Some solid suggestions already. Would add:
Faze Action – Plans and designs
Guru – Jazammataz Vol 1

Not strictly an artist album, but the original Renaissance mix CD and Sasha & Digweed Northern Exposure 1 still do it after all these years!

I have a couple of Klattermusen packs which are bombproof and comfy. A bit spendy but they are real quality and different.
Arcteryx Bora packs are good too, but eyewateringly pricey (I got a deal way less than RRP).

Zamberlan boots fit my feet well. I have two pairs of the Vioz plus model that are a good few years old and still in good shape. Uttings outdoors usually have a deal on them.

It would seem skateboarding could be the culprit. Smashing yourself repeatedly in to concrete, tarmac, stairs, kerbs and handrails at speed in hindsight would appear to be a terrible idea.

Dunno, i’m still skating lots at 42 without ill effects! The entire weekend was skating 1/2 pipes and concrete bowls and was still OK for work at 5am on Monday. Takes a couple of days to get over a really bad slam but other than that i’m all good.
I played football, skated, raced BMX & MTB in my younger years and moved in to working very manual jobs offshore later on and have been lucky to have never suffered much in the way of injury and feel pretty fit and healthy as a result. Now i primarily sit behind a desk.

I do take supplements for my joints and general health and eat reasonably healthy foods. I also drink lots of water.

My daughter was similar age to OP and I relented.
A few months later and she was sent some particularly explicit images via SMS. My Daughter had to be interviewed by the Police (which made her think she had done something wrong and had a big effect on her) and the phone was taken by the Police for a few months for data analysis.
No one was charged, as the phone used to send images was a random PAYG SIM.

Possibly one wrong digit entered to a phone no by the sender if I am giving benefit of the doubt, but the upshot is that she no longer has her own phone.

Two Cairns here. One i have had since a pup and one i re-homed at 2 y/o.

Both have unbelievable prey drive and as mentioned above, will be off like a shot!

Both great with my kids and people in general, although both can be a bit wary of larger dogs. No issues with any damage to furniture or general destruction! Both fine with the cat who occasionally turns up on my doorstep, but they aren’t fond of strange cats they see on walks.
Cairns are full of character and quite rightly summed up as a big dog in a little dogs body. I wouldn’t have another breed now.

Good luck!

Yes, one was the mother of my two kids and I jumped in to another very similar relationship straight after.

The two posts you have quoted above kinda sum things up as to how it was for me.

Now I am in a good place and my kids open up to me about the same things. I can’t control it, but I can manage things through my actions and responses.

Hope you are doing ok mate, it’s a rough ride but things do get better.

Condolences mate.

Currently sitting outside HDU in Glasgow hoping that I’m not away to loose my Mum.
I lost my Dad 10 years ago, and although it does get easier, it never goes away entirely. That said, it’s mostly happy thoughts these days.

Look after yourself, you are important too!

That’s way too much activity for a young dog.

5 minutes of exercise per month of age over a whole day is the general rule of thumb (until at least a year old – and that is for small breeds).

Hopefully his joints aren’t borked and that won’t show until he is older.

Yup, been a QHSE bod for a good while now, working within the O&G industry. Prior to that i worked offshore operationally, so tend to have an easy time with the operations team as i have worn that hat and have their respect rather than just being the elf n’ safety man!

The company you work for is key. Some genuinely embrace H&S, others pay lip service so you can be on a slippery slope from the get go.

This industry is quite unique as the majority of focus is on not realising major accident hazards (i.e. things going bang), although the occupational hazards are also important.

I really enjoy my job, predominantly because i enjoy this industry. It’s never dull and no two days are the same. Not sure i would want to do it in another industry.

Very sad news. My first proper night out as a spotty teenager was seeing them at the Barrowlands in 92 during The Prodigy Experience period. That was an eye opener! Just watched a video of it on YouTube. I wasn’t too in to the stuff after that, but he was a maverick and I respect that.

Rest easy.

@flanagaj as I said, hugely over simplified but you get the jist. I’ve been in mobile drilling for close to 20 years and every day is still a school day! Functioning the BSR’s is really a beyond the point of no return moment but (I have seen it done though) all Drillers are empowered to do it. Usually the annular, choke/kill and diverter are the first points of call.

Macondo was a unique set of circumstance that all aligned, I was in a position where I was hearing quite directly about all the circumstances.

That said, we also had Piper. I worked on Piper B for a bit and nothing is as humbling as looking at the flashing bouy where Piper A stood, especially on the anniversary. I do believe that our regulatory regime will prevent a repeat though. Nowt to do with well control but still.

I think if you log in to the IWCF website you can do Well Control Level 1 as a freebie if you want some oversight.

What I’ve seen in a similar circumstance (mega simplified).

Original rig sits on the well with the rams shut. Rig two comes along and drills a relief well. Rig two then uses directional to intersect the original sheared drill string and pump two mahoosive cement barriers down the original. Rig one pulls the top section of the sheared string to surface and plugs the top hole. Both rigs move on to the next job.

Wild Country Zeph. If you don’t mind a few extra grammes, the Zeph 2 gives you a load of space for one plus kit. I use it more than my Laser Comp for solo jaunts these days.

Aigle, can usually be had for a decent price from Uttings Outdoor.

Hunter are tosh.

As above Smok V12 Prince or any variation of Aspire Clieto tanks have been rock solid for me.

Generally get a nightly call from kids (7&9) when they are with their Mum to hear what they have been up to that day. When with me, they phone their Mum nightly too.

Also get occasional Whatsapp messages from their mobile phones (both have cheap Android phones).

Sorry to hear that DrP having went through similar a few years ago.

It did seem to me that the system, particularly where kids are involved is massively weighted towards “Mum”.

I took a massive financial hit, but most importantly, the kids are happy and i am too.

The whole process will depend on how “decent” your partner plays things.

I pay a decent wedge for maintenance, but i still need to buy clothes for when they are at mine, as they are sent to me like tramps. My ex also likes to inconvenience me at every opportunity when its my time with kids (enrolling in additional activities etc). The latest at the weekend was from my youngest who said “Mum says i don’t need to be a *mysurname” anymore, i can be a *exessurname*”.

Anyway, get legal advice, but scrutinize it too. My Solicitor missed <span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>a few relatively standard points out of the separation agreement which i now have to live with. An example being festivity and holiday child care periods weren’t explicit, meaning i haven’t spent a Christmas day with my kids since the split.</span>

Sure, there have been plenty of ball aches on the journey, but i wouldn’t swap my life now for the married version.

Big time empathy for you. It’s not easy. My kids were young when it happened and are now 9&7. It is the new normal for them and I think/hope they are ok. My youngest doesn’t remember me being in the family house which is a hard one. Everything was geared towards me “swallowing it up”. I walked away from a lovely family home with very little. But, I think me and the kids are happier for it.

I pay £650 a month, yet still have to buy shoes etc.

My solicitor was useless, but the confines of the law dictates everything to mum in my opinion.

Saying that, I have my two dogs and a great lifestyle.

The kids will be ok if you work together.

PS. Tinder!

Done. Genuine condolences gnusmas.

I am separated from my kids mum, and have never really thought about the situation you are now in, which can happen to anyone. I cried at work today reading the OP.

Look after yourself and those little (and not so little) ones. i am sure a bunch of strangers on the net are all here to help where they can.

STW occasionally restores my faith in folk being decent to each other.

Cheers Hot_Fiat. MPB seem to be decent.

Things are levelling off and drilling rig utilisation is balancing out. Invergordon isn’t as busy as it was! Day rates for the rigs are about 1/3 of what they were at peak mind you.

Some companies are still paying off, and it will never get back to the peak of a few years ago, but there is a feeling of recovery in places.

I’ve been raw feeding Cairn Terriers for three years (after doing lots of reading on the subject) and would definitely recommend it. My two are fit & healthy and love their food.

My two tend to be fed completes during the week (Paleo Ridge or Bella & Duke) for ease and i go DIY at the weekend, sourced from a friendly local butcher.

Condolences OP

TR, the Borgholm is a flotel so deffo not that semi.
A wee bit of rockin and rolling is good fun! There is a cracking old pic of the Santa Fe 135 in rough seas at a bit of an odd angle of dangle! 😮

I go one size down for all FR gear. Standard large in everything else (Arcteryx etc).

Not a Vespa owner but have two Lambrettas. A TV175 and an Li Special.

Great fun, but do require a lot of tinkering! :wink:

Good watches and their customer service is spot on too.

I have a Hawk 300, which due to owning too many watches i keep meaning to sell. I have a couple of Seamasters amongst others but seem to wear my Suunto most of the time.

If you fancy a punt on a Nite watch, ping me a mail. It’s not been worn since it was serviced.

I recently bought an audio-technica AT-LP120-USB

Having spent most of my misspent youth playing with Technics 1210’s, it’s nicely familiar and sounds pretty good (I’ve also had Project turntables and the AT stands up sound wise).

Feel your pain mate.

I spent the first few years of my two little girls lives working offshore and overseas so missed out on lots (Christmas, Birthdays etc.).

Me and their Mum split and now I only see my kids one night during the week and every second weekend. The Monday night after I’ve had them for the weekend is horrible as the house is so quiet.

Your situation is temporary, enjoy the peace!

Leftfield at one of the best clubs still going strong 8)

Thanks for the feedback all. Good to have different points of view and experiences.
Its quite assuring that others have been in the same boat and come out the other side.

Still finding the idea of opening up to a complete stranger quite daunting, but I’m sure that will lessen over time.

Thanks makecoldplayhistory, much appreciated.

Definitely open minded about the whole thing, otherwise I guess it would be a pointless exercise.

This has reminded me why I love this place! :D

I don’t think advice on a forum will help. Sit down with the woman and discuss it?!

That’s the plan for this evening. Tonight will be the last time I see her before her holiday. I want it sorted before she goes so there is no repeat.
Just though some other points of view would be good before hand :-)

what are these text arguments about?

One example. I mentioned I’d put potato in a curry I’d made. Apparently, that wasn’t on as she’s on weigh loss programme thing!

Her past- does she have trust issues?

Possibly. She’s never mentioned specifics, but was unhappy that I was friends with Ex’s on FB.

Texting at 40? Do you wear baggy jeans and a hoodie too?

More of a tight jeaned hipster! :-)

Guessing the nuance thing is spot on. Limited contact when we are apart is probably the way ahead.

Yup, Cairn Terrier here. I hand strip myself.
It’s easy enough. I give him a good comb and then just strip the longest of the hairs out. I probably spend about 30 mins/1 hour a week doing it to keep his coat “rolled”. He actually enjoys it and sits quite the thing on the table.

WTF are you all talking about?
Are you talking about pulling out an animal’s hair?
WTF is wrong with you?

Pulling dead hair isn’t painful for the dog and promotes a healthy coat and skin.

I wouldnt go to drilling if you paid me OIMs wages! Drill rigs are dirty manky things with a safety attitude that leaves a lot to be desired. My bro who works drill crew (im on a production fpso) has encountered some crazy mental attitudes offshore. There are plenty of other engineering roles offshore to be considered.
They say in our industry that its safety first. My arse it is! Only if it doesn’t get in the way of production and a drill rig is worse than any production platform

Sounds like your production FPSO is really safe….

You could be working on bits of kit that are falling to bits. They don’t care about preventative maintenance offshore. They run it till destruction! And then worry about fixing it. I’ve been on this rig for 6 months now and in that time we’ve had 2 transformers going on fire, operators not setting up compressors right so that they have seized, they’ve not checked that pumps are lined up right and GRE pipework has exploded which if there was anyone nearby could have caused serious injury, operations technicians swearing blind that they flushed and drained that pump through yet when you break containment and your standing there with your mask on the Benzene meter rockets up to over 50ppm and that clown of a technician still thinks its OK to stand about there without a mask on despite you telling him he’s stupid and should move. >5ppm breathing apparatus should be used FYI and Benzene is easily absorbed through the skin and causes cancer.

I’ve worked on drilling rigs and production platforms and the drilling rigs are far better. That’s not just IMHO, but backed up by the safety stats and feedback from the regulators.

Second the Creel. The food is lovely and not too expensive.

The Playwright in Dundee is also excellent as someone else mentioned.

The Carron or The Tolbooth in Stoney.