Things learned the hard way.

i was around 5 years old and could not swim when my aunt took me to a public pool...
the swimming aid device i had, was one of those inflatable loops around your waist...
and sure enough, i dived head first into the pool at one stage.
when i surfaced again, i realized that i lost the bloody loop - and went down...
one cannot imagine what panic arises if something like this happens...
after sinking down helplessly, i touched the ground of the pool at around 2 m depth, crouched and jumped with all force i could muster, surfaced, gulped for air and went down again...
this went on for i do not know how long and how many times i followed that procedure, but alt least i knew that i was not going to die NOW...
but i also realized that i could not do that for eternity - so i started looking for some adults and my aunt. but since my primary focus was on gulping air every time i broke the surface, i could not scream and all those adults just didn't see me...

in the end i looked around in a series of those "jumps" and saw the stairs only a couple of meters away, did some final ups and downs, took a final gulp of air, took all my courage and strength left together, and paddled like crazy, frantically towards the stairs until i knocked my head on them, grabbed them and pulled myself out...

lessons learned:
1) DO NOT dive into water when your needed floating device is not fastened to your body
2) never rely on anybodys help
3) if you are in a miserable situation, you cannot get yourself out on your own - you are doomed!

 

Thats about as succinct a summary of life as we will ever hear.



I remember as a youngster, every time I complained about school life, my dad used to say

"School Days are the happiest days of your life"

I used to say "Yeah, but they are not all that happy"

I never understood till I got older why he said "Yeah, that's right", with that sly smile.

 

...... and you got married.

PDW

 

Yeah. next time I am just going to find someone I hate and give her a house !!. It will cut out all the middlemen and general bother.

 

- and if she's a lawyer you've covered all the bases . . .

 

I had one of these as a pet for a week,quite a boring companion.
Then-one night after many home brewed hard lemonades-I learnt his name was Herman,and he resented being cooped up in the 20 litre bucket as he hoped to sail to Japan where he heard life was easy.
In all good conscience I had to free him immediately,and wonder if he made it or is still wandering the open seas.

 

Good news WVH. He was picked up 200 kilometres of the coast of Japan 2 weeks ago.

Thanks to you influence, he was able to signal a fishing boat over to pick him up, using morse code with his lighting system.

They are currently teaching him Japanese, so he can star in an aquarium display at the Toba Aquarium on the Shima Peninsula.

http://www.newscientist.com/article...LC&utm_source=NSNS&utm_content=mg21728971.600

 

This is why boats are good. They don't want a boat. Mostly.

PDW

 

That's the thinking. If you want a peaceful, uninterrupted life, buy a dirty old oil encrusted, tool filled, junk surrounded engineering shed.

You will have it alllll to yourself.

 

Mmmm, yummy . . . wait, where's the boat-building barn and access to the water?

 

Boats get built in engineering sheds - ten minutes up the road to the launching ramp.

Its funny, boatsheds on the water are about $80K more than sheds 5 kilometers from the shore.

Thats an awful lot for a bit of occasional cartage.

 

I assume SWMBO of yours doesn't read bd.net.....

Basic logic works for me except my shed is cleaner and more spacious than yours (which is fortunate as I have a lot more big tools). Plus I have more outside storage space for all those pallets of stuff that keep arriving.

Oh - wait - a lot of the stuff on those pallets isn't mine.

Strategy rethink needed...... get on with the boat!

Anyway I'm going to need the room for No 2 metal planer.

PDW

 

There's no such thing as junk to a creative mind.

 

Perhaps, but there certainly is such a thing as inability to use what you own if you keep filling all available space with more 'stuff that might come in handy'.

Perhaps my point of diminishing returns is considerably different to most other peoples'. I'm comfortable with that.

PDW

 

Welcome to the forum. That is a hell of a good first post.