World mental health day and men’s arrogance and reluctance to talk
I just wanted to share a post that was sent to me. Today is World mental health day, and this is one of the most hard hitting, and well formed videos that I think I have ever seen. It was produced by Norwich City football club here in the Uk, and in my eyes it is probably one of the best pieces of film I have ever watched, simply just asking you to keep an eye on friends and colleagues. Simple and straight to the point.
Here in the Uk 40% of deaths in males under the age of fifty, is a result of poor mental health. A horrendously high amount you must agree, and totally avoidable if everyone was just more aware of subtle changes of those around us. Have a look at the video in the link below, it’s hard hitting as the outcome is not what you’d expect.
I have in the last couple of weeks dealt with my 20th fatality on the railway, no one explained in the beginning, on the job description, that my job would involve such horrendous outcomes, and I have witnessed scenes that I would not wish upon anyone. Do I suffer? I’d tell you no, to your face, but sometimes I’m in utter turmoil.
But I have a peer group at work, that are there for me, we are all there for each other as we get no support from work to be honest. If we didn’t talk to each other, and offer words of comfort and reassurance, I’d hate to know where any of us would be now.
Men are stubborn sods full of false bravado, I’m one of them, and I’m great at pulling the curtains over a difficult situation. Smiling eyes I might have, my confidence may seem through the roof, but in the quiet periods or the wee dark hours, I’m asking myself questions i do not know the answers to.
I’m praying I never attend another fatality, but in reality I know another one is never far away, I’m lucky that I have the support of my colleagues to see me through, we talk, we drink tea.
Talking works. It saves lives. And lets people know they are not alone.
You are not alone, and will never be. Don’t let those thoughts rule your head, those thoughts need to be out in the open. They are poison, and the poison needs to be let. Talking helps.
In a post I put up a few days ago I did mention that the wife had decided to invite some friends and family around for a gathering we usually have at the end of the football season, (Time goes so fast….) to either celebrate our success or to drown our sorrows. This year it was the latter as we were miserably incapable of putting on a decent show as a competitive team this season.
I stated that I had to put up the gazebo, due to the forecast saying there would be rain. I should have known better, as we are in a Bank holiday weekend it was bound to rain, I wasn’t wrong. Everyone had been invited around to help us celebrate/commiserate and to have a drink and something to eat, we also decided to incorporate a darts competition into the evening for a bit of fun.
Gazebo up and connected to the garden pub, bring on the rain!
The gazebo was suitably decorated with some football banners, food was in good supply in the house and a list of people who wanted to take part in the darts competition was drawn up.
The actual competition was a knockout format, and to add a little bit of extra fun I told everyone they had to have their photos taken in the pairs that they would be playing in, for this I had decided to use two of the “instant” Polaroid type cameras that I had recently repaired. My niece that I passed the first one I fixed on to, was more than happy to assist here.
The nights activity in miniature Polaroids
Pictures taken, lots of laughter and a lot of raised voices and joking about the competition began, 18 people took part and it was chaotic to say the least.
Games underway.
We eventually made it to the final with my nephew and cousin in the final, the younger talent shone through and young “J” won the competition.
Final pairing and the overall winner
I now have 38 fantastic little photos that really show the fun and spontaneity of the evening. We are going to get these into either an old style album or put them up on a board displayed somewhere around the house. Good old physical photos, on show just as they should be, not tucked away unseen on someone’s smartphone never to be seen by anyone else. At least people can look at these and say, “that group of people know how to enjoy themselves.”
I fallen in love again with this style of photo.
An interesting aside came from using these cameras. One other young family member loved these cameras so much she went onto a sale site and brought a broken one before approaching me and asking if i could fix it when it arrives. How could I turn that offer down so I had to agree. My brother in law who was there back in the day of the original Polaroid, wants me to get and fix an original one for him, it’s amazing just how young and old alike were totally impressed by this mode of photography, memories were rekindled, and memories were made….and I’ve got myself some work to do so I’m happy.
Another thing that made the wife and I extremely happy, is when one of the guests, our neighbours to be precise, brought us a gift for our pub which is totally Leicester city football club themed.
Our very generous gift from our neighbours
Last week i wrote of our captain and greatest player playing his last game for us : Jamie Vardy’s having his final party they brought us a shirt they had got signed by him and labelled up with the numbers he had achieved. I guess it helps that our neighbour actually works for the club, either way it was a superb gift that is very much appreciated.
So why are we looking at leaving this area, I don’t know 🤷♂️ our neighbours are just superb people. It’s going to be hard to match them anywhere else.
It’s been quiet in the vicinity today as I suspect there are a few sore heads as the last couple didn’t leave until about 3am this morning, we’ve spent most of the day cleaning up and had to get the gazebo and extra bits down and put away as they are coming to take the photos on Tuesday. I’m working late shifts so I’m not going to be around so I’ve got to do as much as I can to help prior to the full estate agent process kicking in.
Anyway, a great night was had by all, we have some super memories and meeting up with family and friends is always an enjoyable experience at gatherings such as this.
First day off in a while recently. It was a lovely day and it was entirely spent with the wife. A lovely day but she had to put the mockers on it.
“Do you fancy going to football tonight?” She said, I stood looking at her in shock, what a way to ruin a lovely day.
Let me add some substance here, in that we are both season ticket holders at Leicester city. Anyone who follows football will now realise my predicament. We are not a football team really, we are a collection of eleven blokes who just don’t know what the hell they are doing on the pitch, however tonight we broke another record, the first team ever to fail to score a goal in eight consecutive home games. We really are the bad. We are dire. And we have a manger who is like a little rabbit caught in the headlights. He’s out of his depth, bless him.
Anyway I don’t want to bore non football fans as you don’t really deserve that.
Anyway I quite reluctantly agreed to go, so attired in the team colours off we trudged.
Game starts.
45 minutes later at half time we are leaving the stadium, we are 3 goals down, we have played awful, and the only fun and laughs we have had is listening to the away fans taking the mickey out of us all, they were very good at this.
It was disappointing to say the least, but do you know what neither of us were surprised or affected, we just realised that we had made a poor decision and went home and had a drink to laugh at it all.
And there is my question. When does feeling disappointed become acceptable and normal?
This is what the internet says;
Disappointment becomes “normal” when it’s a frequent, yet manageable part of life, rather than a persistent source of distress. It’s about learning to accept that not everything goes as planned and finding ways to cope with setbacks, rather than avoiding them altogether.
Google
And that’s what being a football supporter (At least at our club) is, in a nutshell.
Being so bad has taken us beyond being a persistent source of distress to becoming a frequent more manageable part of our life. And we just have to accept we are really that bad and take it just like a friendly slap on the back. Something is wrong at the KP and needs attending to.
Fair overall condition some cosmetic damage as expected for a 56 year old item
Very rare well worth restoration if you know how
EBay
This guy sells retro games on EBay at exceptionally inflated, ridiculous prices. I suspect he doesn’t get involved with repair or renovation as he had this one advertised at over £30GBP but when I put in a cheeky bid for £12GBP he bit my hand off… I wasn’t expecting that! The usual mistakes in the listing such as stating it’s 56 years old when its actually 46, and stating it’s Very rare – it’s not, there were a few hundred thousand churned out and to be honest and they come up quite often on the sale sites. But I do agree it’s worth restoring and will pair up nicely with another retro football game from 1979 that i repaired a few months ago Bambino kick the goal football game. And what makes this unit even more appealing is that it is complete with both of its battery covers – now that is rare!
The game I have purchased Absolutely filthy
This game was made by Grandstand in 1979. Here’s the original advert that appeared on UK TV promoting the game back in the late 70’s.
European footballer of the year 1978/1979 Kevin Keegan – questionable late 70’s advert
This particular unit is listed as Not working, it looks filthy from what I can see, but having experience with these games in the past the biggest issue is age related problems such as old components, track decay and battery corrosion. No doubt the first thing I will do will be to dismantle it, give it a thorough inspection and then a good cleanup both inside and out. And then we can look at the issues around why it’s not operating.
Assessment:
The unit has arrived today and it sure is filthy cosmetically. Like someone who has grown up throughout those 46 years it has its scars. It looks as if it has been placed against something hot, and shows a burn mark up one side.
How it looks on arrival
Caked in filth
Battle scars and burns
I have put batteries in and the good news is that there is life of sorts. By that I mean there is a distorted noise from the speaker and a flash of life on the screen and then it dies. Wiggle the start button and there are more flashes of life but that’s it. No other buttons seem to be working. I’m not tempting fate but this could be a case of the unit being just as filthy inside as well as out. But knowing my luck this will not be the case. Let’s have a look inside.
Repair:
First of all we need to get the unit open, remove the circuit board and get the thing clean. So let’s do that.
Utter filthCircuit board Push buttons to be cleaned, the rest is off to be washed. Even a dead bug inside 😧
As you can see in the pictures above, the inside hid a lot of accumulated dirt and grime, there were even dead bugs inside. Everything that could be washed was taken to the kitchen given a good soak, brush and rinse.
Off to the basinGood clean and scrubDrying on the window cill
Whilst I’m waiting for everything to dry my attention turns to the board. A quick inspection reveals that all tracks are in a fair condition and we don’t need to rescue anything there. The buttons on either end have been taken apart and all cleaned with IPA, I’ve also used the same method to clean the switches and the board and after checking continuity all contacts are working as they should.
Board before cleaningChecking tracksNote found under upper portion of main board
Now everything is clean, I resolder the battery contacts, check the buttons and all appears well, I attach my bench power supply, give it 6v, turn on the switch and we have life. No intermittent issues and a very loud sounding speaker. I turn this off and look at getting it all reassembled.
Unit now fully assembled, it is looking a whole lot healthier and apart from its burn scar is looking pretty good.
Where’s the dirt?TransformedLooking good
And when turned on it’s working just as well as it did back in 1979.
Result:
Sometimes these units just need some care and attention, and as I stated at the beginning all this really needed was a deep clean and service. Not a thing wrong with the electrical circuits apart from contamination on the contacts and switches.
All working. Job done
I’m now in possession of a lovely example of 70’s technology with slight battle scars. It’s had a tough life but now it has had a new lease of life and is good to go for many more years yet. It will take a place in my “Retirement home” collection of old discarded retro game units.
As always, it’s a win as we have prevented another unit being heaved into landfill.
Good morning all. I’m having to get my thinking head on today for this one, not that I don’t have fun, but when put on the spot like this you have to think the answer over. There are probably things that I call fun that others out there would probably find nauseating and strange. Hey, we are all individuals and it would be boring if we were all the same. I’ll do a little list now but it’s not an exhaustive list, this is only a list of things I might do. I’m sure there are plenty other activities I can turn to:
Football: Been following my team Leicester City, through good and bad in excess of 30 years now. Unfortunately, now is a bad spell but that’s the trials of being a fan of any sport. And I love having a Balti pie and a pint, or in winter a nice hot cup of Bovril. It’s tradition.
Walking: to be honest haven’t done a lot of late but I’m already planning some nice walks to do in the next couple of months. There is nothing better than getting out there into nature and just drinking it all in. You have time to think and clear your mind, and it’s probably one of the best and healthiest activities you can get involved in.
Art: I love art and have a genuine appreciation of anyone that gives it a go. I’m really bad at it but I’m a trier. let’s be honest some of the worlds finest artists must have been bad at some point, it’s just I’m making an art of being bad. It gives me immense joy and satisfaction just creating something, so it can’t all be that bad….can it?
Holidays: My wife and I have found that since our dog passed away we now have a lot more time and availability on our hands. We are now taking a good few holidays and having more short breaks away. We love each other’s company and that’s a good place to be. We have holidays in Iceland, Uk and I believe we are planning one to the Caribbean later in the year. I say “I believe” as the wife is concocting a plan with her cousin for the big holiday at the tail end of this year.
Family days/nights: Our families are quite spread out around the Uk/Sth Africa/ Australia so it is rare to get a good gathering of the clans together. When it does occur as it did around July last year it is pure carnage, but good old fashioned raw fun and laughter. You need this every now and then to charge the memory banks. Here’s to the next one.
And that’s probably that, for now, I think these activities probably rate in my mind as the five things I most enjoy participating in, for fun.
Have a great day everyone, may peace and joy radiate throughout everything you do.
Yep, Leicester city are in action again today and for us long suffering supporters it’s another snowy, cold and windswept day in the East Midlands.
LCFCBalders….thats me
Our visitors today are from Wolverhampton, just an hour up the road.
Here’s hoping for a good day.
Update:
Well, we were well and truly slaughtered today, not sure our team even turned up. Met a nice chap from Columbia who had travelled all the way from there to watch us play. I feel really sorry for him. Hey ho. You win some and you lose some, today just wasn’t our day.
The one I spend the most time on is EBay. It’s where I get most of my stuff to repair. Secondly it’s probably Amazon and from then on there are a Number of smaller sites I take in.
I follow a number of blog sites of people who are kind enough to follow what I do. I check in to all of them regularly to see if anything has changed. I probably check in more when I haven’t seen anything for a while as I’m concerned that I’ve heard nothing, but I’m probably just overthinking it as they’re probably just living busy lives like most people do.
I only post regularly as I use it as a coping mechanism / Journal as stated in the past.
There is a good site where you can see all the cameras on the island of Iceland, all set up to show views of the volcano’s when they kick off, great for planning a trip to see something different.
Beyond that I look at the Leicester football club site occasionally, but to be honest they are not doing it for me this year so I tend to avoid it if possible.
Have a good day all, may it be a peaceful one for you.
We have tried a few batteries but the unit does not power up so beig sold for spares.
EBay
I obtained this for a very reasonable price considering the amounts being charged these days for similar battery operated 1970’s items.
Bambino gameLooks tidyNo Corrosion Bambino Kick the goal soccer game
This unit was assembled in 1979. From initial pictures a few things are pleasing. It looks fairly tidy, the battery cover is supplied, there appears to be no corrosion and the labels appear intact. However actual delivery and when it appears in my own hands may prove otherwise so I’ll await its arrival to give a final judgement.
Well the item has arrived and considering it’s 45 years old it appears to have had a good life. A few small knocks and scars, no more than what you would expect….lets get some batteries in and see what occurs.
A few cold solder joints needed re flowing45 years old and clean as a whistleGame pads all to cleanButtons to clean
Inside is amazing, no LED screen just a tube that looks like an old Cathode Ray tube that you’d have on a TV. (Actually known as a Vacuum fluorescent display) Thank god this isn’t damaged as it would be game over. Wiggling a few contacts and I can hear the speaker crackling, closer inspection shows some cold solder joints so I quickly reflow these and it all springs into life. Excellent.
Lovely old display- more like a cathode tube
I’ve decided to take it all apart and give the parts a good deep wash in some soapy water.
Bath time Drying off
I’ve cleaned the two switches with a contact cleaner, I’ve cleaned the screen membrane and all buttons and their attached membranes as well.
Looks stunningAssembled and workingNice and clean
The whole shell has also been cleaned in all the nooks and crannies, and it looks superb.
Before and after
Now assembled it is in full working order, everything works as it should and the display is bright. The batteries are a tight fit but that’s not so much of an issue. Once you get into the game it’s quite addictive as single player mode is a right challenge as the computer is a great goal keeper 😂
Just can’t score – computers goal keeper is too good
Again it’s been quite a simple fix but an enjoyable one. It’s always good to see something that is about to be disposed of brought back to life and saved from the landfill. I paid a total price of £12.71GBP for this unit, and items of a far worse condition are currently selling in excess of £40GBP on EBay. However this is going into our games box in the garden pub for use by the family, especially the kids who I hope will appreciate the height of technology we had in the 70s.
To be honest I’ll talk about anything. The only things I try to avoid are religion and politics because both subjects can get a bit heated.
I also love talking about sports. Especially football and my local football Club where I’m a season ticket holder. I love discussing football with people who support other teams. I love to hear their points of view. We share anecdotes, we sing silly songs and we have a tribal atmosphere as such and this all provides hours of stuff to talk about.
King power stadium
I also love my hobbies. You probably already know that hence the reason you’re probably looking at this blog. You may have just stumbled across it and if you have, “hello” and welcome to the Foxes Den where I’ll try and fix things. I’m not always successful but I’ll get immense fun and enjoyment out of it. It all helps me keep a level head.
Our garden pub door sign – same as this site
I’ll try to avoid talking about Work because to be honest it’s starting to get on my nerves now. I’m getting to the end of my working life, I’m looking forward to retirement if I can make it. I just hope nothing occurs in the short period of time between now and then. I don’t want to bore people about my work, i just try to keep people safe but you don’t always get recognised for doing that. You represent a big organisation and that’s it for you really, you’re no longer an individual. You’re just a number and I don’t like that.
Work
I hope this answers the question that was originally put to me for this blog post as I’ve gone on a bit I must admit, but hey it’s 02:30 in the morning. I’m sitting at work waiting for the next job to come in and I’m contemplating whether to have another cup of tea
I think I’ll have that cup of tea. I deserve it.
I wish a happy day to everyone who is reading this. I hope you are successful in all you do, I hope you’re kind to people and at peace with your lot. Be kind to yourself as well because at the end of the day you are the most important person on this planet.
Foxes Den 
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