I’ve broken many, but here is one i spoke of a few months back.
I was fixing a heavy wood cabinet at home, I’d been working nights and I was tired, in theory I should have gone straight to bed and rested. Instead I decided to continue, managed to hit my thumb with a hammer, used some ripe old language and then decided to land a right hander square on a solid wood door.
It transpires that after suffering quite a bit of discomfort in my hand I had broken the knuckle on my little finger, also known as a boxers fracture.
BustedMy busted finger
What lesson have I learned I hear you ask? Well to be honest when I feel any anger coming on now I just think of my hand and the anger subsides.
Anger is not worth it and is a waste of energy, it causes pain and upset and no one deserves to witness that.
I was a fool, probably still am but I’m now an educated fool.
I must admit that I’ve not been very good at this for years but now I’m a strict advocate of separating the two. Every new year resolution used to be “ I’m going to work to live not live to work” but I soon ended up dropping that mantra.
So what changed?
Quite simply i just decided thats it, its all got to stop. Im paid for an 8 or 12 hour day nothing more and why should i give them more? They were taking over my life in return for no good will or recognition and i was just working myself into an early grave. How was that fair to my family?
Just a few simple changes:
I came off all work related WhatsApp groups
I left work social media platforms
Added a simple footer to my emails stating that when I’m off I’m off and I’ll reply on my return
Work phone goes off when i leave the depot, and doesn’t go back on until my return
I manage peoples expectations now, explaining that I’m entitled to uninterrupted time away with my family
It really is as simple as that. I sometimes sign on to be hit with issues that have occurred in my absence but thats just how it used to be and I’m now not wasting precious time at home worrying about work related issues.
It really is that easy. Go on change your work outlook and enjoy your life. Time is precious, don’t have regrets, give your family the easiest gift you can give them…
Literally, I haven’t and I very much suspect no one ever has, however minor inconveniences are probably what most people who have answered this question have experienced rather than “Sacrifice,” according to the Oxford dictionary, see below.
Sacrifice….yeah!
Now I’ve never killed anything knowingly and offered it to a god or deity, and I may be pressing the point that the word sacrifice is a bit “strong” when all you’ve really done is “inconvenienced” yourself for a short while. It shows how words can be changed over time to fit a situation ever so dramatically.
However inconvenience when combined with duty means a different thing. Yep I’ve experienced that on many an occasion. I highlight the fact that with both mine and my wife’s parents, we looked after them all, comforted them through extreme illness with care and compassion and comforted each other when they passed away, a minor inconvenience and duty as their children.
Even today we are looking after our very poorly dog, he’s been ill for the last 18 months and he isn’t going to get better. We are having no holidays or time away without him as we want to spend all that time with him, people forget that a dog is with you for part of your life but to him you are his whole life. Just think about that.
So giving up your time is a minor inconvenience and an expected duty.
No need to slaughter the sacrificial lamb, let’s not over play it.
A scar, probably my very first one. I could have put the obvious things like skin, a smile or even my wedding ring, however as I usually go off at a tangent I give you the scar on my forehead, it’s been with me about 53 years now.
Playing in the garden with my brother and he trips me up so I go head first onto a drain cover with a big nail sticking out of it sharp point up. Needless to say drain cover joins me on a journey to the hospital where I eventually get separated from said nail and cover after a small operation.
Apparently it was a couple of millimetres from going through the skull.
My brother was a right arse then…passed away a few years back, bless him, but he had a wicked sense of humour. Loved him then, still do and miss him like crazy.
Back in March 2023 in the early days of this site I threw some figures out there regarding the amount of cameras on the planet up to and including 2022, you can read that post here: Vintage Camera figures
In this post I’m going show a graph and some figures regarding the decline of DSLR ( Digital Single Lens Reflex ) in the last 12 yrs.
It’s becoming obvious that people are ditching the traditional camera frame for the mobile phone and tablet approach and the figures you see in decline for traditional cameras have probably gone in the total reverse and multiplied many times over for the latter. It hurts the brain to realise the total amount of picture capture devices out there, as well as the waste that this produces as a result of what has become a throwaway society in which we all must share some guilt.
I can honestly state that in the last 12 months I have purchased close to 60 Cameras, 18 radios about 14 portable cd and tape players and not one of them has been disposed of much to my wife’s displeasure. (To be honest she’s very supportive of what I do as it keeps me out of mischief.)
Anyway I’m starting to drift a bit, so in my last post back in 23 I think I stated that there were estimated in 2022 to be something like 45 Billion photo capture devices on the planet, enough for 5.5 units per person that inhabits this Ball floating in space, a phenomenal number. And now there are probably even more.
The traditional camera is being ditched though and as you can see in this graph supplied by Statista It is a seriously declining part of the consumer market.
DSLR decline courtesy of Statista
The number of digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera shipments worldwide has been on a downhill ride since 2012. In 2023, a total of around 1.18 million DSLR cameras were shipped by *CIPA companies all over the world. Despite the decline in shipments, the average price of digital cameras per unit has continued to remain stable.
In eleven years the annual sales of a DSLR has dropped by almost 16 million units in 2012 to a paltry 1.18 million in 2023, as I’ve stated the sales of mobile devices have probably quadrupled and risen in the opposite direction.
The question is, are traditional cameras going to be more of an antiquity in the near future or will there always be a demand? There are so many out there that I can’t see them commanding any good price through rarity as there are just so many out there.
I learnt my trade in photography back in the late 70s early 80s. Back then we did everything by hand from mixing the chemicals, manually printing using enlargers and various types of papers, dryers and drums. Dodging and shading, manually touching up any defects as work was produced. We even made dupe trans, did letrasetting and made the boss man tea. A computer does it all now….apart from the tea but I bet that’s on the horizon.
The chemicals we mixed were in 100 litre batches and were pure poison. E6 Colour developer contained Hydroquinone, and the final bath (Stabiliser) all this chemical was pure formaldehyde, we never had masks or gloves back then and after mixing a batch of these chemicals you were out in the yard for a good half hour coughing your guts up. There were many other chemicals involving ammonia and powdered citric acid and these were just a few of what we used. If you could only imaging the shear hell we went through for you to get your photographs.
Probably why I have such bad Bronchitis and Asthma nearly 45 years on.
What I’m saying is the digital world of today is immense progression and removes all that danger away from the business. It’s killed the business as much as any other big business out there. But it’s probably not as much fun or as much pleasure as doing the whole process by hand using traditional skills. Heck I bet that will kick start a conversation between the traditionalists and modernists.
Whatever way we look at things, time moves on, progression is always going to occur and we must (Even though we don’t always want to) adapt to change. And it’s going to change for everyone big time in the next decade or so.
Even though it’s like saying goodbye for a final time to a dear old friend. I enjoyed my role I played in it.
Supplementary notes
*CIPA stands for “Camera & Imaging Products Association”, which is the trade association of the Japanese photo industry.
The section “digital cameras” includes the following producers: Olympus, Casio, Canon, Kodak, Sanyo Electric, Sigma, Seiko Epson, Sony, Tomy, Nikon, Panasonic, Fujifilm, Hoya, Ricoh.
Neither really, just like millions around the globe I’m a worker, a doer if you like getting things done.
Leaders are supposed to lead but in my experience they are usually of a poor calibre and the systems of selection means that we are trying or all wanting to be leaders. Am I a follower? no, I’m not apart from following my football team that’s the only group I follow. Does someone want to follow me in my work ethic? Grab a coat tail and enjoy the ride, you might learn something….if you want, or have a desire to.
Workers are what we need before all the skills are lost and the leaders will have no one to lead. And like wise no one to follow.
Gonna be a bit of a rebel here and drag something up from my childhood – Opal fruits 🍇 now known as Starburst for marketing purposes that only the manufacturer would know the reasons for.
They have 5 flavours :
Blackcurrant
Lemon
Lime
Orange
Strawberry
Introduced in the United Kingdom in 1960, these are my go to 5 a day 😂
What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?
Take 5 – Wait
Again, after discussion with the wife she has pointed out to me that this is an improvement I have self imposed over the years. I have to agree with her that I still use this to this day and I call it Take 5.
My default answer to most questions in the past would be a stern “No” and then I’d go away think about it and then come back to the questioner and discuss it further. I always liked to be creating work for myself going back over things that could have easily been sorted at the point of initial discussion.
However I changed that, and with this Take 5 attitude I can use it almost everywhere. Ask me a question I’ll think about it and get back to you. At work, going out into the unknown onto rail tracks and other dangerous environments I’ll Take 5, am I in the right place? Do I have my safety pack in place? Things such as that. Even out and about with the family I’m also using the Take 5 mantra. There is no need to rush into the unknown or oblivion.
I know most people probably do this anyway, however I didn’t and have made that small change and made significant changes in both my work and home life.
I always remember an old boss years ago telling me, “Put your head into gear before putting your mouth into motion.”
Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life.
I won’t delve too deep into this question as I’m sure I’ve answered something similar in the past. But here goes.
Mum
My mum was lovely, a beautiful person however she spent her life in the shadow of an overwhelming bullying individual – my father. He was a nasty piece of stuff, people loved him and thought he was the life of the party, but behind closed doors he was probably one of the most disliked and evil individuals you could ever have the displeasure of meeting. He only ever influenced me to make sure I never grew up like him.
Mum though, I love and miss so much. She was such a gentle and caring individual, she certainly did not deserve a life with him, however as always happens in coercive relationships she loved him and wouldn’t have anything said against him.
She taught me to look after myself, she taught me good from bad, she taught me the meaning of manners and respect and pretty much single handedly was my queen and protector.
There’s very few individuals who I think of daily, and mum is one of them.
What she sacrificed for me, I hope I gave back to her, as even in her later years when she was in her 70s and ill with bowel cancer that evil bastard of a father still bullied her. But I was now able to protect her from him and she is the one who taught me that, it’s as if i was being prepared for that role.
I learned not to envy but to admire. Do not hate, as that is a harsh and horrible attitude, and as you can see that word is not used in this post at all, even though we probably had more of a right than most people to use it. Be respectful to others and listen. I still use these teachings to this day.
She spoke beautiful words to my wife and I on her deathbed, and I will treasure those last moments forever. They are private and will forever remain so.
I was fortunate to have such a loving and caring mother. I know not every child in this big old world shares such good fortune, I just hope they can find a light in life to follow.
I purchased a pack of 5 of these cheap old garden lights from a local garden centre. I know if you buy cheap you pay twice but these did look quite reasonable. I know that most people only expect a season out of these lights however I try to look after mine, bringing them in during winter months when the garden isn’t being used and sunlight is non cooperative.
These were so full of promise, worked lovely for a few days and then two of them just didn’t work at all.
Broken garden solar lights
I took them apart and decided to test the batteries, both were showing 0.6v so i suspected the charge circuit was not working. When I put in a fully charged AA battery the lights came on but when exposed to light they remained on, so in a way I am right but it might be slightly more complicated. The battery isn’t charging, also the switch off is not occurring when exposed to light.
I’ve done a few tests using the multimeter, the solar panel is ok and giving a reasonable voltage under sunlight of 2.4v.
Solar panels working
The circuit board only consists of three components and two out of the three test ok. The issue seems to be with the YX8018 controller, the small four legged component in the pictures below.
Failed component circled
Failed YX8018 component
What is a YX8018 controller?
YX8018 is a high-performance solar lawn lamp boost control chip, which is suitable for a solar lawn lamp powered by a 1.2V rechargeable battery in series.
The main functions include charging control, boost drive, optical control, etc. The solar lawn lamp mainly uses the energy of the solar cell to work. When the sunlight shines on the solar cell during the day, the light energy is transformed into electric energy and stored in the battery, and then the battery provides power for the LED (light emitting diode) of the lawn lamp at night.
It has the advantages of safety, energy saving, convenience and environmental protection.It is applicable to solar products powered by one 1.2V rechargeable battery.
Conrad electronic SE
YX8018 circuit diagram
This appears to be the culprit after some basic tests have been carried out, there is about a 16% failure rate in these components so I don’t hold out a great deal of hope for the two that I’ve ordered. I shall eventually order a stack of them from China but for now I wanted some a bit quicker so I have ordered locally.
Two arrived….i now need three
Well, the two components I ordered have arrived today. But now I need three, as in the week another one has suffered the same issue. On top of that I have dropped one of the units and the solar panel has parted company. I’m now sourcing some liquid solder that may assist with getting this problem sorted. As is normal with me this little project has escalated due to my utter clumsiness. I must do better in the future. (Sounds just like one of my old school reports.)
In place ready to solder
I dismantled the two units I previously mentioned and followed pretty much the same process with each. Desolder, remove component, wick solder, put new component in place and then put a semi charged battery back in.
All soldered
I left the lights in the sun for a couple of hours and the charge has lifted from 0.8 to just over 1.1 volts so I’m happy that the charge circuit is now working.
The final test was to turn on and see what happens. Good news, nothing seen until I covered the solar panel and then the lights came on. Excellent, job done and more items saved from landfill. I must say I was really happy with my soldering on this job, it appears to be getting better.
Now working
I just need another component for that other one I broke in the week. However I won’t bother you with that one 😂
Foxes Den 