Terrifying DIY

[Robert9999]

I thought we bought a bungalow with a serious problem. After moving in, we asked British Gas to test everything before using it. The chap looked at the gas fire in the sitting room, which the previous owner had obviously put in himself, and immediately condemned it.

Firstly, it was too powerful for the size of room without an air brick but there was something far more serious. Under the grate, he had connected the gas supply pipe with a soldered joint. The gas fitter said that if the fire had been left on a long time, that joint could have melted, and we would have had a flame gushing across the room.

However, serious as that was, it was the only thing really wrong with the place. Having read the above accounts, I'm beginning to think that we got away lightly.

 

[johnheritage]

why people risk their lives for a few bob and have no clue is beyond me!

The assumption that those who work with their hands are inferior and that they can easily do the same or better given a more classically academic upbringing.

This is a serious problem in the UK it seems, kids still take the **** out of their mates if they go on an NVQ (not very qualified) course or apprenticeship. Because society has taught them that that's a lower class of people.

I have studied molecular cell biology at one of the top ten universities in the UK; I switched to that from electronics, where I was talking about quantum structures (with 2, 1 or 0 dimensions, and these actually exist as things you rely on) and things like 3 dimensional vector algebra. I still don't automatically assume I know better than someone who's been doing something else productive for their entire life; e.g. plastering / wiring a house.... whatever.

The type of skill matters dick all, whether it's high end science and maths or painting and decorating; both of them have tricks that make them better than the normals. What matters is caring about it, being enthusiastic and having lots of first hand knowledge. If some chav can strip a car in five minutes, tell me what all the parts are, get excited and then put it back together and have it work better, he's certainly on a par with academics; he is an academic, of cars (and what is the main topic of discussion at the moment, green house warming, and carbon fuel burning).

The be fair, the hands on types do it in reverse as well. "He's got no idea....". The manual laborers and scientists / mathematicians need to combine forces, they're the same thing.

The real anuses of the world are the ones who sit round like drones, never really bothering with anything... "can't do science or maths... it's too hard... can't do anything practical with my hands, it's too hard... I'll just watch me "reality" shows....."

I could go on about this for ever. Suffice it to say, I've know people making millions a year trading for the most famous names in the world of money, and people in Cambridge doing the sciences or maths. I've also known heroin addicts who've found their friends dead in toilets after suicidal hits of it, close to tears as they tell me about it.

The world is a colourful place. And the anuses want to paint it black and white.