"A simpler yet more meaningful life can be just as rewarding."
... and that's part of the reason we're all into 2CVs, ain't it?!

I had a pretty non-stop stressful life until last year. Breaking point came when a serious family problem coincided with the fact that the plonkers that bought the company I worked for realised that they'd not done their due diligence properly and that their "leveraged buyout" (a la Liverpool FC) had turned to dust. Anyway, I got the heave-ho! Drying my eyes, I remembered my Snail, slumbering away like sleeping beauty in a barn on an old farm near the M5 at Frankley (Frankley Services, M5's most northerly service area). Spent a month getting it back into shape during the glorious autumn of 2009 and realised that tinkering with simple cars IS one of life's pleasures. It was a real epiphany for me: stuff the pursuit of money, do what interests you and the rest will follow.
If it wasn't for my 2CV I might never have realised.

Well Russ. Get it while you can. Get out, you're still a young man, see the world, you may find your paradise somewhere.

Ah, well don't worry O-N. Here's a tale to assure you health and safety hasn't completely taken over.

See the pedestal at the far end of this picture?



Well, my boss stood upon that wall, with a grinder and cut one of the scroll cages off of it. No harness, no ropes or safety gear, he just jumped up on the wall (six foot drop the other side) and without hesitation leant over the side and started cutting. When he'd ground off what he could, he used a hammer and chisel to get it off the rest of the way, and pulled it off it's mounting whilst balancing against the rest of the pedestal.



I was shitting myself, and I was only watching. When I expressed my concern about risks and dangers*, he pointed out that in his defence, he had a hi-vis vest on...








*For me to give a toss about H+S, it has to be pretty dangerous. I'd sooner have a scar and a tale to tell at storytime than be a boring arse my whole life.

Guys, this is fantastic reading Haven't long got back from work, and I've just caught up with today's ramblings, this thread has really cheered me up. Russ's photo comparison has had me in stitches, and the rest of the chat has been entertaining and thought provoking. I'm in total agreement with the "need" and "longing" for the French "way of life", but I'll just say to Devil's Advocate-I love The Isle of Harris & Lewis!!!!

Totally off the subject, but while I'm trawling through photographs of things I'm doing at work, the first batch of lanterns I built were installed on Thursday. I'm quite pleased with them!

Nice lanterns, I like to see craftsmanship in things and new doesn't always have to mean modern. They look timeless.



That's it exactly. Sometimes a breath of fresh air is preferable to a bottle of beer, it depends on the circumstances, but once you have 'adjusted' mentally then it becomes easier to identify those valuable things that cost nothing. Let the fools chase this years model, only to be frustrated in a mere twelve months because their car isn't as new as their neighbours. Looking for and identifying those things that give simple pleasure is the best way to raise the spirits. A philosopher was once asked if he minded that the birds ate all the berries from the trees in his garden and he replied;

"No, not at all. They provide me with beautiful songs, and I pay them in berries".

The real truth, and the one that I wish I could instill into every young man and woman is this:



I do like Russ did. See these old men as you youngsters see them every day?



They perhaps once looked like this. Or the old lady in the nursing home? Born in 1920 and now at 90 years old and impossibly crooked and gnarled?



Here she is at your age.

What I'm saying is that the best you can hope for in life is to avoid death at the hands of the obvious psycho's or fatal accidents, and live to a natural old age, and even then you have the challenge of mentally coming to terms with the fact that in such a seemingly brief time span all that youth, beauty and strength that was once yours has ebbed away. Don't waste a minute!

To quote another line from another old film, who knows which one? (Father to son)

"When you're young lad life makes you laugh, but when your older... it can make you bloody cry!"

i know the feeling, when you look, and say oh i did that, and you get a bit of personal satisfaction that its still working (Well i do anyway)

Russ, mouth-splutteringly hilarious photo-comparison! You should see the state of my monitor

Old Nail, when I said "'cept the weather, scenery..." I was being tad sarcy. Ok, France will always have it over us in most of these respects, but - hey - there are wonderful places in this ol' country too.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm looking through rose-tints. I'm not saying this country is wonderful in all respects - jeepers, not at all. But it does have plenty wonderful places and wonderful peeps. Of course you will come across beer-drinking chavs and assoles pretty much wherever you go, but please - please - count the number of pleasant ordinary folk too. I think you'll find they'll outnumber the twits 100+:1.

I really don't go for the Daily Mail agenda. I hate that. If fact I think it causes much of the problem - it makes people feel and act in a suspicious, negative way - always fearing and expecting the worst rather than looking at the good.

It makes me very sad to hear such downers on Blighty. I suspect British folk are the best in t'world. You've got to look past the dregs and cast you eyes over the majority - perfectly decent folk. And amongst them will be the most gentle, heart-warming, witty, bright and amusing people you will find anywhere.

Ah! 'Health & Safety' - that old chestnut.

Yes, I know it has gone absolutely ridiculous in many respects. But, again, have you - personally - suffered because of it? Or have you just read these daft stories in the Daily Mail and tutted to yourself?

stuff the pursuit of money, do what interests you and the rest will follow.

Now that's a phrase I should follow, I'm fed up of chasing money, I'm just gonna tinker... Oh wait I need to fix what's wrong first..