Lateral thinking & Improvisation

[Bodd]

Doing the job I do Lateral thinking & Improvisation is essentially important to deal with difficult, new and unexpected situations.

Somthing that is lacking in a good % of our population.

 

[Bodd]

The Australians have a natural ability too improvisation and think
laterally. One thing I did learned from them and admired.
This comes from being a big country and having to make do with what they had with them to fix a problem. The option of popping down the plumbers merchants was not an there.

 

[Bodd]

This morning I went shopping, with no cash no pound coins.

With my leg as it is I needed trolly.

I had to think like Macgyver

What would he have done in this life and death situation.

Looking through the car all I could find was an extra strong mint. It was a little too big. I could suck it but then it would be to sticky.
It needed shaving down a bit. With a shave and a push I saved the day.
After I had a nice mint to suck.

 

[Notch7]

I went to the supermarket, I my pound coin for the trolley.

I tried to get my pound coin in the slot to release the trolley but the damn slot was all wedged up with bits of mint sweet.

Goodness me some parents dont control their kids

 

[bernardgreen]

I would have limped up to a member of staff and asked for ( loan of ) a dummy coin.....

this sweet, was it a product of the Royal Mint

Lateral thinking & Improvisation is

what separates engineers from trained monkeys. Achievers from non achievers.... and many other separations

 

[^woody^]

I was telling my apprentice only this week of the frequent free booklets we used to get in our "boys" comics, and these would tell us how to do things like escape from a house fire, uses for a penknife, catching and cooking animals or what plants we could and couldn't eat, even how to get out of your [dad's badly driven] car underwater.

Even at school my kids learnt nothing about "life" and were not educated in how to think and apply things to other situations. It's like computer code education, where everything follows a set pattern, and any divergence causes a crash.

 

[^woody^]

I went to the supermarket, I my pound coin for the trolley.

I tried to get my pound coin in the slot to release the trolley but the damn slot was all wedged up with bits of mint sweet.

Goodness me some parents dont control their kids

This always Fox's people.

 

[Bodd]

I went to the supermarket, I my pound coin for the trolley.

I tried to get my pound coin in the slot to release the trolley but the damn slot was all wedged up with bits of mint sweet.

Goodness me some parents dont control their kids

Did you suck the crumbs

 

[securespark]

This morning I went shopping, with no cash no pound coins.

With my leg as it is I needed trolly.

I had to think like Macgyver

I am amazed you managed to fashion a whole shopping trolley out of an ESM.
And doubly amazed that with your gammy leg you managed to get away from security.

 

[Bodd]

I am amazed you managed to fashion a whole shopping trolley out of an ESM.
And doubly amazed that with your gammy leg you managed to get away from security.

I used to be a spy before I was a plumber

 

[bernardgreen]

I used to be a spy before I was a plumber

Leaks in both occupations ?

 

[Bodd]

Leaks in both occupations ?

One is more apparent than the other

 

[securespark]

This always Fox's people.

Icy what you did there!

 

[JP_]

Part of the problem is that we live in a wasteful, throwaway culture. I am really starting to hate it, but struggle to fight it. Only today I bought a salad and sandwich from Sainsburys - more plastic on the way to landfill.

I visiting family in Brazil a few times and it always struck me how practical people are - and for those not practical, they hire a handyman. Everything gets fixed many times before it is replaced, everything from computers and washing machines to suitcases and saucepans. Yes, one place we stayed had pans so old they had holes in - and the owner would get them fixed by a local blacksmith, rather than replaced. The impact is that there are also a lot more traditional professions operating on a subsistence level.

Here these simple things quickly turn into businesses that need to make lots of money, and this means that before too long, everything is too expensive to fix. Washing machine breaks down after 5 years? Buy a new one. Handle falls off a saucepan? Buy a new one. Some things survive - car mechanics, boiler repairers etc. but most is chucked when it stops working. It's a waste!

So, lack of practical skills is part of the reason we live in such a wasteful society today. That and single use plastic.

And a though .. I am planning to put up a small security camera this weekend - was going to buy a cheap plastic housing for it. Maybe I make something from a plastic bottle or salad bowl, Blue Peter style.

Do they still make stuff on Blue Peter?

Glad to report that one of my sons loves watching videos on YT of people making stuff - and he shows some signs of being practical. He fixed is shield be sellotaping a container lid onto it as a handle. Lots of tape used. But an nice solution. There is hope.

 

[Notch7]

Did you suck the crumbs

Yeah, it was weird, it tasted of a mixture of plumbers mait and solder flux