Flops' Friday mini blog

[Abarbarian]

You'll be eligable for the Darby and Joan club do's in April then

 

[floppybootstomp]

You'll be eligable for the Darby and Joan club do's in April then

I guess so

And the spelling is 'eligible'

I have actually done those bookings. Basically, I'm a whore, I'll work for anybody who pays me

But I am still doing it, which is kinda good, I suppose.

I still have this plan though, total noise for 8 hours and seeing who can survive it. One day, one day...

 

[nivrip]

You won't need a car after April. You'll be eligible for a bus pass.


Mind you, it could be difficult getting all your gear on a bus.

Keep at it, Flops. Those kids probably don't pay as much attention to the DJ as you think. As long as they have a good night they will be happy. Whether you're 16 or 60 they won't remember you the following week but they will remember a great night out.

And, another thought, you could become quite a novelty as the only fossilized DJ on the circuit.

 

[Taffycat]

Sir Floppington, you might be heading toward 60, but you're not one of those slightly sad sorts who tries to look and dress like a twenty-something, are you? No, thought not. So stop feeling like an "imposter."

You obviously know one heck of a lot about the latest sounds, so what does it matter whether you're 16 or 60? If the party-folk are enjoying your musical choices and having a great time, they're probably not in the least bit concerned. Heck, most of 'em are probably admiring the fact that you are on their wavelength.

Be bold Sir Floppington, don't be so doubtful, or else it will begin to influence your attitude... now that would be a pity.

 

[captain zed]

I say keep taking the money as long as you can mate.......if they didnt want ya they wouldnt book ya. Simples.

 

[bootneck02]

Know what you mean about divorce I had two grown up children one still living with us at the time and it was my decision about separating, had been married 32 yearsAs for being a fossil you are only a spring chicken and you are as young as you feel, We have two presenters on Radio Kent, Roger Day ex Radio London and Dave Cash ex Radio Caroline who are well into their 60's and there is not much you can tell them about DJing, the music business or what the oldies or youngsters enjoy. I think Roger Day still does dose gigs in clubs. As every one has said if they are prepared to pay you for your services as a DJ they must enjoy what you do and as long as they are prepared to pay you keep going so you must be doing something right You have my admiration for one.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Thank you for the kind comments everybody

I remember Dave Cash, the dj, I used to listen to the pirate radios Caroline & London on me little transistor radio under the bedclothes making out I was asleep...

In fact I can remember the Kenny & Cash show where he teamed up with Kenny Everett.

Don't know Roger Day though.

 

[bootneck02]

I worked for Kent County Council and some 9 years ago a disruptive lad who had been banned from attending after school clubs and the school grounds. While the clubs were in session climbed on the roof of the school and jumped on a perspex skylight he went through it and broke his back.

He is now a paraplegic and he was awarded over one million pounds for his stupidity, it doesn't make sense the injury was his fault, but the court decided that there were no signage giving a warning it was therefore the schools fault. Bloody Madness he shouldn't been on school property as he was banned from being on school property when after school clubs were operating and any way he should not have been on the roof, it was a self inflicted injury. Is it me or has the world gone mad.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I worked for Kent County Council and some 9 years ago a disruptive lad who had been banned from attending after school clubs and the school grounds. While the clubs were in session climbed on the roof of the school and jumped on a perspex skylight he went through it and broke his back.

He is now a paraplegic and he was awarded over one million pounds for his stupidity, it doesn't make sense the injury was his fault, but the court decided that there were no signage giving a warning it was therefore the schools fault. Bloody Madness he shouldn't been on school property as he was banned from being on school property when after school clubs were operating and any way he should not have been on the roof, it was a self inflicted injury. Is it me or has the world gone mad.

Um, right.

Ok, but what the **** has that got to do with this thread?

 

[bootneck02]

"Are our kids wrapped in cotton wool now or is this a fear of being sued just in case an accident does actually happen?

I know, I'm gonna sound old but when I was at school we were allowed to roam outside whatever the weather. And that included the winter of '63 where we had a great time having snowball fights with the teachers sometimes at breaktimes. Good sports, some of those teachers.

Ice, snow, rain, we were allowed outside. Kids now is wusses fer sure. Or maybe adults are scared of legal action, I dunno. Whatever reason - sad sad sad."

Your comments at the top of the page about parents suing for injuries on school property. There have been so many cases in the last 10 years so much schools are scared of being sued that they wrap up kids in cotton wool having done a risk assessment form for the activity .

 

[floppybootstomp]

Oh, that, right.

A quote might help me to relate

Yep, ok, sad, sad, sad, but that's the way it is now.Blame the American lawyer culture. Seriously.

I worked with an American and put it to him once, can't remember why, but 'Come on, we're all human, if you saw another human in distress, like, perhaps, run over by a car, you'd go to their aid without even a second thought wouldn't you?'

He replied 'No I wouldn't, as the injured person might sue me'

In one horrible horrible moment the whole thing came home to me. We have lost the community spirit to a whole 'me' culture.

Will I die because any prospective life-saver fears being sued?

 

[bootneck02]

I live in a tied property where I used to work and am awaiting for a Housing Association bungalow we have been offered one in a small village as I am fed up living in a town both my wife and I were brought up in the country. I only know to speak too apart from the people at work two neighbours who live across the road. Here there is little in the way of social interaction as most people keep to them selves. We had three pubs close by at one time all were closed because of drug dealing and other unsocial activities so now there is nowhere where locals can meet and socialise any longer. It is a shame but it seems to be happening in many towns now.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Haven't been here for a while, let's have a rabbit.

Gamez:

I've hardly touched the Xbox 360 in the last couple of months, I've kinda gone off it a bit. Not sure why, big screen, gamepad, sofa, should be good but the hard fact is I prefer PC gaming. Again, not really sure why.

On the Xbox I got the Red Dead Redemption Zombie pack for MS points, the equivalent of about £3.50 so feel sure they boobed on that one.

The expansion is better than the main game imo, excellent.

I like Bayonetta and NFS Hot Pursuit a lot and recently bought el cheapo Blazing Angels Squadrons Of WW2; Alan Wake and Infinite Undiscovery.

Blazing Angels, by reviews, is said to be easy but I still manage to crash the plane thus proving my expertise at every flight sim I've ever tried is a bit rubbish. Good job I never flew a Spitfire 60 years ago, lol

Alan Wake is good but hard, I'll stay with that one for now.

Infinite Undiscovery is also a pleasant surprise but in my experience of these Square Unix games they often lull you into a false sense of security then kick you right up the dangly bits. We shall see.

As well as STALKER for PC I also picked up a racing game 'Test Drive' for PC in a charity shop today for a quid. It dates from 2006, is very arcadey but is surprisingly, so far, very enjoyable.

Yesterday I went to a branch of CEX at Bromley, Kent, to p-ex some games but found it had closed down. More and more I see High Streets dying.

Have almost finished Quake II from Steam within Win 7 and wonder why newer games can't capture the sheer adrenalin of gameplay like something around ten years old. Too much concentration on graphics & cut-scenes, methinks.

Last night I watched the film 'Long Riders' a western from 1980 and wondered to myself whether Americans considered this film an accurate representation of their history cos to me it looks realistic but who knows?

I had an auto accident in October last year and suffered whiplash. As everybody else seems to make claims for stubbing their toe on the pavement and succeeds in raising policy prices I figured I’d be a mug not to have a go as well.

I got an appointment to see an independent doctor yesterday, last November. Since that appointment was made, no kidding, I’ve had about 30 reminders by post, e-mail and text to keep the appointment. There must be money to be made in this thing.

So I went and saw my Indian Doctor after having to fill out yet another questionnaire.

He asked questions, looked at me, read my form.

Then he asked me to twist my head this way and that and bend this way and that, which I did. If I was an actor I could have faked difficulty but truth was I didn’t, couldn’t be arsed and truth be, for the most part I’m more or less as agile as I was when I was 18. Oh, ok, when I was 32

I commented to the doctor ‘You must get a lot of actors in here’ He didn’t even look up or smile. Money making business.

I absolutely hate this thing and to a degree hate what I’m doing but the guy who drove into the back of me wrote my car off and did cause me temporary pain.

Years ago I’d have thought ‘crap happens’ and shrugged but now everybody wants to sue everybody, tis a sad sad thing.

I probably won’t get a single penny but I also honestly don’t care. I feel dirtied because I’ve even taken this path.

I’ve also claimed car hire charges cos after that so-and-so rear-ended me I had to hire a car for 2 weeks to complete work. Two weeks was all the work I had on and I’ve pointed this out to them, had I had more, hire period would have been longer. I am nothing if not honest. And possibly stupid. We shall see what happens, the car cost £250.00 to hire for 12 days.

I bought a car about a month ago, a ten year old VW Passat Estate with high mileage (137K). All in all, it’s perfect but there is a problem, I shall ask itsme about this presently.

It’s actually a Sports Turbo model which I didn’t realise and is very very fast. I haven’t had many fast cars, whoo

No work on atm apart from fit a new loudspeaker at half term on 23rd Feb and possibly some sound system/emergency lighting maintenance at same time if school in Dulwich decides to renew contract.

Daughters are all ok, I’m ok, I guess, except I seem to have a gum infection, will see Doc in morning for antibiotics.

Gum infections are scary to me cos radiation left gum’s immune system a bit lacking and an infection could lead to jaw removal if not caught quickly, I have seen the results of this at Guys Hospital in outpatients waiting room and it’s scary.

Playing lots of vinyl and diggin’ it, right now playing Love’s Forever Changes.

New albums, loving: The Foals; Belle & Sebastian’s ‘Write About Love; Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’ My Chemical Romance’s ‘Danger days’ and as a result of watching the Misfits, The rapture’s 2003 album ‘Echoes’ which is superb, definite PIL influence there.

Before I shuffle off this mortal coil I have been compiling a few mementoes/stories from this somewhat chequered life I have led. I am nothing unique, everybody has some great stories to tell which is to say I don’t think I’m anything different or special. I may post them

I’d like to see more people contribute to the ‘Wheelz’ thread.

Where is Crazylegs these days? Miss him.

And, folks, that’s it, I’m all typed out, lol, take care 

 

[floppybootstomp]

One good thing about this thread I can just waffle about.... stuff

Now up to 50% of Mafia 2 and have noticed it's definitely getting harder. Love this game despite all cut scenes, scripting & animations, it's good fun and that's all any game should be. Absolute rip-off of ideas from the Mafia Movie trilogy though. Which perhaps ain't a bad thing.

Yesterday completed all of the Quake series recently purchased from Steam and patched independently to make them work in Win 7 and fluidly.

Absolute best game series EVAH! Bar none Old but they got it right. Never mind fancy arse grafix and cut scenes and story line - game play is all

Bought Lara Croft Guardian Of Light from Steam yesterday for £3.29 - just in time cos it's now back to a tenner - and it's really rather good. Not yer usual Tomb Raider, this one is more Dungeon Siege. Quite challenging in places but I'm liking it a lot.

My twin daughters were up over the weekend to celebrate their sister's birthday (That'll be Faye, who was 24 on Valentine's Day and lives here with me). The female of the species never fails to amaze me, they spend, like, 3 hours getting ready to go out steadily imbibing a range of alcoholic drinks mostly involving vodka, then go out, boogie all night, arrive home 5.45am, rise at 11.30am then have the nerve to complain cos they have a hangover, lol

Sophie is doing well teaching classes at secondary schools at Cambridge whilst attending 4th year of Uni there. Lucy is working as postman but doing a 4th year at Uni come September so she can be Paramedic. Faye is working at the pub in Blackheath still.

All in all, proud of me girls.

Sophie says she is getting married to Danny, they been together 4 years, marriage probably not for 2 years but would I like to do the disco at her wedding or socialise?

I plumped for doing the disco, seems to me more people come up and rabbit to you when you're playing records anyway.

It's half term school holidays in London. I have just the one job which will take me a whole three or four hours. It's grim.

I do blame, partly, Clegg & Cameron and especially Cameron's committment to slash public spending whilst absolving big commercial concerns from paying taxes by seeking foreign havens. He's actually made this legal, I cannot believe it.

Schools in the UK, in the meantime, are having budgets cut which translates roughly as 'No wages for Mr Flops'

Spring is just around the corner, this is good.

Me best mate insisted I go to his 60th birthday celebration ion Saturday evening, so I did. Watched some mediocre band, chatted to folk, you know the score. Best mate was there with his girlfriend and they buggered off on the sly about 10:45pm.

Is it the done thing to insist your mates all come out for a drink on a Saturday night then bugger off prematurely for some nookie? No it is not, Roy, you are bang out of order mate, but I can't say I blame ya, Nicola is well tasty

And I think that's about all

 

[muckshifter]

I can't find the games series ... EVAH

Like the "blog" keep it going.

 

[Taffycat]

Like the "blog" keep it going.

Yes, me too.

 

[bootneck02]

I always read it.good stuff, keep it up

 

[bootneck02]

I know where you are coming from flopps about work in schools, I used to work for Kent County Council, their cuts are not only affecting their own workers 1500 job losses over the next 3 years and probably my wife, but it does not just affect their own employees but also contractors who will have to downsize because of loss of contracts, also people like you who give great service to schools who work for themselves ether as a subcontractor or because like you have a particular skill which the school or local authority need. In my old job I used to recommend particular people to be given the work not necessarily because they were the cheapest but I knew what their work was like and the were good value for the money they charged, and that is the criteria local authorities are supposed to work to Best Value. Most go for the cheapest and then pay twice as the job is never done properly and the tax payer foots the bill with our council tax.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I had a little bit of luck, a premises manager from a large secondary school in Southwark phoned me on Wednesday and renewed two maintenance contracts they have in place with me, I spent today carrying out the works for the first visit of the annual contract.

I'm not sure if what I charge will actually buy me a tank full of petrol though

I visited the dentist on Wednesday as well at Guys Hospital and whilst waiting to see the driller-killer with the friendly smile perused a CND magazine left in the waiting room. CND is campaign for nuclear disarmanent, btw.

Warning: There may be poitical overtones in what follows, I don't mean to offend, I'm just saying what I think, I'm not really that political a person, my ethos is simple - I don't like and distrust all politicians and all political parties.

I read most of the CND magazine while I was waiting and after overcoming my initial surprise that the organisation was still going, smiled to myself at the naivety displayed in all the articles.

Their main theme was that as Trident was going to be scrapped, it shouldn't be replaced and the money saved spent on welfare.

Well, yes, all well and good, I'd like to believe that were possible but extra home help wouldn't be much use were we to be overun and taken over by an invading army or have great chunks blown out of this island by nuclear missiles carrying holiday brochures for a tour of Mosques in Iran.

When I was younger I sincerely believed the world could totally disarm itself of nuclear weapons and I was very pro-CND and even took part in a few CND marches.I've come to realise I was terribly naive - just like a great deal of youngsters - and I think that dream is an impossible dream.

You can't uninvent that which has been invented and there are too many unstable factions in the world to be able to trust to peace. Which is why I think the UK having a nuclear deterrent has kept major peace for the last sixty years. Note I use the term 'major peace' there will always be other conflicts like The Falklands to contend with.

I feel good knowing we have a nuclear warfare capability, makes me sleep a little bit easier and this is something which both Tory & Labour goverments seem to support.

There was much talk in the CND magazine of petitions, protests, unity and they seem to believe they will influence and make a difference to Goverment decsions about nuclear deterrents and nuclear power. Again, I'll use the word naive, I'd imagine any goverment may pay them lip service and publicly acknowlege any petitions handed into Downing Street but away from the public totally ignore them.

I actually believe the decisions on these issues are made at a higher level than Goverment anyway, possibly in Washington DC but that's another issue.

A bit sad but I believe CND are wasting a lot of personal time and effort. Still, it probably makes them feel good. Note that the Glastonbury Festival dropped CND as it's main benefactor many years ago and switched their allegiance to Greenpeace.

I'm mostly in favour of Greenpeace FWIW except for one thing - they don't want me to drive a motor car.

CND also made great play in one of their magazine articles about how the Mayor of Hiroshima spoke at one of their meetings, this guy survived the bomb dropped on that city which led to Japan surrendering.

Yes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were terrible things, almost makes me cry tbh but by dropping those two bombs in a perverse kind of way America done the world a favour imo.

For a start, thousands of allied prisoners were liberated from the Japanese equivalent of concentration camps. They were suffering a great deal and the Japanese army had a diffeerent culture to us and torture, starvation and being worked to death was common.

My father was among troops who marched into Burma from India when the war with the Japanese ended and he told me just before he died of the sights he'd seen. The Enola Gay put an end to all that suffering.

Plus, the whole of the world now knows what unspeakable horrors a very small nuclear device can do which makes most sane people reluctant to use the ones we have today.

It's a shame Japan had to suffer two razed cities but they started the ruck and they were very cruel, so, that's life kiddo.

Ok, that's my take on the CND magazine

Picked up a cheap copy of Fable III for the Xbox and played it for three hours couple of evenings ago, I really like all of the Fable games.

Keep picking up lots of vinyl LP's for a quid each from the local record shop's bargain basement and charity shops but today bought my first bad one - Joe Jackson's greatest hits, two tracks on side two jumped so I binned it. Still, that's the first one in about nine months so not bad going.

Drove to Fulham yesterday and fixed a few loudspeakers and drove to Dulwich today. It's still February but the sun and warm temperature made it feel very much like Spring. 4 or 5 weeks to go and we're into British summertime. Nice one

 

[bootneck02]

I tend to agree with you on the Nuclear issue floppybootstomp it also has its peaceful side to it as well as you can testify in health care, but what I worry about is when and if the bad guys get hold of it like Iran etc, I don't think they would worry to much how dirty it was or who it was aimed at. So far it has stopped any major power using it even when there was a lot of saber rattling in the 50's, 60's & 70's lets hope it will never happens other wise it would be time to place ones head between one's knees and kiss one's a**e good by .

Well done on the renewal of the contracts wish you lots of luck on the work front, just glad I am now out of the workforce and got my pensions, but worried about the wife as she has got another 12 years before she is 65 and with her health not sure she will be able to keep working till then as she has lots of problems with arthritis.