Don't know about you but I think the best jobs in the world are those of the wildlife and travel presenters.
Alan Whicker, David Attenborough, Jaques Cousteau back along, Steve Irwin, Bear Grylls, Ray Mears, Neil Oliver etc etc etc...
Getting paid to do that stuff must be up there mustn't it?
What's your dream job?
|
Farmer.
I worked on farms as a student and for a little while after. I loved it. I know all the tales of woe, but that is what I would be.
Without question.
|
|
My son's a cameraman/videographer/sound engineer and has filmed all over the world including 5 trips to the Arctic. He does quite a bit of cultural t.v. stuff as well; last year he was mentioned in the credits for Last Night of the Proms. It's very varied and he meets all sorts of interesting people …….. but he never seems to talk much about it. I think it's a wonderful job, but he seems to take it for granted.
|
Professional snooker player.
Involved in a sport I love without the bother of keeping fit or getting injured or wet and cold.
|
I wanted to be an airline pilot.
Compromised eyesight, poor spatial awareness, lack of mathematical ability, indecisiveness and tendency to motion sickness meant I was a carp match to job!!
|
>> Compromised eyesight, poor spatial awareness, lack of mathematical ability, indecisiveness and tendency to motion sickness
>>
How strange, 'cos they let me in... :-D
|
|
How did you get to be one, FF?
|
Having posted the the opener in all wide eyed innocence it has now occurred to me with some attendant trepidation, that BBD might see this...
Gulp !
;-)
|
>> C'mon man: Ryanair!
>>
I have the third best job in the world (IMHO). I'm a pilot because it's harder than you'd think to become an astronaut.
The BEST job in the world, obviously, is that of the Mythbuster.
|
Is that why you drive an Insignia FF? Is it so your life has a bit of yin to balance the yang sort of thing? I can see it would be important to have something to be disappointed about...
;-)
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Thu 5 Jun 14 at 22:44
|
>> Is that why you drive an Insignia FF? Is it so your life has a
>> bit of yin to balance the yang sort of thing? I can see it would
>> be important to have something to be disappointed about...
>>
>> ;-)
>>
I used to have a BMW 120d Coupe, and hated it. An 80 mile round trip on the motorway complete with the staff car park speed bumps left me crippled. And the whole BMW thing is massively overrated.
* Putting any power down on a rough road (ie, a British one) would leave the car skittering along and the traction control system working furiously as the crap suspension struggled to keep a wheel on the ground.
* It missed the quoted fuel economy by 30% despite multiple attempts of driving like a vicar.
* Every so often it'd drop into a tramline on the motorway and the steering would snatch violently to the left or right, meaning you had to be constantly fighting it.
* The ABS / ESP module failed three months out of warranty. Despite having a full BMW service history they wasn't interesting in contributing to the cost of repair, and quoted upwards of £800. I got it fixed at an indie for £300.
* EVERYTHING rattled inside.
* The automatic gearbox wouldn't change into 4th until you exceeded 34 mph, which meant you had to drive along in a 30 limit at 2000 rpm.
* The stock radio was rubbish.
* Changing a headlight bulb required three extra elbows evenly spaced along your forearm.
* It ate tyres.
* It was absolutely useless in the snow.
* The seats made your back sweaty on long drives.
* If you forgot to use the spare key, the battery drained permanently and irreparably.
* The handbrake used to stick.
* The doors opened too far.
Anyway, you get the point. The Insignia wafts along happily, does 65 mpg, and all I have to do is steer and try to decide what to listen to on the iPod.
The Insignia is a nice car and provides fixed cost of motoring at a reasonable price. I've never felt the urge to impress people with the car I drive. I don't need exciting driving because I effectively get that at work anyway, and if I want an adrenaline rush I'll go climbing where the risk is controlled by me.
|
|
You're not the role model for Hilary Duff by any chance, are you? :-)
Last edited by: Mike H on Thu 5 Jun 14 at 22:04
|
|
How interesting Haywain. It does indeed sound like your son has a great job. Presumably he needed some closely related qualification to get there?
|
If the whole grubby IT business - which pays the bills reasonably well and has some fringe benefits in terms of travel and contacts on multiple continents, but does little to stir my soul - were point its paps skyward tomorrow, I think I'd become a charcutier. In fact I'd start by inventing an English word for it and go from there.
Much as I admire and appreciate pigs, I'd rather leave the farming part to someone else, although preferably a close associate. But the processing part fascinates me, and I love the endless creative and home-economic possibilities of the animal once it's, erm, off the farm. I've made sausages at home, and dry-cured a leg to make a ham. I do terrines when time allows - never the same twice - and almost built a cold smoker before moving house got in the way.
I reckon I could be a decent butcher too - like surgery but without the faff of putting it back together afterwards. I love going into a shop when it's quiet (i.e. not on Saturday morning) when the butchers have time to chat about what you want, how they'll cut it and what you'll turn it into. Most of them have a real appreciation of all matters gastronomic, not just meat.
|
I've mentioned it before ( and had all the lumberjack jokes ) but I would really like to work in a forest. There's something about forests. To me anyway.
The old problem though is that no one will pay you what you need to earn for experience and knowledge you don't have.
It's amazing how early in life you attach an economic identity to yourself and how difficult it is to stray too far from it.
|
>>The old problem though is that no one will pay you what you need to earn for experience and knowledge you don't have.
It is a constant surprise that people pay me what they pay me for what I do, if you see what I mean. I think i get away with it because people think they don't understand what I do - although they probably do, its pretty easy.
Whereas if I was a Farmer everybody thinks they understand the job, although they probably don't, and thus wouldn't allow me to be paid very much.
So, when I said about my ideal job, what I meant was the earning power I have now, but working as a Farmer.
|
I take it you're some kind of business 'insultant' ?
;-)
|
|
Eighteenth century country squire.
|
|
No cars then though. Otherwise I can sort of see it.
|
>I take it you're some kind of business 'insultant' ?
If anybody decides to buy you, invest in you or sell you, if they think you're not working well enough or there must be a way of getting more money out of you, that you're not organised properly or you should be broken up for your parts, then you might just find out what I do.
Wear a carnation and carry a copy of the Daily Mail so I recognise you. Your Matalan shoes might not be sufficient to make you stand out.
And no, I am categorically not a consultant. I do stuff, usually difficult stuff, and I know lots of stuff, I do not rely on passing mindless opinions about things people already knew. Although for a while there I did teach people to do that.
|
|
You are Henry Kravis and I claim my five pounds.
|
A colonial? You accuse me of being a colonial? Well, that's about as low as it gets.
Give me that £5 back.
|
And I thought you uninsultable.
If I give you the fiver, on what will you spend it? Cos there's an Indian curry house virtually opposite my house, and a smart Chinese restaurant 100 yards away.
Not that I've ever been in either you understand. I ought. Hmm. That fiver is twitching.
|
If I had to spend a fiver right now......
Almost worth a thread, that.
I'd walk around the corner, grab a paper on the way, and drink a beer in the corner bar - The Vecchia Casa, La Reina.
|
Looks to me as if FMR is a sort of freelance corporate executive, and a good one. Not everyone can make it pay without getting greedy and keep their footing in two or three continents.
Anathema to me of course that stuff. I mean I'm lousy at it. Quite possible I've got it all wrong too.
|
I disagree with Roger on almost all things political, but reckon he's spot on here.
Idle rich, punctuated only by extensive travel and a heck of a lot of time in my filly kitted out workshop restoring old bangers or building kit cars.
It's unfortunate that I belong to a generation that will never know retirement, as I see work as nothing more than a necessity. If I didn't need to do it, and had the means to enjoy life without it, I'd quit tomorrow. As the great Bart Simpson said "working is for chumps" ;-)
|
|
I'd quite like a filly equipped workshop.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Fri 6 Jun 14 at 19:18
|
|
Haha. I was going to correct that typo but on reflection it would be dishonest...
|
|
King of Bhutan, and the opportunity to pursue the concept of Gross National Happiness
|
>> It's amazing how early in life you attach an economic identity to yourself and how
>> difficult it is to stray too far from it.
>>
Always admire people who realise they are in the wrong job so do a complete u turn irrespective of the economic factors.
Luckily I don't hate my job, but would change if something else were a reality, although money keeps me where I am
|
"Presumably he needed some closely related qualification to get there?"
He's pretty bright, but became bored half-way through 6th form, and dropped out of A levels. After a couple of years, he went to college to do a BTec in photography, then a degree in Fashion Photography at the London College of Fashion. He was most interested in videography and film and his first job after college was as assistant cameraman on TOTP - which promptly packed up after 42 years! Undeterred, he did a sidestep and, now that most of these guys are free-lance, he has learned that the key to staying in work is to be reliable and to develop and maintain a good network. It's also an asset that he can do both sound and video/lighting when the budget is limited.
He has worked in environments as varied as the Arctic to the Peruvian jungle. His most frightening job was in the Ivory Coast where he found that his taxi had 3 AK-47s on the back seat - one for the driver, one for him, and a spare. We didn't tell his mum where he was going, and I was mighty relieved when he got out with his arms and legs and his kit - they took all his money, though. Thankfully, it's not all as exciting - this week, he's filming at a holiday camp!
He's 34 now, and has developed a useful business sense, unlike my second son who is a brilliant artist and designer - but doesn't have a commercial brain-cell in his entire head!
|
Having spent some time as a professional motorcyclist, ( chasing speeders ) I thought it might be good to become a part-time courier. I spoke to a local branch of a large courier firm asking what the score was...bearing in mind that I didn't want to dash around the city all day. Leave that to the young blades ! I was interested in middle distance stuff...Lancs, Cumbria, Cheshire and North Wales.
He said he was always looking for mature, dependable riders and could use me that afternoon provided I had the proper insurance. Best quote was £1500.00 which killed the idea stone dead !
Much later, I learned about Blood Bikes......but probably too old and knackered now ! (Although the bike's still good ! )
I'd have enjoyed that, but me part-time job now is very enjoyable.
|
I'd quite like to turn a horrid pub into a nice one and sell it. Excellent, sensibly priced food; well kept beer, nice wines.
Schoolmaster has always appealed. Or antiques dealer.
I reckon that they'd all give greater job satisfaction than the current one. But job security...?
|
Test engineer on any aspect of a car.
A mate of mine in Germany does suspension and tyres for a car company he's always off to various test tracks.
Handy bloke to know.
|
>It's amazing how early in life you attach an economic identity to yourself and how difficult it is to stray too far from it. >
How early do you mean? As a child?
I'm not sure I really understand that, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts Runfer.
I'm not sure I had any economic thoughts about myself when young - I just sort of accepted that I existed in a world populated by people like us. I don't think I ever gave any thought to the possibility that there were other economic identities possessed by other people.
I'm not sure I have an individual economic identity even now - I am just the current manager of the ancient private "Bank of Mum & Dad", as were my forebears and as will I trust be my sucessors. I'd like to try and put back more into the bank than I take out, but it doesn't really matter. It's a long-term thing down the generations, much longer than my lifetime.
|
I suppose what I mean is, you fairly early on in life begin to mould yourself into the economic commodity you end up being.
For example, I went into 'business', I am allegedly at least passably good at that and in return people have paid me for those abilities in one form or another, either as an employee or for my services while self employed. Those skills (if they can be so grandly described) are in some ways transferable of course but the basic template of how I support myself and my dependants was set by those early decisions or quirks of fate, call them what you will.
If someone has qualified as, say, a doctor, in their early life then it is at least likely that those are the skills and experience they will use to provide for themselves for their lifetime. Again not too impossible to break that mould but unusual I'd guess.
If someone starts down life's road in IT conversely then that is liable to be at the core of their appeal to an employer and they are far more likely to successfully get a job and be quite good at it in that field than the doctor or the business graduate.
We become 'what we do' in some ways and while radical re-positioning of that economic identity isn't unheard of or impossible to achieve, it does require a lot more effort than following the line of least resistance which is building upon what you have previously found yourself passably useful at.
Someone posted above about wanting to be a commercial pilot. An achieveable ambition if you are young, reasonably intelligent and posses some other necessary skills but almost impossible ( of course not totally so but much more difficult ) to achieve if you are middle aged and without suitable experience or qualifications.
What I guess I mean is that fairly early in ( young adult ) liife you chalk a badge on your chest saying 'butcher', 'baker' or 'candlestick maker' and tend to stick with that as your core activity.
Naturally there are those who do manage to break their own mould. I know one guy who is now an extremely successful owner and CEO of a large fashion related business who began his working life with no qualifications working down a coal mine.
I sometimes think though that it is the people with nothing to lose in a sense who most often successfully re-invent themselves. For most others, once they enter the comfort zone of an 'ok' lifestyle and 'ok' income and 'ok' prospects in their career and then add on some family and financial responsibilities to supplement the inertia it becomes much more difficult to leap into the perhaps desired, but untried and untested unknown. Not least because the occupants of that new pasture will not see the new arrival as having much if anything to offer in the early stages.
Last edited by: Runfer D'Hills on Sat 7 Jun 14 at 17:46
|
You are focussing on career or job identity, not necessarily economic identity?
I imagine that happiness and contentment is having an economic identity somewhat less than your actual income, whereas misery, envy and worry is the other way round?
|
|
Yes indeed that is probably right Cliff. Although I've never felt deeply exercised by the perceptions of others. However critical I may be of myself !
|
>>>I guess I mean is that fairly early in ( young adult ) liife you chalk a badge on your chest saying 'butcher', 'baker' or 'candlestick maker' and tend to stick with that as your core activity.
>>>I'm not sure I have an individual economic identity even now
Genuinely interesting thoughts Cliff & Runfer.
I'm more with Cliff on this... my core "person" has been totally separate from the various avenues of work/activity I've been involved in... such that an enquiry "what do you do then" when I meet new folks socially is quite amusing and the reply somewhat complex.
I think perhaps that chalk would rub off quicker than you think Runfer should you ever feel motivated towards a change.
I started off with clean fingernails in banking but hated the stiff shirts... then a year working nights at a fuel stop on the A1... next a good few years in planning/managing engineering projects... then a nice year off doing nothing... next 15+yrs involved with horses/agriculture/mechanics... another couple years off caring for an elderly relative plus a massive house renovation project followed by a smaller one... and now fiddling about in the world of collectibles as the mood takes me.
Funnily enough I noticed a part-time local driving job I fancied the other day but thought of the nightmare back story I presented compared with a more conventional path so didn't bother.`
>>> happiness and contentment is having an economic identity somewhat less than your actual income.
I really believe in that Cliff and that attitude has been of huge benefit to us over the years... particularly in one lean patch of a few years when the girls were young and we were happy to run a £500 car yet hold onto assets that others would have cashed to keep up "standards".
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 8 Jun 14 at 10:50
|
I think we might be at slightly crossed purposes here. I'm totally with both Fenlander and Cliff when it comes to one's personal outlook, I guess I'm more debating how the outside world has a certain resistance to those who wish to re-position their lives or lifestyle. Mainly practical ones of course. Some though are born of nothing more than perception.
We have lurched from relative wealth to relative poverty several times over in our lives and seem to cope with either state of affairs.
|
>>> totally with both Fenlander and Cliff when it comes to one's personal outlook,
Ahh that's OK.
>>>I guess I'm more debating how the outside world has a certain resistance to those who wish to re-position their lives or lifestyle
Very true. I met someone socially last week who introduced himself by name and within seconds who he worked for, the broad nature of his job and the geographical area he was responsible for.
He was visibly at a loss to place me because I had no such information to share.
|
"who introduced himself by name and within seconds who he worked for, the broad nature of his job and the geographical area he was responsible for"
That's a technique I learnt at a job seeking course for professionals a few years back. It was called TMAY - Tell me About Yourself. We wrote a TMAY, about 3 or 4 paras max, although you can have different size ones, and each week we delivered it to the "class", without notes. It is a useful thing to have when you are job hunting, the idea was to get across who you are, what you do but attach size and readily identifiable brands (e.g. employers or clients) to your "speech" so mine went something like
Hello I'm smokie, I am a PRINCE 2 project manager currently managing a team of 5 for [insert name of major computer company] on deployment projects of more than 7000 seats with a value of over £1m with clients such as [insert household names of clients].
Quite a bit of info in a very short space. Also useful to break the ice at interviews... I don't always use it socially but when jobs come up in conversation it is a useful thing to have in your back pocket.
Last edited by: smokie on Sun 8 Jun 14 at 13:54
|
|
"hello, I am madf and I have 400,000 insects in my back garden"... tends to create a stunned look... :-)
|
Just got back from mountain biking. Forest gorgeous today. Thought to myself, this would be how I'd like to make a living somehow, leading tours or somesuch, followed son down steep gulley descent, got it badly wrong, ended up hanging upside down by my left ankle with my foot trapped between the handlebars and the frame and the bike caught in mid air between two trees, my head swaying gently back and forth in the nettles, decided round about then it wouldn't be the best career move for someone who later this month will be nearer 60 than 50...
Left leg now feels quite a lot longer than right. Not admitting to anything other than mild discomfort in presence of son...
May take up knitting. Or bowls.
|
>> Very true. I met someone socially last week who introduced himself by name and within
>> seconds who he worked for, the broad nature of his job and the geographical area
>> he was responsible for.
Very strange way to introduce yourself socially, I guess some people can't just switch off from work at all. I couldn't think of a worse way to sell hello and chat than see it as some sort sales opportunity and define yourself as what you do at work. Very dreary all that chat about about profit and sales etc. Someone chatting about that would send me off into the land of nod.
|
I seem to remember that there used to be quite a lot of people who don't have any non-work-related social life. Poor sad boring things they were too.
Perhaps there are fewer of those now. Somehow I doubt it though.
|
My ideal job would be disappearing off with a decent tow vehicle (newish Land Rover Discovery?) and buying up old classic cars, getting them restored, then re-selling them for a profit.
|
>> I seem to remember that there used to be quite a lot of people who
>> don't have any non-work-related social life. Poor sad boring things they were too.
>>
>> Perhaps there are fewer of those now. Somehow I doubt it though.
>>
No, I think they are as alive as ever. Defining oneself with reference to one's job is as dull as by your car. I was introduced to someone once whose first question was "What do you drive?"
"Well, nothing less than about 20 years old - at the moment I have a Renault 4" I think set the scene for my future FIL.
|
>> I seem to remember that there used to be quite a lot of people who
>> don't have any non-work-related social life. Poor sad boring things they were too.
>>
>> Perhaps there are fewer of those now. Somehow I doubt it though.
>>
No doubt they are still about, I feel sorry for them as long as they don't actually talk to me.
|
>>
>> No doubt they are still about, I feel sorry for them as long as they
>> don't actually talk to me.
>>
They certainly are still about. I work with quite a few of them. When you add 8 hours sleep to the 14 they typically spend at work, they can't have much time for their families, much lessa social life. Indeed, when you spend time with them, you quickly discover they have nothing else to discuss.
It's sad, but this is some people's understanding of how you get ahead in life.
|
Some particularly scathing comments on here this morning about those of us who do long hours at work.
Some jobs entail long hours and someone has to do them to allow others to have that quality of social life you all seem to value so much.
Some prefer to do them than to 'socialise' and in the remaining time just like to spend it at home or with a select few like minded friends.
Being different doesn't mean we're boring, no more than if I stood at a social gathering I would certainly be scathing about what I see as the pseudo personalities and false conversations overheard and often only made to impress.
Last weekend we sat outside enjoying a meal at a country pub and somehow got into a particularly profound conversation about work.
It started with me having a whinge about working almost every weekend this year and with Ian working very long hours all week, there never being any 'us' time.
He then made it clear to me that I didn't have to work and could give it up at any time and we'd manage fine. I should always remember that.
My reply surprised me but it was instant and honest.....No, I want to die at work.
I love work and have always done jobs because I loved them. does that make me sad or boring?
I perfectly able to hold a conversation about other things but often choose not to and prefer listening to others who will talk only of their loves, Cars/sport/holidays.
Do you ever consider some people find that boring too:)
Pat
|
>> Some particularly scathing comments on here this morning about those of us who do long
>> hours at work.
I'm not sure there's been too many scathing comments on those that work long hours, merely about those that define themselves by job, such as introducing themselves by job title/role and have little else to talk of.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Mon 9 Jun 14 at 06:44
|
Obsessives, whether they be obsessed with work, sport, politics or cars are hard going if you don't share their obsession.
Nothing worse than being trapped in a pub with someone who talks endlessly about football or their job. It's never a conversation because you don't have to say anything meaningful, they will do all the talking for you.
I suppose being stuck with a football manager would be a sort of hell!
|
>>>Some particularly scathing comments
Hardly scathing just observational.
I know many people who work hard and long hours.... inc Mrs F.... but she only mentions work stuff for a few minutes sometimes in the home... and never discusses it socially.
And to be clear for my part socially is anything non-work... from the Buck house garden party to buying some veg from the old guy over the back fence... they are all social interactions but by and large in my world thankfully this does not include being dressed formally and standing in circular groups with a drink.
It really can't all be about work as it is undoubtedly boring for those that do not share your work interest and it excludes more natural conversations across wide subject ranges where we can all find some common ground.
To take our small group of houses interests on one side are family, garden, UK holidays/travel, sailing, flower arranging, the village community. Then the other side it would be golf, UK travel/weekends away inc theatre, gardening, family, grandchildren. Then across the road, gardening, family, motorsport - bikes in particular, rock music. Then a couple of doors up family, foreign holidays, cycling, garden landscaping, shopping.
And these are just the basic low level conversational interests before you delve into some of the more fascinating specialists stuff folks are involved with.
|
>>>>>Some particularly scathing comments <<
Sometimes I hate forums and the written word!
I really didn't mean that as it came out and lack of time meant I knew what I was saying in my head but forgot that none of you knew that bit too:)
In the words of a particularly good song by Rod Stewart 'in these so called liberated days' it never ceases to amaze me how narrow 'normal' has become.
Anyone who doesn't follow that narrow path is so quickly criticised for simply being different.
Frequently my opinions on things on here differ from the majority on the most basic things, yet it seems to bring an onslaught of criticism, attempts to persuade me I'm wrong.
....I may be, the minority frequently are, but we shouldn't always try and change them, just accept it takes all sorts to make a world.
Perhaps I'm still living in the 60's, where's Dog when you need him.
Free love, peace Man!
Pat
|
>>
>> Frequently my opinions on things on here differ from the majority on the most basic
>> things, yet it seems to bring an onslaught of criticism, attempts to persuade me I'm
>> wrong.
I can't believe that is true, surely? Not an onslaught of criticism, with the veiled venom you seem to imply?
I for one find I often agree with your sentiments, or perhaps sometimes only want to pick up a particular point and argue it a bit, but never I hope with criticism.
I do sometimes think "Pat would like this bit" as I am writing, and often see you as the alternative voice of commonsense. I'm not deluded, am I?
|
No, not at all but I would say that I seem to have done it again!
>>with the veiled venom you seem to imply<< I wasn't implying any criticism other than to myself for not being able to explain, and write, what exactly I mean.
I was talking more generally and not to anyone on here at all, in my observations.
The media, forums and indeed a lot of people I talk to in every day life seem to criticise others for being different instead of embracing the alternative view and lifestyle.
I find myself guilty at times but try and pull myself up short and take a step back, shrug my shoulders and think 'It's not for me but good luck to them if it works for them'.
Am I just digging the hole deeper? Would somebody take the spade away please?
Pat
|
>>
>> The media, forums and indeed a lot of people I talk to in every day
>> life seem to criticise others for being different instead of embracing the alternative view and
>> lifestyle.
>>
The other day, after watching Gerald Durrell's "My family and other animals", our younger daughter remarked, "that's just like us".
|
I know exactly what you mean!
Pat
|
Best job in the world? - No FM2R
