DIY is not for everyone

[Matty F]

I've just been to the funeral of someone I've known for a long time. He was well known for trying to do jobs that went horribly wrong and needing tradesmen in to repair plumbing and wiring that he had damaged. Despite having a science degree he seemed to not know anything about simple wiring or how to fix a car ignition system. He was excellent at straightforward jobs such as concreting. But he seemed to lack the commonsense knowledge about materials and engineering that a lot of people pick up by experience or by watching others' mistakes.

[Brian Gaff]

I hope you are not suggesting that this is what did for him in the end?

I heard the usual stuff on the radio this morning about the most dangerous thing in the home is the glossy magazine placed on the floor. I just think my postman is trying to kill me by placing the mail on the doormat. How long has he known I cannot see it, and how many times have I told him not to do it? I think it is indeed the case that people, well some people are incapable of learning stuff, and yet can have a brilliant mind in other ways.

I wonder if my postman is a nuclear scientist really and just delivers letters for pin money?

Brian

[fred]

e in message

My br-in-law, honours degree in physics, once wired a plug. He wired the earth to the live terminal. Luckily it was spotted before he pluged it in.

Paul Mc Cann

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Matty F writes

The importance of knowing what you don't know!

regards

>

[Matty F]

Yes, he fell off a ladder and broke his neck. He was a fitness fanatic and should have lived for many more years.

[charles]

and them that can't do either become OFSTED inspectors

[Tim Streater]

And if they can't do that they become an EU bigwig. *Now* it's effing Mornington Crescent!

[tony sayer]

No Harry wrong again, that should be .. governs..

[hugh]

In message , tony sayer writes

Those who can do Those who can't teach Those who can't teach, govern. I don't care about the petty squabbles but FFS get it right.

[geraldthehamster]

Those who can't govern, run banks.

Cheers Richard

[ARWadsworth]

Ouch. I have got to admit that my fall off a ladder last month has knocked my confidence when it comes to going up ladders.

Although I did manage to go up the same ladder a week later.

[tony sayer]

+1!!...

[Tim Watts]

Although it does not fit, prose wise, I'm afraid it's more like:

Those who are stupid greedy circle-jerking selfish slimey bastards, run banks.

I'd hang the lot of 'em...

[Tim Watts]

Ladders beyond one storey given me wobbly underpants anyway. I really do not think I could walk up a roof - even on my one storey bungalow...

I'm fine up the London Eye or on top of The Monument (London) - as long as it's not swaying in the wind and I have the impression of being fully enclosed up to waist height I'm OK.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Bollocks. Some of the best teachers I knew were lecturers who'd come out of industry.

[Tim Streater]

So who'd run the banks after that then?

[Tim Watts]

Sod the banks - lets have the mutuals/cooperatives back in force...

[Tim Streater]

Can they fill the cash machines? That's all I care about.

[js.b1]

Keep a decent set of stepladders. Sell the ladders. Hire a proper tower.

Hire Station do tower hire with delivery & collect for =A382 at retail rates with proper adjustable outriggers and very solid Through The Trap construction compared to flimsy "DIY towers".

Many people are happy on a ladder, but price out the job saving re DIY and then ring around to price out your funeral. Then consider what life as a paraplegic feels like not just to you but your family which become imprisoned.

I used to holiday at St Ives Barnaloft, one year a man was in a wheelchair. He had fallen off a ladder the previous summer, 1982 as I recall. He died 5 years later, his son committed suicide a few months earlier from having to look after him ruined his career.

[Clive George]

Ladders scare me, but they're the most appropriate way of gaining access for things I have to do high up - a day playing with a tower or whatever is just too tedious, and that's before taking cost into account.

So I use a rope and harness to protect myself. (and yes, I'm aware of suspension trauma, but I've done a reasonable amount of rope work underground in the past, so can keep that sort of risk manageable :-) )