My uncle was a marine engineer in Hull and he suffered both
personally and financially when the government of the day caved
in to EEC fish quotas, it's sad to think that with all that skill
and knowledge he ended up a school janitor
The rot was setting in by the time he retired - electronic engine management/diagnostics was beginning, and usually recommended complete replacement of a unit rather than the traditional repairs. He was pretty disgusted by it all.
Very courteous of them, the flying rats just shove the smaller birds out the way and gobble everything up, even the blackbirds don't like them, we don't have much variety down here, the odd great tit now and again, but mostly just blackbirds, the big crows, flying rats and the occasional seagull who doesn't know where the coast is.
The wood pigeons and doves are very unassuming birds really. We don't get many gulls, but some we see are the rubbish tip variety, others inland from either rough weather or looking for more food.
We get a huge variety of birds. There's an ancient protected hedge running along the bottom of the garden, and we planted a lot of trees & shrubs when we moved in. We get all the usual garden birds: sparrows, starlings, blackbirds, blue...., crows, magpies, wood pigeons, collared doves, then there's robins, wrens, greenfinches.
Occasionally there's some goldfinches or a thrush or two. The rarer ones is the nightingale we get every February-March, the redwings that stop on their journey long enough to eat the cotoneaster berries each winter, and very rarely a crane looking to see if there's fish in the bird baths!
The most unwelcome ones are the Sparrowhawk and the Peregrine. The hawk is easily scared off, but the falcon is bold and 'buzzed' me a few times when circling over the tiny dog we used to have. Not even sure our current little one would be safe where it is either - but she doesn't stay out in the garden when we come inside!
We get a lot of pleasure from seeing the birds, and how each one differs in habit & personality from other species.
Luckily mine doesn't seem to be quick enough for the birdies and he's a bit of a chicken himself, does bring home mice presents though now and again.
Ugh! Very nice
Not really a nice job then, but I suppose it was well paid at the time. I have never been into mechanics of any kind, probably the reason I don't drive, too much hands on sort of work, much more into trying to solve problems rather than trying to fix them manually.
It had it's moments, that's for sure. He enjoyed his work though and was very good at solving problems before fixing them. That's why the parent company poached him to be a Manager. If anything, that was an unhealthy job in different ways: he drove on average 1000 miles per week just to get to the various places he was needed, ate too much junk food on the hoof, stayed in too many hotels (which he hated), and got sent to far flung places no-one else wanted to go to at the drop of a hat: Nth. Ireland, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, and all over Europe. First we knew about Beirut was a courier came with a visa one Saturday! Abu Dhabi was a secret installation in the desert, and he was driven there by a minder and via a different route every day.
Suffice to say he misses engines, but nothing else!
"There are some dreadful people around, and I've been very grateful to work at home this past 25 years where I don't need to encounter them every day!"
This world would be a fine place without people ... I try to avoid personal
contact with them whenever possible
Sounds like a good plan to me!
