2013 A New Year and new challenges

Well welcome to 2013 I have set my myself a few challenges for the new year they may not seem that hard to keep but anyone who really knows me will laugh their heads off I have three challenges
1) to blog on a regular basis.
2) to finish the stories I start to write.
3) to quit smoking and do more exercise
Well that is the challenges the first should be easy as I can blog to say how I am doing with the other 2, and finally a happy and prosperous New Year to anyone unfortunate to read this lol.

On the bus

Just a short one here about the thing I noticed while on the bus this morning I was sitting their just looking around and watching the faces of the people getting on and off the bus you had the elderly whose faces were etched with the lines their life had left upon them some sad some full of smiles but all looking as if they could tell interesting stories of when they were young, then you had those middle aged with their smiles and hiding their concerns over the rising cost of bills and child care, then you had the teens with the devil may care attitude of youth and the air of I can do anything wait another few years young friends and of course you have the primary school and pre school children with their impish it was not me look and the why can't I do that then of course you have the likes of me sitting their looking and thinking and wishing to be young again oh well never mind maybe in my next life I will be taller lol.

Life and living

Well peeps lets see where this takes me life and living to me these are one and the same as to have a life you have to be living however the quality of life can be defined as the way you are living your life are you still with me so far 1) the way you live your life are you selfish are you kind are you nasty are you to soft do you bully people do you let people bully you do you enjoy yourself our is it all work work work. 2) do you like being sociable do you like being by yourself. With these as a starting point firstly their is nothing wrong preferring to be by yourself ouside of your working life in fact the majority of people even though they do not register like being by themselves this can be seen by the types of hobbies people partake in.But hey everyone to their own but my point is if you live a more sharing and caring type of life then as well as feeling good about yourself then others will appreciate you more.

My Life part 6

I will not bore you with all the various contract jobs I had but must admit one of the funniest places I worked was a local factory where everyday was like episodes of a soap opera with whispers of who was seeing who, who was cheating and lots of other juicy gossip if you were interested even though I was fired from this Job I bear no ill will to any of the staff or the firm for this because as it turns out they did me a favour as I ended up back welding on twice what I had been making in the factory #result for me.While working I still kept myself reasonably fit or so I thought by cycling nearly 200 hundred miles a week this included cycling to work and back and going out for pleasure rides I also took part in various charity rides the most notable of which was The Great North Cycle ride which had some nice little hills in it I did this for 8 years in a row before I started having problems with my knees and heart however I was still able to do small bike rides around my local area. I also refound my love of photography and bought my first digital camera which was good at the time as it boasted 4mega pixel however I have progressed since then and now own DSLR's I still however use film now and again as even though there have been massive leaps and bounds in technology sometimes you just cannot whack good old film. Well suffice to say I am nearly up to date my son got married and he and his wife have given me two wonderful grandchildren Nathaniel Clayton Bear and Amelia Joan Lucy I think these are two reasons that have stopped me giving up due to my ever increasing health problems but will save those for other blogposts lol and there we have it my life such as it has been now to wait and see what the future has to bring.

Apologies with pics

To Scarberryfields sorry for not visiting your blog for a while

To Dana sorry for not visiting your blog for a while







and to everyone else who has visited my blog and not returned the favour I am sorry I have been unwell but that is no excuse I will catch up with your blogs as soon as possible thank you for your patience.

My Life part5

It was 1974 I had just turned 16,left school and was now looking for a job but what to do I know something with my hands so I applied for 2 apprenticeships both as joiners one was with Bellways who for some reason after my interview decided I was not right for them the second was with Swanhunters who at the time were still one of the biggest employers in the North East so I went along for the interview at the Neptune Yard in Walker it was held as I remember in the first aid building of the yard so their I was waffling away when the interviewer says we cannot offer you a Joinery apprenticeship but we can offer you a Boilermakers apprenticeship me being completely ignorant about what a boilermaker was and not wanting to look completely stupid said that sounds good to me he got me to fill my forms in and then sent me next door for my medical and Bob's your uncle 13th August 1974 I started my apprenticeship with Swanhunter's at their Fisher Street Training Centre in Walker. My first pay packet was a princely sum of £5.10 shillings after tax at first I was excited until I realised I was going to have to get up at 5:30 to catch the first bus to Backworth then the train from Backworth to Wallsend then walk from Wallsend along to the training centre, but I carried on and part way through my second month they asked for people to become welders so I jumped right in and the rest as they say is history as far as my welding career starting goes. While serving my apprenticeship I did not not give up on my social life in fact with a wage in my pocket it became busier especially when I started going to the ice rink in Whitley Bay which was great fun and I used to have some really good times especially when I could skate pretty good going round chatting the girls up who were just learning to skate aah what blissful times they were, however I started dating one girl and I found it quite funny when her father said she had to stop seeing me because I was a shipyard worker which was hilarious considering he worked in an engineering company so regretfully so as not to cause problems for her at home we stopped seeing each other but still chatted when we saw each other in the street. 17 and I bought my first motorbike a Casal 50cc with money given to me from my Gandmother to make it easier for me to get to work and back and now I had my own transport the North East was my oyster at weekends I used to travel all over the place from Kielder to Berwick and all points inbetween but back to the mundane their I was comfortably waltzing through my apprenticeship with the odd hiccup along the way and a few fights as well but all part and parcel of the times but at least if you had a fight you knew it was going to be one on one not like nowadays where they need there mates to beat one person up, so their I was enjoying life until the day I was at work and there was a massive fire on the boat I was working on the H.M.S. Glasgow which claimed the lifes of thirteen people and amongst them were a couple of lads that I had made friends with in the training centre it was a sad day for all. During the rest of my time at Swanhunters I saw a few accidents I even had a few of my own although nothing to serious. During the rest of my time their I got married had a son and got divorced and then after nearly fourteen years in the shipyards I decided enough was enough so when the chance of my redundancy came along I worked out the maths of what I needed against what was on offer and decided it was worth taking I then went on to work for various companies on contract work.

My Life part4

Well I left Brown Rigg Boarding school and returned home to Holywell and the start of a new school Whytrig Middle school now as schools go this was not a bad school I knew quite alot of people as I had went to primary school with a great many of them but I also made new friends and also a run in with the bullies but after I stood upto them a few times they left me alone the lessons here were a mixed bag as with some subjects I was ahead of them and with others I was behind no biggee just pulled my sleeves up and got on with it.My knack for doing practical work came to the fore in one or two of my lessons were I improvised to get the result that was needed but not the way the teachers had come to them this caused fun when I had to try and explain the logic in how I had reached the result they wanted but differently to the way they wanted it. Well I was back home and as well as a new school to go to I started getting back into my old habits of finishing my homework and straight outside going down the dene around to the pond playing on the green out the front of the house with the other kids, I would like to point out that what the middle school and later the high school called cross country runs were a joke compared to those at brown rigg where you were running up and down the fells and through streams then they wondered why a shorty like me was able to beat some of the so called best when we did them, the high school was a bit like a cross country as you used to go out of the bottom gate next to the all weather pitch along a path and into the fields down into the dene back up a hill and then back to school easy the one not so funny P.E. lesson I had at the high school was the week after I had had my appendix out despite a note from me mam to excuse me they still made me do the try outs for the school sports day I was not very impressed neither was my mam she did not half give the school what for. But I digress I spent a pleasant and mainly uneventful time and both schools I did take part in some after school groups the had and as part of my music exam at the high school I took part in the performing of the Mikado and The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan just in the chorus though at the age of sixteen my exams behind me I was nearly ready to start that most daunting part of my life I was leaving school, I had no idea what I wanted to do except it had to be something where I was using my hands.