And then? one time? at band camp?

Some people have an incredible ability to make a simple thing very complicated.

Welcome to the public sector!

Pizzaaaaaaa

Fully home made of course

Ditto…

Show me yours Pieman and I’ll show you mine 😉

various… situation dependant

“Contact!… wait, out”
“This looks complicated, get a bigger hammer”
“Who???? …ME????”
“Hold my Pint and watch this”
“Wasnae me”
“yes dear”
“trust me”
“er…”
“Plod… leggit!”
“mistakes have been made, scapegoats will be found”

“Michael Fish – you lying ****t”….

love it

“Strong arm of the Law” Saxon

Does it for me, I love “Another Perfect Day” Motorhead, purists would disagree.

Hmmmmm what else, what else?

“Ride the Lightening” Metallica
“Balls to the Wall” Accept
“Live at te Budokahn” MSG
“5051” Van Halen
ANY Bon Scot era AC-DC album
…

the list is endless

However I fear there may also be an element of this;

I think you’ll find its an “age” thing.

I’d tell your age to go and do one!

…you are as old as you want to be, don’t listen to the maaaaann man!

“you want to grow up at your age”
“you want a nice little car at your age”
“you want to find a sensible girl”
“you want to get that hair cut”

It’s all a con…. kick, scream, punch, bite, but NEVER EVER give in to the biggest con of all….

GROWING UP[/i][/u]

Fight it all the way

Could be a sign of depression? Speaking from personal experience of suffering it has affected my brain, intelligence, concentration etc etc

Probably is Houns, EVERYONE will suffer from it at some point or another. Counselling is the answer for mild cases IMHO, unfortunately in this day and age it’s medication medication medication due to pressures on the NHS.

Been down that route too, personally I would avoid the pharmacological answer as it never really is an answer. You find your own, I did, that’s why I ride a bike.

I found that the more I ride, the better I feel, the more I can concentrate, the more positive I feel, the better I eat, the better & longer I sleep, the more I exercise….. you can see where I’m going with this.

Also works WONDERS for the libido too 😯

Stop fretting about it…

…easy to say very hard to do.

Diet, Exercise, Sleep, avoid alcohol (not religiously just drop the intake) caffine,

Eat well, exercise well, sleep well…. and you will find life gets easier

Load of sales people from well established reputable businesses I found … (sorry but my sarcasm dial seems to be stuck on 11)

you know the ones Double Glazing, Driveways, Weird Eastern Fitness stuff, Lifestyle Gurus, Financial Advisers, Utilities companies, snake oil…..

All strutting their stuff… same as you, got invited to a meeting once…. and only once. Walked out after about half an hour. An awful lot of people who talked about “doing business” and how they were “in business” and how succesful they were “in business”… nearly gagged on the cheap aftershave, perfume and bullshit.

Its an american sales idea ergo it’s all TEAM TEAM TEAM… HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY… which promptly falls flat on it’s face when met with British Cynicism.

Avoid…..

You got this on FB mate? if so I’ll share it there too.

Theiving ****….

Its sort of like the rubberey object that ladies who like ladies use to “pleasure” themselves together…

…. but for computers 😯

There are some sick and twisted people out there

In the aircraft industry parts are lifed

aircraft….. yeah I can see the lifecycle testing thing as falling tens of thousands of feet to your firey death can put a crimp in your day

bikes….. ride it till it breaks

BLOODY HELL… rattle the county and we all come falling out of it…

I’d reccomend a pootle down the coast to Tynemouth from wherever you feel comfortable distance wise… it’s all spectacular coatline and industrial stuff too – which has a certain appeal too. Nowt challenging bar distance.

Wrecker,
If your chaps want wholly impartial information on this technology and a bit of a heads up then feel free to have them make contact with me, given that I’m currently not working I’m not on any form of selling agenda

e mail Details should be visible in my profile, happy to speak on the phone.

Wrecker…. BTW just realised what you said

KNX is open source so there is no “proprietorial” guff to cope with so if you want to get your chaps to talk to my chaps

I’m in the same industry as jock-mutley. I not a BMS engineer, but do use them to make buildings do what I want. We used to employ a couple full-time on similar Monday as jock earned, but the closed nature of the likes of Trend etc and their systems houses meant we couldn’t get their software as we didnt sell units for them. No more BMS guys.
Sit tight jock, things are moving in the energy management industry. We are growing at a fair old rate.

I’m a rarity in the BMS world… I’m a KNX (Konnex) engineer as in OPEN SOURCE bms with multiple manufacturers like Siemens, Honeywell, Danfoss, GEC, etc.

The protocol & standard (ISO/IEC14543-3) is VERY common on the continent for both residential as well as commercial and public sector buildings but here in the UK the specifiers just ran away muttering phrases like “witchcraft”

Buildings that use it exclusively in the UK are T5 at Heathrow and the new StPancras terminal.

i just want a job. really i don’t care that much if it’s collecting litter off the seafront if it’s only a couple of k/year less than the technician role, because the responsibility will be so much less, and at least i’ll be home to walk the dog

I hear you… did some temp work inbetween contracts as my company started to go down to stave off the wolf from the door, was at various times over 2 years a binman, recycling centre attendant, school bus driver, tractor driver.

I loved it… walk out the gates or hand the keys back at the end of the shift and that was it… no worry, no pressure, no phone calls from @rsehole rich clients at 11:30pm complaining that their electricity is the wrong colour.

This is gonna sound daft but try a Carrera Subway…

Turns into a really chuckable toy for very little money 😉

Built this for MrsMutt for about £250 all in

Jock have you looked a the engineering business up your way..they were a superb company to work for and took guys at all levels

This is NE England there is a lot of Engineering Businesses up here! the two biggies in Blyth are NAREC and Draeger..

but I’m based in the North East of England (Blyth, SE Northumberland)

Where about are you biased?

Somewhere to the right of Ghengis Kahn….

That’s the sort of workshop that if I ever walked into it the owner would get bludgeoned to death instantly through sheer envy on my part

DO not mistake COTAG for “just another 4×4 response” these guys are trained to the standard of Mountain Rescue, RNLI, Retained Firefighters etc. THEY ARE the STANDARD for this type of unit.

as another poster stated some of the 4×4 clubs are have a go heros who could be more of a danger to themselves.

COTAG worked really hard to draw up the standard they aim for and constantly train and prepare and exercise alongside other emergency services. It’s the reason they get the shout so often, they are trusted.

Thanks Brick,

I agree, they can’t seem to see far enough into the future to see that an engineer with a different background adds to the team not takes away. I have been brought into projects or been involved in ones where a fresh outlook changes EVERYTHING for the better. I call this the W/XYZ Machine issue (see below).

But its not just engineering / technical roles I’m getting the brush off from it’s ANY role…. it’s like I have the plague. I just want to work, been applying for retail, public sector, voluntary sector, factories…

…Nyt Nyt Nyt… if they bother to reply at all, my C.V. (which is something I should be inordinatly proud of) is in reality a tissue of lies it’s dumbed down that much for some applications – not outright lies I hasten to add just ommisions, after I have heard all the usuals

“you are applying for a £7/hr job… but you’ve been on £45k/pa, we can’t afford you” – job advertised as £7/hr, I applied for it knowing this so why would I ask for any more!

“You will be off as soon as a better offer comes along” – as would anybody

“You have too much management experience for the role” – I read between the lines on this one as “you want my job, I’m very insecure and/or not very good at my job”

“ahh but we use the XYZ machine, your experience is with the previous WXY machine” – I’m wearing blinkers… I’m wearing blinkers..

There isn’t a skills shortage in this Country there is a total lack of vision. The workplace and jobmarket is being totally hamstrung by fear of litigation. We are being held to ransom by the insurance companies whose risk assesors with little or now knowledge of an actual role are running hand in hand with training companies to create so much spurious qualifications and certification.

This atmosphere is fuelled by the usual no win no fee solicitors and the assumption that it can’t be YOUR fault that you whipped your wedding tackle out and stuffed it in the brush shredder…. after all nobody in the company implicitly told you not to experiment with a fast rotating sharp blade and your genitalia……

ergo another court case, another big payout and another training course and qualification required in “Not sticking your gentlemans vegetables into a mincer 101”

Ayrithmia (spellink) is not fun, never had it but know a few who have. Get it seen to, don’t ignore it, and if in doubt TREBLE NINE it – this is the one instance that the emegency services will not mind even if it turns out to be nothing.

You can cycle with a Heart issue I know cos I do, its not all black but you need it looked at.

Isn’t that how all land ownership started…

I seem to recall it started by involving a load of johnny foreigner sounding blokes turning up on your nearest beach and saying…

UPP MED HÄNDERNA!
haut les mains!
Hande Hoch!
manus sursum!

or something like that.. maybe taking the wife off your hands… giving your hair a bit of a trim with a Gladius/Spartha/Dane Axe depending on origin of Johnny Foreigner…

Mine the fenceline…

stick up signs “Achtung Minen”

when they inevitably complain about feet & genetalia being removed with extreme explosive prejudice simply say..

“Sorry thought you understood german by the way you appear to be trying to Annex the garden”

… and that’s why I have a 20 year old Classic Rangie sat on the drive… 😉

The ability to read an OS map is handy too.

Had a similar experience once with snow falling then thawing then freezing solid on the A720 Edinbugh Bypass, outside lane was clear so just stuck her in bottom box, locked the centre diff and gently trickled my way home passing all the traffic in the inside lane at about 10MPH. Felt smug at all those who tried to follow my trick and just failed as they weren’t in a 2.5 ton AWD vehicle with decent tyres on and the ability & experience to use it.

Always had a landy of one sort or another for these instances never failed to get home and never met any significant delays (just driven round it).

Proper Planning and Preparation prevents piss poor performance

You lot are lucky… at least you are working.

Ended up back on “the market” last year after I had no option but to shut down my own engineering company after 10 years.

I’m now either over or underqualified if I get a response at all to applications. I’ve had the downright bloody stupid too a) you need to be time served with a degree FFS that is two totally divergent career paths and b)you are too experienced!!!!!

I had the ignomony of being rejected outright for a job as an installer with a multinational AV company where I actually trained all their installers didn’t even get an interview.

I’m an electronics / electrical engineer (B eng) who specialised in Building Automation / Building management systems and AV systems. In particular i specialised in energy managment. I have 25 years industry experience.

All I want to do is work but what I’m finding is that there seems to be no understanding of what an engineer can do, you have to tick every bloody box otherwise you get binned at application, but nobody is that perfect are they. This is where the “skills shortage” I think is appearing.

Part of the issue seems to be the water being muddied totally by “employment agencies” who all seem to be advertising all the same jobs most of which I suspect don’t exist.

The other issue is HR personell having no understanding of engineering. They don’t seem to realise that with a degree in engineering you have the ability to self learn a role, you can adapt readily, the “running your own company bit” scares the shit out of people too, they can’t seem to see that it also means that I’m intensely multi-skilled.

You need bloody tickets and certificates for everything;

“sorry mate you have your ‘inhale’ certificate but you need an ‘exhale’ one too”

Sorry I do.. I have the big ticket – it’s called a 2.2 Honours Degree in F….n Microelectronic Engineering! – at least it was, now it seems that a Beng and 25 years industry experience are not worth the paper they are written on.

I just get sick of battering my head on a brickwall, I could cry at times… often do.

Sorry to offload

Sounds like the clutch is on the way out, particularly if its happening in 5th (high torque, low revs driving)

Could be cable adjustment but chances are it will be a self adjuster. Dunno about the DMF but the good news is a 2004 Saab is mostly a Vauxhall anyway so don’t let any garage fob you off with the teeth sucking, “specialist job them mate” attitude either.

My default setting with clutches is “replace everything” when your in there, anything else is false economy.

Father Dougal Maguire (Craggy Island)

1000/1

Can’t be any worse than what we’ve had!

Tends to be a Gravity Enduro thing..

FORGET any form of WiFi headphones …. it simply doesnt have the bandwidth of copper cable. Fine for watching TV in bed without disturbing the wife but for a serious audiophile then just don’t bother.

My mate makes a headphone amp… yrs for £342…

Personally I can’t tell the the difference but hey ho hes flogging 2 per month.

I like Seinhauser & Bose

dankeshoen mein herr 😛

Dad joined the Navy in ’38. Specialised as a Wireless Telegrapher, was the youngest Petty Officer & CPO of his generation (a boxing victory against the army mid-heavyweight “champion” may have helped here 😉 )

Served at Dunkirk (where he lost his best mate (who was sitting next to him) to a german 88mm shell that failed to detonate as the armour in the radio room was so thin so it passed through!) North Atlantic, the Med (task force H), the north atlantic convoys (russian), then out to the far east. As a regular he served till ’57 was comissioned in ’51 for the Korean War. He had 5 ships sunk from under him (4 of them in a row) – he always said it was like the Germans were taking his participation personally! To quote him direct,
“Steve Duffy’s on that ship… Sink it!”

Best tale he ever told was when he was serving on a Destroyer (could have been Cossack) on convoy escort duty, they were escorting the RMS Queen Mary full of US troops into the Mull of Kintyre. They were into the Mull itself when the alert went out that a U boat had got past the submarine nets.

The escorts closed alongside the Queen Mary (thus acting as sacrificial shields), they were in blackout, the QM obviously towered way above the escorts, dad stepped out onto the Bridge wing and looked up…. all he could see from the QM were the red trails of cigarettes & cigars of the yanks as they ran around on the upper decks… Dad says they were obviously in a major panic and must have thought the sound of the escort destroyers closing on the QM (effectively colliding) were torpedo hits, next thing he sees a shape descending towards them… BAROOOOOOOOMMMM … cue one of QM’s lifeboats with 40+ americans landing on the hapless british destroyer thankfully with only minor injuries.. the silly buggers had started to abandon ship in panic.

The escorts immidiately began to turn on their deck lights as their commanders realised that the risk of being torpedoed was less than being sunk by falling life boats… bearing in mind a liner of that eras lifeboats are something like 30′ – 40′ in length and about 10 – 15 tons.. so a couple landing on a small warship potentially could capsize it.

had some wine… nowt special just echo falls now on Oranjeboom

It slike a lot of things, done soley on its own the effect is minimal, but combined with other measures like draughproofing then the gains become measureable.

Bit like those marginal gains thingy the road fraternity harp on about

charity shop finds is go to them in affluent areas.

Sort of true but they DO price according to the affluence of the area, in Newcastle avoid Jesmond as the prices are just STUPID, Gosforth is good though.

Best areas are the depressed ones like North & South Shields, Blyth & Byker. Found a Fox prototype bamboo riding top in South Shields… would love to find how it got there! Have found x4 VW/Trek riding tops (£2.50 ea), nice pair of “PROPER” etnies in Whitley Bay and some Animal hoodie/fleeces too.

Girlfriend & I do a charity shop trawl at least once every 2 weeks on days off.

Linky to german sites please….