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Post by Westie on Jan 11, 2024 17:55:42 GMT
I thought this fitted nicely with the “where were you brought up” thread. My first job was based here: www.google.com/maps/@54.9280117,-1.7386495,3a,75y,153.42h,81.77t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s1zdzJa7JE1-vNlFSM1Wcuw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3D1zdzJa7JE1-vNlFSM1Wcuw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D152.92133%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en-gb&entry=ttu I was 17 and wouldn’t work on one of those schemes where they pay you peanuts. This job was with the local council, putting in hillside steps, fences, stiles and kissing gates on all the offshoots from the Derwent Walk Country Park. I also lived in one of the houses directly opposite, so I just crossed the road to go to work. It was an absolute blast and I really enjoyed the physical, outdoor work. It was only 12 months though so I ended working in a swanky clothes shop for 3 weeks and then took a job at Richer Sounds lol. From there, I moved to a BADA hifi dealer which was great in terms of the kit, but nowhere near as much fun. When I left school, I had absolutely no idea of what I wanted to do. In fact, I just didn’t like the deal on offer whereby you worked every day of your life until you were almost dead, just so you could keep a roof over your head and breed the next generation of wage-slaves. It always seemed like a shitty deal from a very early age and I still feel the same today. |
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Post by Westie on Jan 11, 2024 18:05:06 GMT
Ah, rats! That link doesn’t work when I paste it here. I tried pasting it into my iPad notes and it works. This might work… maps.app.goo.gl/M2r111fn1TAVM7uv7Or maybe just post a pic.  |
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Post by dsjr on Jan 11, 2024 20:26:17 GMT
Here was where it started as a sixteen year old Saturday boy -
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Post by André on Jan 11, 2024 21:44:16 GMT
A Record shop in Town prior to jacking University in after two weeks, did a few more jobs on the side for the same owner at the other places he owned  Took an apprenticeship in Cabinet making after that before starting up on my own but the Ex-wife put pay to that. I think a bit of Shop fitting for Systemfit who do Great Mills & Morrisons store, Went into the steel works before getting redundant then spent ten years looking after my Cerebral palsy mate before he passed away, Retail then worked as a crane driver then back to Retail before redundant again, just jacked the lot in retired, not really retired because the wife needs me 24/7 |
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Post by Westie on Jan 11, 2024 23:28:31 GMT
We both seemed to like working with wood in our earlier years. I was always keen to go into woodworking just for the pleasure and the possibility of not being a wage slave, but everyone was trying to push me down the road of “proper” subjects. Even to the point of making it impossible for me to study Woodwork or cookery (another subject I liked) beyond the age of 14.
There was always this assumption that an office job was so much better than a manual one. Society tries to brainwash us even as kids. Working for yourself as a tradesman is likely to pay better than an office job, give you more satisfaction and free you from being owned by someone else. I never bought what they were selling, so I only attended school for 3 days in the last 2 years.
I still passed all my exams without any of their “help” but they refused to let me stay on for sixth form unless I studied 3 “academic” subjects. I couldn’t even study art!
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Post by Westie on Jan 11, 2024 23:44:02 GMT
Here was where it started as a sixteen year old Saturday boy -
A really lovely shop front. Was it one of those shops that sells almost everything? |
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Post by André on Jan 12, 2024 0:02:59 GMT
Self employed cabinet makers is no good these days because people don't give a crap about Quality furniture, Ikea is where they go swapping & changing when they change decor.
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Post by Westie on Jan 12, 2024 6:29:38 GMT
As a retirement hobby, woodworking will be great for me because I still have lots to learn, and probably just as much to re-learn. Then there’s the pleasure in owning and using quality hand-tools. Finishing wood is a joy already and I know I will get even better at it.
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Post by André on Jan 12, 2024 11:51:30 GMT
As a retirement hobby, woodworking will be great for me because I still have lots to learn, and probably just as much to re-learn. Then there’s the pleasure in owning and using quality hand-tools. Finishing wood is a joy already and I know I will get even better at it. Yeah owning the best tool is something, your work will be better as well. I still use the tools i bought 40 years ago. The term a 'poor workman always blames his tools'. is not entirely true. 'Poor tools = Poor job' |
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Post by Westie on Jan 12, 2024 13:26:58 GMT
Yeah dead right: The tools really matter. A lot of people do bad work because they either use low quality tools or crap materials. Of course they also don’t bother to learn and plan beforehand either. There’s no excuse these days because there’s a myriad of “how to” videos showing you how to do anything. There are also forums for advice from some really good pros.
I really fancied “Two Cherries” wood chisels but I’ve seen the Narex ones now and I think I’ll probably go for them. Wood saws, I’ve no idea yet but I will watch more videos and see some in the flesh first. Planes: I’ll try to buy some old ones that have been well looked after.
As for power tools, I would never buy cheap. I once bought a cheap router after using a pro one at work, and it was bloody useless. It vibrated to the point where the work looked like it had been done by someone with Parkinson’s Disease! No pleasure whatsoever in use either. And you can pretty much guarantee cheap power tools will fail if used more than a few times.
Woodworking and wood finishing should give me a really nice outlet when I do retire. Might even be the best years of my life.
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Post by Westie on Jan 12, 2024 13:44:50 GMT
My father’s first job was this: www.iwm.org.uk/history/fleet-air-arm-during-the-second-world-warHe serviced the planes on an aircraft carrier. I can’t imagine how brutal life must have been for him, compared to the easy ride I’ve had. Born in the West Highlands, he was forced down to Newcastle as a child in the Great Depression and never ever gave up wanting to go back, or emigrate to somewhere more nourishing for the soul. He only lived to 47 years of age and died when I was 9. He was a department store manager when I was a kid and he was always exhausted. He hated that sort of work too, and loved buying and restoring quality cars in his spare time. He never wanted kids and unfortunately his 3 offspring were born 17 years apart, so he never really had any peace. I think his experience shaped me in not wanting a life of wage slavery and children. I’d hope he’d be pleased that I’ve enjoyed so many years abroad and also in education rather than being on the treadmill. |
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Post by André on Jan 12, 2024 15:28:11 GMT
Yeah dead right: The tools really matter. A lot of people do bad work because they either use low quality tools or crap materials. Of course they also don’t bother to learn and plan beforehand either. There’s no excuse these days because there’s a myriad of “how to” videos showing you how to do anything. There are also forums for advice from some really good pros. I really fancied “Two Cherries” wood chisels but I’ve seen the Narex ones now and I think I’ll probably go for them. Wood saws, I’ve no idea yet but I will watch more videos and see some in the flesh first. Planes: I’ll try to buy some old ones that have been well looked after. As for power tools, I would never buy cheap. I once bought a cheap router after using a pro one at work, and it was bloody useless. It vibrated to the point where the work looked like it had been done by someone with Parkinson’s Disease! No pleasure whatsoever in use either. And you can pretty much guarantee cheap power tools will fail if used more than a few times. Woodworking and wood finishing should give me a really nice outlet when I do retire. Might even be the best years of my life. All my squares & gauges are Joseph Marples Rosewood & Brass marples.co.uk/My old hand saw was a DISSTON but i use old SPEAR & JACKSON, seems the new ones are a bit cheap. Always used IRWIN MARPLES split proof chistles. Power Tools i have MAKITA & ELU Routers, FESTO orbital sander. Hand planes RECORD No.5 Jack plane i use for doors & No.4 Smoothiing plane. These are 1960' planes i bought used all those years ago with Rosewood hands, later ones were beech. |
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Post by dsjr on Jan 12, 2024 17:08:37 GMT
Here was where it started as a sixteen year old Saturday boy -
A really lovely shop front. Was it one of those shops that sells almost everything? The company had basically three shop fronts so maybe one large building, the left one a hardware DIY shop stocking 'everything' as they used to, the middle small shop a jewellers with the hardware/timber dept behind with access onto the street to the side and the 'Radio/TV' shop to the right as pictured, selling B&O, Sony, Hacker & Van Der Molen 'stereo's', ITT and so on. The TV hierarchy in 1973 was quite explicit, Small was the Sony 13" 'Trinitron' then the ITT in the mid two hundred quid depending on screen size (22" or 26" - work that out for inflation), next was Philips, a 25" version at £350 and then at £400 or more, the B&O, which unlike the others with colour-convergence all over the place back then with every one needing to be installed and set up, used to be perfectly set up and 'ready to go' straight out of the box.
Sadly for the B&O's, to get a lovely pin sharp bright picture, they thrashed the CRTs mercilessly and as they were still half valved and very compact front to back, they ran hot and only lasted a few years before the tubes were wrecked. The replacement all-transistor models had very weedy pictures but lasted longer I remember - and so it goes on...
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Post by Westie on Jan 12, 2024 17:18:56 GMT
It sounds like a brilliant shop. You just don’t find places like that these days, and more’s the pity.
TVs really are so cheap these days compared to back then. Large tubes were t cheap to make though, and they required bulky cabinets, so it’s understandable. I have no nostalgia for old TVs though. Todays models are so much better and I never liked the depth of TVs in a room.
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Took an apprenticeship in Cabinet making after that before starting up on my own but the Ex-wife put pay to that. I think a bit of Shop fitting for Systemfit who do Great Mills & Morrisons store, Went into the steel works before getting redundant then spent ten years looking after my Cerebral palsy mate before he passed away, Retail then worked as a crane driver then back to Retail before redundant again, just jacked the lot in retired, not really retired because the wife needs me 24/7