Aren't we lucky?

Sometimes we whine about our jobs, or the annoying neighbours, or something that's bust or something that just isn't working out with one of our projects.

We all know a bit of history, told to us second hand, but some stories seem more real and hard hitting than others.

I found Trunky's one very powerful and sad:
http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/genealogy.48051/#post-615228

Also, last time I was at Beamish (a 'living museum'), we went down the coal mine, and learned about how boys as young as 5 would be required to work in appalling conditions for long hours, and there dads would have no choice but to make them do it, otherwise they couldn't afford to eat.

My own grandad, hated his dad so ran away at 12 year old, and got a job as a farm hand. After working every hour of daylight 7 days a week, he got sick of that, lied about his age at 15 and joined the army for an easier life. Apparently that sort of thing was common, or so he once told me.

We sometimes complain about our 'hard lives', having to drive our cars for a couple of hours a day in some cases just to get to and from our 37.5 hour a week jobs, and if times are hard, sometimes we have to do without the most luxury things for a while and just make do with everything we need and most of what we want instead.

It seems to me, we're a lucky bunch these days.

 

I was at Beamish when the kids were young and went into the mine.
There was an ex-miner there giving a riviting description of the miners and the conditions they worked in.
Being engrossed in the tale I did my usual folding the arms across the chest and leaned back against the wall of the mine.........

and fell through the black curtain that was "the wall".

Not only felt - also looked - a right idiot!

 

since we're on the subject of hard life, I want to tell you a story passed to me from Iceland.

Few years ago a ship crew made ​​up of a bunch of men, sailed from Iceland directed to Norway. This ship was intended to be sold as scrap metal and was therefore not in tip top condition.

The sea was in stormy conditions, as it often is, there.

In short, a bit like the Titanic, a hole opened in the bottom of the ship and a flow of water began to enter.
The crew did its best to fill the gap, without success, and some members of the crew drowned in the effort.

When it became clear that there was nothing more to be done, the two remaining members of the crew (the sailing teacher and his student) descended in safety boat (which was hardly safe in the midst of the storm.)
A hole opened in the safety boat!
The cold was indescribable. In short, the younger man saw his companion die in his arms, and was also a shock.

A rescue helicopter passed over their heads again and again without seeing them, then came back again and this time he saw them, and the young man was able to be dragged up the rescue ladder.

Also inside the helicopter it was cold because the fuel was used throughout for the search and had little fuel available left.

The man who was rescued was in a state of shock and it was so cold and that he did not stop shaking for a moment . Nobody could hold him still. He continued to fret about and fell back into the water from a high altitude and this led to the injuries.

So was rescued again, and eventually the heating was turned on in the helicopter and slowly the wounded recovered.

He's still alive today and has a small child, but his physical condition are not perfect.

Such is life sometimes for the brave Icelandic sailors.

 

I remember the 'mine' that was there years ago. You could walk about 20ft into it and that was it. And, as you say, it was fake, but I think they openly admitted that.

In more recent years Beamish has expanded significantly, and they've now made safe a bit of a mine, which I can say with absolute certain features no curtains, unless they've made the curtains out of solid coal.

 

I appreciate what you say clueless ... but we are not lucky ... we are in a different era.

I am a just post-war babe (1948) and we did not have a lot to say the least, but my family made the most of things. I came from a Welsh mining family where most left school well before they should have but made their way in life one way or another usually working in the servitude trade.

My father was a military man of a good family and was an ACE pilot and achieved an OBE and my mother excelled in the military and was in the ATS and was awarded an MBE ... I have given the medals to my sister's grandchildren for them to cherish.

http://www.ww2awards.com/person/47752 Sadly she died aged 34 after all her achievements in life. To me, Sis is the spitting image of our mother. xx

My t'other half and I have strived to make a good life for ourselves, which we have .. but it has been by sheer hard work and almost slavery .. but we are now appreciating the rewards of the hard labour.

In our opinion, you get nothing free from life.

 

But we're lucky to be in a different era. Certainly my generation and younger. For me, someone else fought long and hard to form the unions and ultimately to get some decent and fair employment legislation, so that I don't have to work as almost a slave on a farm or down a pit for 16 hours a day.

Yes we still have to work hard, and its still true that to some extent we make our own luck, but I reckon we've been given a massive leg up by our predecessors.

 

Yes, clueless, but let's forget the unions (I won't use the F word). To us it still comes down to the individuals and what YOU want to achieve and what YOU will do to achieve what you want.

I finished school at age 15 with 8 'O' levels (I got them at 14 but the Board of Ed in Beds would NOT let me leave school). I went to America in Alabama and went to college .. I was petrified as I had only gone to convents and girls' schools and it was co-ed there! I was 15 and there were BOYS in the school and I was only 4'8" tall and I met this wonderful person who was 4'11" tall (and still is) and she was 18 and took me under her wing ... and 49 years later we are still friends and she has been here to Portugal!

I had to fight the system there because of my age and because I was 'somewhat above average in intelligence'. My FIRST job was working for a CEO in the Space Industry. I then went into criminal and personal injury law for ten years. I fought the system.

My predecessors had nothing to do with what I achieved ... I did it MYSELF because I decided I had to survive in a country I knew nothing about!

 

Your right Victoria, you get nothing free in life. But some of the younger generation seem to think that they can skip licking envelopes and jump to a higher position.

I myself, put myself through college, (paid every dime of it including books) and the car to drive myself, working a full time job (40 hours weekly) at the same time. Funny I ended up on the "Deans" list several times.
Then later after a year break went back to get my master's degree, again working full time. Been working at some type of job since I was 13 years old.
The other day I was at my friends house, and her 20 year old daughter, which they are paying for her to go to college, said Hey Dad I need a new pair of boots. I could not imagaine even thinking to ask my Dad for a new pair of boots at that age, pay for them myself I did.
So today, looking back I pat myself on my back, I did good.

 

Well done you, redstar, you are definitely my sort of gal. xx

 

I agree, we do have things easier today in some respects regarding working conditions and hours in most jobs.
Not sure how much the unions have to do with it though.
They probably have in large industries, but their effect in smaller ones and small companies has been minimal.

Although we hate Europe with its red tape I think it has helped in some way to bring down working hours, but at the same time, the man in the street is his own worst enemy, so most do their best to get round restrictions on working hours.

Health and safety have improved things, although as with all these kind of things they dont stand still, or they themselves would be out of a job, so we get a situation whereby they keep inventing new crackpot ideas in order to justify their existence.

 

You have done well for "yourself" but you can not deny your predecessors made it slightly more possible
Pre 60's a female would not have stood a chance
Pre 70's in America a coloured person would not have stood a chance
All down to Predecessors work

As for Unions, without them children would still be going up chimneys
and I feel quite strong about people who will not strike and let others do it, and accordingly lose pay, But are quite happy to take the pay rise attained

I believe if a Company offers £2 a week rise, and through a strike the rise is then £5 a week, then those who took strike action get the extra £5 a week, and those who refused get what was offered in the first place ie £2

Jack McH

 

Jack, I agree with you to some extent.

Pre-60s ... my mother speaks for herself from her grave what a woman could achieve from a coal-mining family.

Personally, I was in Alabama from 1963 ... white and black segregation, Martin Luther King days, KKK and all the horrors that went with it ... I watched the marches and the flames ... it was not a pretty sight I can tell you. I also had black friends in the 60s. I have very personal stories about these atrocities.

Did anyone watch Erin Brockovich last night ... or have seen it in the past?