Work things your proud of…

Ps, boardinbob.. If that was the laings in Glasgow it’s being turned into student flats now. Cracking location!

Helped deal with the aftermath of the 7/7 suicide bombing at Aldgate as one of the initial police responders. On duty for 19hrs and back in after 5hrs sleep. Not a day I’ll forget in a hurry.

I spent a long 4hrs on the phone one evening convincing a client that suicide was not there only option.

Ian

Pilgrim – ( and others) Little things make a difference. ( and that was not so little) Sometimes even sharing a smile is enough to change yours and someone else’s day.

Windows 7 was totally my idea.

Isn’t that considered unhealthy? I’ve always been told you should only lose 1-2 lbs a week.

the chap came to me 10 1/2 weeks ago after spending 12 weeks at weightwatchers on a GP prescription and only lost 2lbs in total over the whole period. we started at 25stone and we’re still going down 🙂 he still eats 3 meals a day, and the next step to maintain his level of weight loss is to increase his exercise from 30 minutes of swimming a week to swimming twice a week.. his weight loss is having a more positive effect on his mental health than 7 years of intensive support. we monitor his blood sugar, blood pressure etc etc regularly and he has regular blood tests at the GPs. all safe and sound 🙂

agreed with the other social workers, nurses, A&E staff, support workers and such. its not necessarily the big events, its the little things that change someone’s life for the better that happen nearly every shift.

That’s cool ^^

In 1972 I was a crack commando and sent to prison by a military court for a crime I didn’t commit. I then promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, I survive as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find me, I might be able to help you out if I’m not doing owt else

A mate posted on facebook the other day asking for volunteers to help teach kids about programming. I am really excited by the possibility actually. Hope it comes off 🙂

cynic-al – Member
BigJohn can you look at my cv please.

So many answers to that, Al. 8)

cozz, can you have a look at a tricky plumbing job for me?

cozz, can you have a look at a tricky plumbing job for me?

I’ll be round later, I’m just busy welding a plough to the front of my van in preparation

Phil – what is your actual job then?

My first day as a wholetime firefighter.
I was sitting getting the ‘welcome to the shift’ talk from the gaffer getting told that it wasn’t all blues and twos…blah, blah… and the bells went. We were called to assist a neighbouring brigade at a block of flats on fire. On arrival the other crew was dealing with the fire (re-homed psychiatric patient set fire to her bed in ground floor flat) and my team member and I were sent in for search and rescue on the upper floors. We found the door of the first, 1st floor flat, made contact with the occupant and told them to get to their window for rescue, asked them if any of their neighbours were in, they didn’t know.
We then found the door of the next flat, it was open. There was very heavy smoke logging so we continued on with our search. My partner shouted that they’d found a casualty. When I went to help we found it to be a dog! We worked our way through the flat room by room, found another dog in the hall and one in the kitchen. We then found the livingroom and I came across a cat on the sofa…Oh no, wait, this isn’t a cat! It was a small baby! When I picked it up, the breathing was stridulous, a horrible sound that I’ll never forget! We had a quick sweep round to find the parents but couldn’t locate them. We then ran out of there as fast as we could and grabbed our resus pack. Fortunately an ambulance drew up and we handed the baby over to them. We were sent back in to locate further casualties, we searched that flat from top to bottom, there were cots and playpens in almost every room and every time I stuck my hands blindly in to one I feared the worst! We cleared every room and cupboard in that flat and found no further casualties. No parents, no one!
I later found out it was a 10 month old wee girl who was rushed, in a very serious condition to Yorkhill, sick kids in Glasgow where she went on to make a full recovery!
Her parents had left her lying on the sofa with the dogs to look after her whilst they went to the shop and then on to visit someone in another block further down the street.
I could quite happily of retired after that knowing that I’d been part of the process that had not only saved the wee lasses’ life but also helped better it. If that was to be the only rescue I performed in my career then so be it. Fortunately/unfortunately depending on your viewpoint it’s not been but that one incident, on my first day as the sprog on shift will live with me until the day I die. I remember every step, sound, feeling in that pitch black, smoke filled flat like it was yesterday…and it wasn’t 😮
I received a commendation for my actions on that day but that paled in to insignificance compared to how happy I felt about what I had done.
Whilst at work do I moan about some of the things that I have to do? Yes, it’s my prerogative! 😀
Am I proud of what do? Absolutely!

I took some rubbish to the tip just after xmas, which gave me much greater satisfaction than just about anything I’ve ever done in my tedious paper shuffling office job.

[note to other self in parallel universe – do not do Mechanical Engineering at University]

sometimes it’s the smaller details that help

+ 1 million – not least having the time to talk to patients.

One of my fave memories from work was looking after an old guy who had been brought in after a massive PR bleed. I’ll call him ‘Jim’. After having been scoped & sorted, Jim was passed back to us in surgical admissions. He was too zonked for any conversation when I first met him, but whilst helping him to wash the next morning I couldn’t help but notice extensive scars all over his legs & torso. Judging by his age I guessed what they might have resulted from, and casually asked if he’d ever been in the Forces. Yes, he had – having dropped into Europe as a 19 year old Para during the Normandy campaign. On day 2, one of his friends stood on a mine and was blown to pieces, leaving Jim alive but badly wounded. Over the course of the morning shift, I grabbed a chat with Jim whenever I had a spare moment. After being patched up, he’d returned in time for the endgame in Germany, and then went quietly back to his job as a dockworker.

At the end of the shift, as I waved goodbye, he said: “Thank you for talking to me about D-Day.”

“No Sir, thank you!”

I’ve just been blogged about:

http://liveliketheboy.co.uk/2012/01/18/matt-antrobus-a-suitable-surface/

Kinda weird reading about onesself!

Top 50 Travel Websites of all Time – The Guardian, July 2011
Travel Tip of the Month – Independent, March 2011
Best of Travel on the Web – BBC, September 2011
Spark of Genius Start Up – Mashable, November 2011

plus a few other bits and pieces in the guardian and other travel blogs/websites.

not saved any lives (through work, anyway), but to have had such good press (esp top 50 travel websites of all time) within 18 months of launching feels great for me and my 4 colleagues.

i think our 1st paycheck from it will be a happy moment, though!

+1 about it sometimes being the little things. As a copper I’ve been in a position to be involved in some headline-making type incidents but one of the most impactive was more “trivial”. Dealt with a vulnerable old man who’d been befriended and exploited by a drug using former burglar, who’d inveigled her way into his life as an informal carer. His family became suspicious and confronted him but hid pride meant he couldn’t see what was happening, and he cut off communication with his son.

So one day we are called by a local bank branch. He is trying to withdraw the last of his life savings, and there isn’t much left. We investigate, catch her, get her through the courts and into prison and in the papers*, but the real reward was standing in a bank lobby seeing the tearful reconciliation between a father and son. Pretty sure it was dusty and I got something in my eye….

Pilgrim, as others have said its often the smaller things that have a profound impact on both you and the subject.

I dont seem to be able to add tags, but Thread Of The Year seems appropriate. None of it willy waving, all of if affirming.

*
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/archive/2006/02/07/Oxfordshire+Archive/6645189._Carer__stole_OAP_s_savings/

I forgot that this may sum up what I do (ignore the nonce in the bunnet a couple of minutes in, he knows nothing 😉 )

This has got to be the thread of the year so far, what a talented lot you are, i feel so insignificant in your prescence.

Another one who is humbled by the life savers. I’m just proud of the folks who’ve gone on to build something big after being seen giving one of the presentations I’ve coached them for.

It’s easy to do the ‘life saving’ thing if your job is ‘life saving’, it’s not a big ask, it’s not out of the ordinary. The real heroes are those who do stuff that no one tells them to, the really good guys are those people who do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.

You, the people who do these things, the people who take a chance, the people who see good in others, the people who think ‘I’ve got to do something’ even when they aren’t sure what to do, the people who actually care, you’re the heroes.

Ahem…

Some great stuff here, for people to rightly be proud of.

Matt – I went to Ardeonaig at primary school as a kid and loved it. Regularly drive past on my way from Kenmore to Killin and it brings back good memories.

You local then?

No, based in Fife at the moment but I get about 😆