Tag: work

Low worth, litter and hatred.

What’s the trait you value most about yourself?

I’ve always had a very low opinion of my self worth, and that’s not really bothered me through my life. It’s not the best trait though and sometimes little tweaks have to take place to just bolster things a little bit. I manage it ok and it causes me no issues. I guess I don’t like being knocked down, so staying low on the radar allows me to avoid such situations.

The trait I probably value the most is the ability, to arise early, and never be late for work or an appointment, and most of all knowing that others value me for my reliability, I’m always there when I need to be, and I don’t let minor colds or ailments get in my way.

I’ve had it mentioned on a couple of rare occasions that because I was delayed by traffic maybe, and was 5 minutes later than when I normally hand over at work, (even though I’m still not officially handing over for another 30 minutes) that they were worried that I’d driven into a ditch or something! That says something about their combined expectations and my reliability, come rain or shine, plague or pestilence, Dave can always be relied on.

So in a nutshell I value my reliability, and in close second place because I was brought up in an age when we were constantly told not to litter, I don’t litter at all. Every little bit of scrap no matter how small will sit in my pocket until I reach a suitable waste receptacle, that’s just me. It’s really easy and I’d suggest everyone tries it.

And in third place, but maybe it should be higher, I don’t use the word “Hate”. It’s a horrible word and so final and irreversible, whereas “dislike” can be worked on, the word hatred is final.

Have a super day.

World mental health day

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.

Stay safe. You are not alone.

Financial leaches and stuff

It’s been a tad quiet around here lately, especially on the blogging side, and there is a reason for this. As stated recently, the house has sold but my disdain towards the estate agents still remains and to be honest I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them. For me to regain just a modicum of trust in them they would have to pull off some quite stunning and spectacular acts of estate agent “activity” whatever that may be.

The solicitors are now deeply involved and rubbing their hands and then cupping them to catch the continuous flow of cash that they seem to be extracting from us. What I’m getting at here is you manage to find a way to save a couple of thousand pounds only for these leaches to suddenly drop another bill for a similar amount. It’s just like they are using the smart speakers in the house to listen into our discussions on our finances…the swines!

Anyway that said our search for a suitable abode goes on, we have some candidates and one in particular that the wife has fallen deeply in love with. I suspect that this will ultimately be our target. The thing is that as much as I want to, I just can’t get excited. The total incompetence of the selling agents has scarred me and I expect this sale to collapse at any time, there is something that just doesn’t sit right with me. I try communicating this to the wife but I don’t want to rain on her parade, she is super excited where as I’m being super cautious, we are both at total opposite ends of the spectrum at the moment and I’m struggling to be honest. I seem to have lost faith and that’s very unlike me, but once bitten twice shy as they say.

My wife bless her, is the eternal optimist, she’s the one you want around you. Me however, I class as a pessimistic optimist, or maybe even just a realist, I don’t really know myself to be honest. I’m that one sitting very firmly, not rocking on the middle of that fence, and as I’m getting older the battle scars are ensuring that the balance is gaining a rock steady gyroscopic steadiness, I’m not budging in any way.

Work is exceedingly busy at the moment we have all kinds of issues going off and there isn’t enough hours in the day to get things done, however it is a welcome distraction from the day to day goings on in and around the home.

That said, we have a family party on Friday that I’m looking forward to, before delivering my wife to her elderly friend’s house, where she is going to spend a week looking after her. It will be a quiet week at home for me, and I’m going to miss her keeping me in check and being the ying to my yang as they say. To be honest I think I’m going to struggle, but I’ll just have to get on with it, it’s only a week and other people need her more at the moment. I’m lucky, I always have her around whereas others have no one. This is where she becomes that one little angelic presence in everyone’s life. I’m fortunate to have her presence in my life, and I’m eternally grateful for that. It still remains that I will miss her immensely. It will be a lesson in patience. I’m sure I’ll be fine, she’ll still check in and keep me on the level, that I know for sure.

All projects are currently packed away apart from a couple of easy ones that will appear on here shortly, I have a camera to service for a photographer friend, but that’s just going to have to wait.

Life plods on, I sincerely hope you are all having a peaceful time, stay safe and just continue being that wonderful presence that you are. Thank you for passing by, it’s always appreciated.

Smoke and wasteland

My role, occasionally requires me getting involved with some old engineering treasures. I sometimes have to go ahead of these trains to areas where there are “pinch points” and ensure that their movements through these areas are without delay or hindrance. The thing is if one of these old girls break down they can cause absolute havoc to timetabled passenger traffic, and passengers, rightly so, don’t take to well to being delayed by what they class as unnecessary big boys toys.

60103 – The flying Scotsman

One such old treasure is the steam train “The flying Scotsman” now I’ve been associated with this train one way or another for many years now, and only recently I was ahead of it as it made its way to a big 200 year train gathering up in Derby. I took the above Picture a few years ago at Tulse Hill station in South London. The bridge at this station is the most frequently hit bridge in the area causing massive delays to trains heading south. Me being there means a bridge exam can be carried out quickly and things can get moving fairly expediently. There is also quite a complex junction nearby, again if points were to fail I could get things running smoothly again, with a small team who work alongside me. This picture has been run through a Matte black mask to give it a vintage type look, it was taken on an old phone and was just snapped whilst I was checking timings with the train crew.

More graffiti- but with humour

Another train hit by the local graffiti artists passed through our patch. Whilst this one was parked up I had to laugh at the message conveyed on an empty stone hopper during the current economic crisis here in the UK . Living La Vida Broke-A! it made me smile.

Wasteland

Just a few months ago this compound next to where I am based was a buzzing hive of activity. Then our government cancelled the electrification of the Midland main line between Leicester and Sheffield, putting an end to the activity in this area. All the men and women laid off, another nail in the coffin of the cities outside of the “One and only London”

This Government really is blinkered and doesn’t really understand that there are communities and businesses north of Watford!

Nothing is going to change anytime soon.

Have a great day, in whatever you are doing.

Fire & Graffiti

We had a fire close to the railway here in the East Midlands yesterday. Acting as the incident officer I was able to get a couple of good shots off that I think show what a fantastic job our fire service do in very tough conditions.

In the heart of the fire
Sifting through the debris
Graffiti artists hit

For a bank holiday it was a busy day for me, two sizeable fires, Cows on the line and Graffiti artists hitting the trains.

Keeps me working though.

Have a great day.

Planning, reactive not proactive

How do you plan your goals?

Planning goals, now there is a conundrum if ever I heard one. If I really want / require / need something then there is a modicum of thought and planning that goes into it, otherwise most of my goals are on the fly as they say, whimsical to many and probably with no planning at all.

Things like holidays and breaks away are the wife’s domain and she does that most competently, I just pass some money her way when she needs it, so I don’t really get involved there.

Work

Personal goals for me are pretty much medium to long term and I don’t go over the top in achieving them according to any time scale. If they occur then that’s good, if not I’m not really that bothered. I have nothing planned that’s life changing or affirming, to be honest, I’m quite happy with my lot.

The only goal I’m really spending some time in planning is my pending retirement. It’s been on the cards for a couple of years now and will probably be a few more years yet, unless Lady Luck intervenes and allows me to close that door and enter through a new one any time soon. But even here I have no time scale, it will happen when it happens.

I guess this is why I am not a planner for my company as timelines and schedules are not really my thing as they say.

Things such as days out are always off the cuff, last minute, and here I am pretty good at putting together a last minute schedule. This is something I am good at, and ties in with my work. At work I’m always responding to issues that occur on the rail network and have to have a plan in place out of reactive necessity, not really having the pleasure of being able to draft a plan in advance of such a set of events.

Failed trains

That’s where i can excel, I guess that’s why I’ve been in this role for the last 25+ years, we have planners for the proactive stuff and I’m there for the reactive stuff, applying the big Elastoplast if you like. However, you always learn from these incidents and therefore fine tune activities accordingly, so if they ever occur again you can apply a different sticking plaster if you like. You learn and adapt, reactive response allows you to do that, you are not working to someone else’s plan, a plan that is just put together to satisfy auditors, and has not even been prepared by an experienced individual in the first place. Railway management is good at doing this, incompetence reigns supreme!

So in a nutshell my goals are pretty much reactive and get put into place as they occur. This is the same in my life outside of work and I guess this is a result of how I am at work. It can’t be all that bad as it seems to work well with me across all areas of my life.

So I’m not going to change just now, am I?

Here’s to that impending retirement, roll on I say.

Have a superb day.

Comfort and silence

What brings you peace?

I guess this is quite easy, especially for me to answer, and I do suppose a lot of others out there will probably feel the same. I’ll read other comments later just to confirm this. But for me I’m pretty simplistic, for me it’s just two things, comfort and silence.

I know that makes me sound like I’m some kind of Monk in training but it’s not meant that way. I could have said solitude, but I like to have company, however when the occasion suits, solitude is good.

Local park

I find the company in choosing those I want to be with, those who know me and have similar likes and tastes to me. The silence/quiet/solitude aspect is what seals the peace, and to be in that position with the company you choose to be with is what truly brings me peace.

Part of my work environment

I’m a city dweller, I work in the city and the noise is 24hrs constant with no let up, I find peace in taking breaks away from that environment. Fortunately my work allows me to venture into some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside where I can find that peace, and as I work alone I also find that solitude. But that moment of solitude is often kept as a moment of time in my memory, to share at a later date with my loved ones, and so that perfect circle of finding and observing peace, starts again.

Hoping you all have a peaceful day. 🙏

Losing track of time

Which activities make you lose track of time?

There is no doubt about it, that when I get involved in anything, one thing is guaranteed and that is, that you are going to get nothing but a full commitment of time and attention from me.

My main problem is that sometimes I immerse myself so deep that I sometimes struggle to get back out of the situation. Sometimes it maybe just be a helping hand that is needed and not a full scale immersion, and that’s where I sometimes struggle to find the fine line, it’s a personal issue I have always had.

I’ve learned a few harsh lessons in the past where a helping hand was all that was needed. The people I have been helping were either more than capable at completing the task, or had people with them that would have benefited more from participating in the task, rather than having me jump in and take over. I think I have become more aware of this now and even though I always wish to see a task through to its conclusion, I reluctantly stand by and am instead happy to offer advice if necessary. I just find it hard to take that step back occasionally.

I’m generally a busy person, just of my own making. I may not appear busy to the person passing by, however my brain is in overdrive keeping me busy or working something out within.

So in conclusion I’d say that pretty much all activities make me lose track of time. In some people that would probably make them bad timekeepers I’d guess, however that is again a problem I do not have. I like to help, though I guess my help may not always be appreciated, I just like to get involved, and I can be relied on to be there on time.

It must be horrible to have a wasted lazy lifestyle, however I do appreciate this is not the way everyone operates.

Maybe I need to lose track of time more often, just taking it easy. But hey, that’s just not me I’m afraid.

Have a super successful day folks

Time goes so fast….

Yes I know I have been a bit absent from here recently, but believe me there is a lot still going on behind the scenes. Just remember that old analogy that people tell you of, when a Swan is gliding serenely around a lake, not making a ripple on the surface when underneath him his little feet are going like the clappers. That’s me at the moment that is.

Old disused railway that we still have to monitor

Continuing on from this post: Busy, Busy, sell! The estate agents have now pulled us well and truly into their orbit. Numerous requests for forms, ID and information, and not to forget their commission payments have been received and returned as requested. The pictures will be taken next Tuesday and we expect the old home to be on the market by next weekend. And this is where my absence from this site has been utilised in the last week or so.

The little jobs, yes those ones you have been putting off for a while but can’t be left any longer as before long you may well have strangers in your home that will pick up on the most minuscule piece of detail.

The swines!

Quite enjoyed it to be honest, window surrounds painted and tarted up, cupboards and closets tidied and painted, steps and floors varnished, I must admit the old home is looking lovely, and to top it all the wife has invited friends and family around this weekend for a little party in the garden, and guess what? This is when we are forecast the first rains for a month or so, typically just as the barbecue was coming out of hibernation. So now I have to put up the big gazebo just in case 🤦‍♂️

Moira South
Some nice walks in Sth Derbyshire
Gazebo now in place. Before the rain 🤦‍♂️

In between this all I have also been doing my daily work duties, nothing too out of the ordinary, just every day railway stuff, and I do have a few little projects about to come on line both photographic and hobby related that I have just been awaiting parts for to complete. I’ve squeezed in some nice little walks, but beyond that I’ve not really had much time for anything else.

Maybe a little sleep?

Nah, they’ll be plenty of time for sleep when I’m in my box, however a little rest would be nice, I’m hoping the wife’s soirée this weekend will allow some nice R&R.

Have a lovely weekend people, take care and stay safe.

A little advice…

List the people you admire and look to for advice…

I guess we will all at some time look to a mixture of people for different kinds of advice.

Contentment

For emotional advice there is no one but my wife who I’d turn to in the first instance. I think for her, I’d fit that bill as well, heck, we’ve been together so long we sometimes know each other better than we know ourselves. She’s my confidante and I know anything we discuss stays totally between us. She’s just such an understanding and calm influence for me. I need that sometimes. Don’t misunderstand me, when she cracks she goes full loop de loop, and is known in the family as the Rottweiler, you just don’t cross her. And when this does rarely occur I’m the one that calms her. God, we were truly meant to be together to keep each other at peace. So far so good.

At work I’m in probably the best work team I have known in all my working days. We are always there for each other, there is always support for each other 24hrs a day, and when things get a bit too much, there is always a calming elder figure to talk to. I guess that is why it’s recognised in our organisation that our depot pretty much runs itself, with no issues and no need for guidance, we self manage and are a well oiled machine in all aspects. The guys I work with are just the most fantastic, supportive and caring bunch you could ever work with. And a combined fabulous sense of humour doesn’t go unnoticed.

Work

Outside of these two highlighted above, I look to some older and much wiser friends, elders of my life if you like for that additional advice, that advice that sometimes you just have to run past someone on the fringes of your group, to see if you are thinking it all out correctly, and addressing any issues logically.

I don’t really look to anyone else in my family group for advice, but saying that it is sometimes good to discuss approaches to issues with the younger members of the family to see their reactions and ways of dealing with similar issues. Sometimes they just seem to have a less tangled and somewhat easier approach to problem solving. Some times though they don’t.

So here I guess I am saying, that I can advise the younger generation from an experienced point of view, but at the same time I must be open to learning from them. It really is two way traffic.

Advice must be listened to and acted on, if we are to learn how to deal with a multitude of problems/ issues. Taking advice and not following through with it achieves noting and leaves you empty and confused. And that is where the “What ifs” arise. Good advice can definitely alleviate doubt.

Want some advice?

Be happy and have a great day – there you go 👍