all, theres no excuse!!!

are you for **** real! you daft **** shit!

Colourful.

I say again – do you know the man and his position? Because unless you do you do not have the info to judge him.

I have met sharki a couple of times but I know I don't know him well enough to cast judgement on him. So until I do I give him the benefit of the doubt and as he has been generous towards me in the past I will be generous towards him

Did anyone watch that tv program where some vicar did something similar to this? (the wandering thing, not calling TJ a "**** shit" obviously)

He was a cheating bastard who relied on his dog collar and camera crew to bounce the unsuspecting and camera-struck into giving him stuff when sans dog collar and tv crew they'd have told him to piss off

That program really irritated me – don't be like him.

I like this thread because it has Tj quoting himself quoting someone else already! and it's early days!

if your coming up past the midlands(leicester) and fancing laying a patio and path give me a shout and we can come to an arrangment 🙂

Yes, nobody is in my situation and i hope none of you ever try to take your own life.

If you have, then perhaps you can begin to know what it feels like.

So i managed to stop myself, 3 times in fact, to prevent a 4th and maybe final time. Instead i walked away from the situations that forced me to take drastic and near fatal actions.

Hey! i've sat here for 2 hrs typing a reply in this box, trying to word it in a way you can understand, to put my point across, however..

I know this place too well, to many critiques and experts on everything.

In short my feelings are thus.

For 38yrs i've felt like a caged animal, only being let out on occasions but under the curfew of society and governmental rules, having a routine, being part of the system, well it broke me, i didn't fit in.

When i walked away, i had all the control, no schedule, routine to keep to. I didn't have to be somewhere at a certain time, instead i had all the time i needed.

When i met someone, i didn't have to rush off, i could tell them stories, mend bikes, listen to their problems. Every meeting was a pleasure, every place appreciated.

I had no illness's, flu, no headaches, panic attacks.

Why not? Was it because i wasn't stressed and was so relaxed?

I had time to meet and spend time with amazing people and see amazing things, i walked over 700 miles and never got angry, rarely felt really stressed, needed to raise my voice or cry.

And all without means to depend on money, guaranteed shelter, luxurys.

If that's what it takes for me to be happy what right does anyone have to make me be unhappy?

Sharki, ignore the petty minded fools.

YOU know what's best for you at the moment. Good luck in your travels.

I'm not sure you're doing the right thing and I don't want to be encouraging you, but I've seen enough people living the wife and two kids, mortgage and mowing the lawn on Sunday morning life to know that I couldn't put up with it. I'd have walked out years ago.
I'm in the Wyre Forest in Worcestershire, somewhere on the border between a conventional and an alternative way of life.
If you happen to be passing this way, call in.

Sharky

If you are in the S of France this winter then pop over the border into Liguria, Italy.

I have spare apartment where you can stay in exchange for some trail building help…or driving the shuttle bus…guiding even…

Ciao e buon passegiata

Oh dear – all very judgemental. Room at Inners in exchange for a bit of decorating.

I'm with the MTFU crowd on this one; part of being a grown up is doing stuff that you don't want to do, like getting a job, like accepting responsibility, like looking after children.

If that's what it takes for me to be happy what right does anyone have to make me be unhappy?

I suspect blaming other people for your unhappiness is not going to help.

Anyway, you have a great time, we'll still be here, doing the shit that you're not doing.

I do not know you Sharki, but do what you have to do mate!

I do agree with some of what you have said about being part the system, it stinks!

If you need some bike bits or anything else, and i have something you need you are welcome to it (email in my profile).

People have helped me out in the past, so i always help others when i can. 8)

HI Sharki – have a wicked time mate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PINxfouNQFw&feature=youtube_gdata

To be honest I'm of the belief that he's more use to his kids alive than dead, maybe one day the wanderlust will go but the choice between seeing his kids grow up and living on the road would never be an easy one to make and to me he's clearly had a long time to consider his options and his choices are his to bear.

I say again – do you know the man and his position? Because unless you do you do not have the info to judge him.
I have met sharki a couple of times but I know I don't know him well enough to cast judgement on him. So until I do I give him the benefit of the doubt

This little pearl of wisdom came from TandemJeremy the very same man who only a couple of weeks ago was rather active and very spiteful on the Elbry threads, a man, I suspect, Tandemjeremy has never met.

For what it's worth if Sharki wants go off on a big wander and his kids/family etc are all happy with it then as far as I'm concerned so be it, but can we not have anymore of the Howies style justifcations for it please?

richiethesilverfish

Its hardly the same situation. Sharki is not claiming things that are clearly untrue

I say again – do you know the man and his position? Because unless you do you do not have the info to judge him.

I have met sharki a couple of times but I know I don't know him well enough to cast judgement on him.

and you also don't know him well enough to know what he's really thinking.

i know shane well enough. i'm not going to discuss my thoughts on here as he knows them.

No I don't aleigh – which is why no judgement.

then you need to get under the surface to understand why, not just encourage the situation

Don't save up to go travelling like the rest of the world would…

…and, without meaning to be cruel or judgemental, don't worry about paying anything towards the society that you exist in, the sanitation, the healthcare, the education, the legal system, the searchers who spent time looking for you..

It's fine, we'll take care of all that while you find yourself.

(I'm aware that this is coming across in a less than pleasant way, but it's meant as a kind of antidote to the 'Yeah man, you go and find yourself dude-ness above.)

To be honest I'm of the belief that he's more use to his kids alive than dead

Amen to that. Not everyone is wired up the same, you can't just tell someone to MTFU and take it all because there are so many unknowns to a persons psyche. Having read Sharki's posts its obvious he cares enough about his kids and life to choose a longer path back to happiness. So to all the people who think he's just copping out or whatever take a look at your own kids and think to yourself, if you just couldn't cope anymore and felt like ending it wouldn't you do everything in your power to remedy your situation by any means necessary?? Sure it seems harsh leaving your kids and opting for a nomadic lifestyle but in years to come his kids will be pleased he was man enough to accept a life that worked for him and didn't leave them fatherless.

Sharki – we've never met, but we have a vague connection – you used my 24/12 place last year when I couldn't make the event.

MrNutt sums up my view best. Plus the world would be a very dull place without people realising that the daily grind is not for them. There's plenty of room for a few people to live a little differently.

Doing your own thing, being happy and passing on this happiness to your friends and family through letters, emails, phone calls and occasional visits seems to me to be far better than carrying on in a situation that has taken you to some bad places.

Whatever you end up doing – good luck.

Sure it seems harsh leaving your kids and opting for a nomadic lifestyle but in years to come his kids will be pleased he was man enough to accept a life that worked for him and went walkabout while someone else paid for them and fed them and brought them up and wiped their noses and disciplined them and made their school dinners and washed their clothes and read them stories and bought them sweets and tucked them into bed and helped them to become people.

Fixed it…

So to all the people who think he's just copping out or whatever take a look at your own kids and think to yourself, if you just couldn't cope anymore and felt like ending it wouldn't you do everything in your power to remedy your situation by any means necessary??

yes, it's called getting professional help, something i know about

and went walkabout while someone else paid for them and fed them and brought them up and wiped their noses and disciplined them and made their school dinners and washed their clothes and read them stories and bought them sweets and tucked them into bed and helped them to become people.

Fair point, but what would you do in his shoes?? Carry on your life as is and end up killing yourself or blissfully anaesthetised at the bottom of a bottle, either way being of no use to your kids. Maybe leaving your kids is the same as that but you can come back when you're able and still be a part of their lives, better than nothing.

I know about professional help too and it worked for me, what i'm saying is everyone is different and surely we cant judge a man for finding his own happy medium however selfish it may seem to the rest of us.

Sharki – my Mum and Dad i am 100% sure will welcome you in the cottage in teh Peak. Dad is a carpenter and needs some help as do the laydeez of the village. Give me a shout when you get up here. Unfortunately our house is now a little full 🙂

Fair point, but what would you did I do in his shoes??

Gritted my teeth, took my medicine, went back to work, acted like a grown up, paid my taxes, paid for my children.

Sorry, but running away and leaving the rest of the world to the job that you should be doing is wrong.

Feckless dads are feckless dads, whether on a council estate or a mountain bike forum.

If I were you sharki, I'd bite nasher's hand off, That's an offer of a lifetime right there ^^^^^^^.

Oh and ignore the negativity on here, I'm sure you will anyway.

Fair point, but what would you did I do in his shoes??

Gritted my teeth, took my medicine, went back to work, acted like a grown up, paid my taxes, paid for my children

same for me

edit – it's not negativity

Well I'm glad that worked for you. I'd second what The Doog and trailmonkey said.

Sharki I'll pm you my contact details over there

I'd second what The Doog and trailmonkey said.

if you don't have kids and haven't suffered with depression you would