When Health & Safety Did'nt Exist ;-)

Well we don’t know how far apart the boat and the store were… but if he couldn’t carry 2 bags at a time he’d have to do a hell of a lot more trips between them?

Doing the journey evey 18 secs is insane… maybe he could carry 4 bags at once, which would allow him to have his nap at lunchtime.

Maybe he had a wheelbarrow.

Richmars, good point, it could have been a one off challenge to see how much he could shift in a day, not a normal working day.

Maths: Pass
English: Fail

It makes sense to me. Where have I gone wrong ?

It makes sense to me. Where have I gone wrong ?

In not recognising it first time.

Oh, OK, I see what you mean now, although “he has carried 130 tons in a single day” rather than “he once carried 130 tons in a single day” implies it happened more than once.

It still sounds more like folklore than an accurate historical record to me.

Actually 36 seconds is quite a long time. In my experience this sort of work would have entailed a sack coming down a chute onto the shoulders. At which point the labourer would have walked across a loading bank and onto the bed of the vehicle being loaded, dropped the sack and than walked back for the next one, say a total distance of between 4 and 10 metres at the very most or a top end average of 7 metres covered (all dependant on how the load was progressing). I’m pretty sure you can easily cover that distance in 18 seconds, and cover it in a very leasurely fashion in 36. So I’m not sure that the 130 tonnes figure is so unapproachable. It was definately the case that there was a real chance of injury through working like this and personally I’m very glad its gone in this country at least.

although “he has carried 130 tons in a single day” rather than “he once carried 130 tons in a single day” implies it happened more than once.

Really? I would disagree. If I said I have ridden the C2C in a single day. Would you think I had done it a few times?

I’d think you’d done the Sustrans route 🙄

The fact that it’s an ambiguous statement, and it’s folklore presented as news, is more important than whether I interpret the statement differently to you.

The fact that it’s an ambiguous statement, and it’s folklore presented as news, is more important than whether I interpret the statement differently to you

probably, but they are both so trivial that it’s not worth arguing about. Let’s just agree that I won and move on.

This is the internet, remember.
You don’t seriously expect me to admit I was wrong do you ?
Especially when it was you who was wrong in the first place.

You don’t seriously expect me to admit I was wrong do you ?
Especially when it was you who was wrong in the first place

Of course not! I only expect you to agree that I won!

Sorry, I had no idea this was about winning.

You guys can wibble on all you like, I find it highly amusing as everyone can clearly see that I’ve won.

Here’s a picture to prove my point…

OK, you’ve won the being wrong contest.

Sorry, I had no idea this was about winning.

You guys can wibble on all you like, I find it highly amusing as everyone can clearly see that I’ve won.

Here’s a picture to prove my point..

Hang on, I’l respond fully after I’ve watched that video till the end

OK, you’ve won the being wrong contest

By being write, obviously.

Although CharlieMungus has been wrong 130 times in a single day.

Hold on, I think it’s nearly finished…

I don’t see how that’s possible… nobody can post 130 times in a single day 🙄

Sometimes he’s wrong twice in one post, so he can be just as wrong in half the time.

Ahh I see… if he was wrong 4 times in one post he might even have time to take a lunchbreak.

Wrong 4 times in one post?
That just can’t be done, no way, no how, not here!

TSY what happens at the end?

Not telling, tis secret.

“Jim Silk”…. as Geoff Wode quote on Withnail&I…

“Imagine the size of his balls!

Well that was a nice little read.
FWIW back when I was a yoof (15-19) I used to train for amateur powerlifting and worked on a farm in summers. I weighed in at 72kg, was benching 92.2kg, squatting 120kg and deadlifting 165kg. Once, for a laugh, I picked a friends Metro up from the back.
On the farm it was normal practice to sling a half hundred weight bag of bulbs on each shoulder and walk with them to the pallet, then back and do it again. Repeat for your 10 1/2 hour day. With half hour for lunch, 10minutes tea break and 12 minutes afternoon break of course.
This wasn’t back in the hinterlands of time, this was late 90s.
Of course we all get old and out of practice and end up being typists. Therein lies the problem.

When I started on the building we were moving 50kg bags of cement regularly. Can’t remember it being too difficult, & we did try moving two stacked on the shoulder if someone helped it up there. And I was a5’9″ lad not a hulk. I saw sense & went into Engineering after training. 🙂

My old man is a stick compared to me, & he spent years laying kerbs in the 60’s. He’s a bloody wreck now mind, but I remember him kicking the neighbours door off its hinges once, when they’d dragged me out the house drunk one night.

Not wanting to p*** on elfins parade or anything, but the highest RECORDED temperature in Australia is 53.1 in Cloncurry. Remember that one from an Australia Day Quiz.

mightymarmite – Member
Not wanting to p*** on elfins parade or anything, but the highest RECORDED temperature in Australia is 53.1 in Cloncurry…

Thanks for mentioning that.

The place I was talking about was very close to the ‘Curry. I was working out of Mt Isa and the limestone mine was between the 2 towns, on the Mary K side.

No dramas. That was back in the late 1800’s from memory. Well before cow flatulence, range rovers and all the other global warming. Its probably hotter than the sun out there by now

Our thermometer used to hit the mid 40s regularly in Dec/Jan. With our aircon going full blast we were lucky if we could get down to 30º inside, but that felt cool to us. 🙂

Its a shame you never RECORDED The temp, would make humble pie more palatable for certain people.

mightymarmite – Member
Its a shame you never RECORDED The temp …

That heat was normal as far as we were concerned so we never really thought that much of it. It was dry heat so it felt quite bearable.

I think what this thread illustrates is that there is a huge gap between the gym muscles of office workers who exercise for recreation and those of men doing heavy labour day in day out.

Apparently Jimmy Silk … unloaded the 130 tons of cement in temperatures approaching 58ºc

Also, when it was a bit nippy about -30º he would pop on a string vest.

All in Bristol of course.

IT’s TRUE it’s on the Interweb.