[OT] Risk adverseness and fear of heights

[Brian Gaff]

Well cannot comment on the picture, but many people won't for example cross on the road over that French tidal power station thingy, mainly due to the height. From my point of view, I'm a bit the opposite these days. It seems now I cannot see, heights bother me less.

The only snag of corse is that as we all know, its not the falling which is the issue, its the sudden stop at the bottom. Many of us are a lot more brittle than when we were younger so it does pay to be careful.

Also memory can be far more faulty as one ages, so the fact that you actually removed that nice place to place ones foot while movingfrom shed to garrage roof might not be obvious until its far too late.

Brian

[Tim+]

I'm sure that's the case for most people. The converse also applies. As children get older and become self-sufficient, it's common for risk taking behaviour to increase. Hence balding men going out and getting their motorcycle licence. ;-)

Tim

[Tim Watts]

Given that a moped scares me, I look forward to giving a report in about

10 years!

[Davey]

Read Spike Milligan's 'Puckoon' for an explanation of how to make that work for you.

[Gordon Henderson]

I never had an issue with ladders until a few years ago when climbing an old wooden one, it decided it would rather be firewood. The rung I was standing on gave way and I fell through it and through the next few onto my big old chopping log, then backwards bruising my tail and banging my head.

Didn't break anything, but:

was pretty painfull and took a couple of weeks for the pain & swelling to go down after the doc. had popped them back to where they were supposed to be.

Gordon

[The Medway Handyman]

It's the fact that it takes you to the Isle of Sheppey that scares me :-)

[Tim Watts]

I was curious why there are so many holiday caravans there...

It's not like the people of the EastEnd don't have a choice of going to Spain on a cheap airline ticket...

[stuart noble]

I hear it's been gentrified, but that view from the beach isn't going to change.

[stuart noble]

There's a film called The Bridge that recorded suicide jumpers from the Golden Gate Bridge. One guy describes how he changed his mind on the way down, and decided to go feet first. He survived, but his organs all got shifted upwards and punctured with fragments of bone

[ARW]

Yes but you could not see it for the fog:-)

[ARW]

I am far better with heights now than I was when I was a teenager.

[Tim Watts]

Well, I wasn't robbed so that might be true...

[Bob Eager]

Staying near the rellies in Leysdown prison?

[John Rumm]

I always find this one looks like more fun:

[Lobster]

On 24 Mar 2014, Andy Burns grunted:

That one (the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa) is certainly an amazing one, though I feel the humpiness(?) is somewhat exaggerated by the perspective in the link above; eg see the same bridge here:

(or

I once had the misfortune to go on a cruise holiday, on a big f*ck-off ship which sailed out of Tampa. It passed under that bridge, and the captain warned us that it would be a very tight fit indeed, but not to worry, we'd definitely fit. We were out on the top deck at the time (deliberately), and can report that the highest point only cleared the bottom of the bridge by a matter of inches (certainly less than a foot), travelling at a fair lick. Certainly the high point of the trip for me,

[Adam Aglionby]

Need a service like available on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge

Probably not going to be booking a hiking holiday taking in El Camino Del Ray anytime soon:

[Davey]

At least the Captain knew his ship!

[Johny B Good]

I've seen that one before... and it gave me the shivers just like the first time I watched it a few years back.

Just for extra kicks, I viewed it full screen. It's a pity it's such a low resolution video (a mere 240p) but, despite this, it still made me cringe.

I used to climb telephone poles when I worked for GPO/BT and had no such terrors but we were issued with the highest quality of safety belt which removed any danger of a fall (if used properly - most but not all linesmen followed the safety rules to the letter).

I wasn't too impressed by the safety belts used in the 'counter video', "Stairway to Safety"

Although the resolution was a more deserving 1080p HD, it was a more relaxing viewing experience on account of the use of fall arrestor safety belts in spite of the belts not being in the same league as those used by the GPO/BT.

The state of the iron capping, or whatever it was, was incredibly bad to the point where there seemed to be a real risk of it severing the safety belt in the event of a slip. Even so, it was still a less dramatic movie than that "Stairway To Heaven" one.

[Bob Henson]

It frightens the living daylights out of you, does it not. I watched builders in Istanbul a few floors up extending their scaffolding as they went by nailing bits on to what they were already standing on. They looked like bits of orange boxes, although I dare say they were a tad heftier than that. I suppose that's how all the worlds major edifices were built before SGB came along. I've climbed half way up the dome of the Duomo in Florence (my legs wouldn't go any further) and I couldn't cope with peering down into the Church from there. I did the same up nearly to the top of one of the spires on Cologne cathedral - there's a gale blowing up there on a calm day at ground level. Imagine it on wooden scaffolding. Urghhhh.

[Bob Henson]

That's the bit that gets me from your picture - the side bits don't look high enough to stop a pedal cycle going over in a crash. When you think how high vehicles can somersault - they look like pavement edge kerbs. I'm with you - I'd have a "wibble" too.