Death of a close friend

[Martin Evans]

In the Police, they have been letting older officers (I don't use the word "Officers" in the military context) go, so I imagine it would be the same. Perhaps our politicians haven't been aquainted with the work of Guderian, where he measures a country's potential for military capacity by it's industrial capacity (Especially it's motor industry). On that basis, we'll soon end up with an army like the one in the Wizard of Oz.

There used to to be lots of older men in these parts, who had lost their hearing but it was genarally due to heavy industry. The father of a friend is pretty deaf because he was a boiler smith. Last year, when I visited the Severn Valley Railway, they had a boiler outside and someone was inside it doing some riveting. Even stood some distance from it, it was pretty loud I sometimes wonder whether these boy racers, who have a boot full of speakers, will end up going deaf

[hobby]

They said the same about discos (musical variety!) back in the 70s...

[Maaarrghk]

It was stereo headphones in the early 80's that did it for my lug 'oles. And the big amp' that fed them.....

Re: National Service. I read a couple of libertarian blogs that regard the while idea as "slavery". Can't see much wrong with it myself as an alternative to an apprenticeship.

And of course, it needn't be in the form of military service - conscripts don't always make good fighters.

My Dad had a couple of books by Edward Bellamy, (a good friend of Mark Twain,) called "Looking Backwards" and "Equality" where Bellamy explained his own ideas on the proverbial Utopian society, which included a form of national service whereby the young had to spend a few years in menial jobs away from their chosen career path before heading off to professional training.

All very hopeful, but I don't think we now have the sort of society that would accept much of Bellamy's ideas.

[JPB]

...I sometimes wonder whether these boy racers, who have a boot full of speakers, will end up going deaf

I had always assumed that they were deaf already. What other reason could there be for their need to have their radios that loud?
Dad, on the other hand, was on the team that worked on the then-new Vulcan's electronic systems and that invariably meant that he would be standing a short distance away from a running pair of these:

His meter in one hand, his beret no doubt clamped to his head with the other.

Strap an Olympus to the roof of a chavvie Corsa and see how they like that!

[tractorman]

While National Service did have conscripts fighting, they also had them working in other areas. One of my friends was in the Catering Corps - and still annoys his wife (of 49 years) by telling her how to cook ("If it's brown, turn it round, if it's black, it's done"). If worked properly, other trades could be taught that would suit the skill, interest or needs of the individual. However, I also knew a lad who came out of the RAF (not National Service) and couldn't find a job. His father was moaning about it one day and I suggested he used the skills taught by the service. Apparently there are not many airlines who want parachute packers

There is a lot to be said for not settling on a career straight after leaving school. I wonder how many of us are still in the same "trade" now? I must have changed "careers" about five or six times in the last forty years! OK, some are forced on us, but sometimes a skill in one trade can be used in another. In my case, it was working with - and thus knowing - David Brown tractors that led me to a job as a storeman for a DB agency. The storeman's knowledge helped when working as a school technician (though the degree in engineering helped more in the last school!).

My hearing loss was caused by working a hammer mill (milling barley for pigs), powered by a Ferguson TVO engine, in an empty barn during a cold winter (so the doors were shut).

I heard that ... pardon?

[Maaarrghk]

Tractorman. Your first sentence there just reminded me of the "Bevin Boys" of WW2, who were conscripted to work in the coal mines, rather than going into the armed forces. I can remember my Dad telling me that they were treated so badly that the regular miners actually came out on strike (in the middle of WW2!) in support of the Bevin Boys.

Apparently, they Bevin Boys were needed as many younger miners had joined the armed forces, considering going off to fight a war as a safer alternative to working in the pit. They must have joined up very early on, as mining was made a reserved occupation.