Exciting life stories...
Discussion
Kneetrembler, lil joe & BruceV8 - great stores - thanks for sharing
"In Kenya I was injured when some dozy tt dropped a grenade in front of me. I still have the fragments in my neck"
Awesome! 
This is a recent photo of me if it helps alleviate your disapointment...
On that note, BASE number + 4000+ jumps. Cool. (Where have you BASE jumped?)
"In Kenya I was injured when some dozy tt dropped a grenade in front of me. I still have the fragments in my neck"
The Riddler said:
monthefish said:
King Herald said:
Don't any PHers have anything to say about their own lives??? 
Well I'm a Catmonthefish said:
10 (FS1) Skydiver with a few hundred jumps to my name (max jump height 15,000 feet) but I didn't think it was worthy of mentioning....
Awww.. Anti-climax! Papoo said:
monthefish said:
King Herald said:
Don't any PHers have anything to say about their own lives???
Well I'm a Cat 10 (FS1) Skydiver with a few hundred jumps to my name (max jump height 15,000 feet) but I didn't think it was worthy of mentioning.... On that note, BASE number + 4000+ jumps. (Where have you BASE jumped?)Lil' Joe said:
It's taken me a while to build up the courage for this but here goes.
I had a happy childhood. Loving family, money, private schools etc etc, all the crap that is deemed necessary for a happy upbringing. Popular at school, all the birds blah blah blah. And then I discovered drugs. Usual story, the "gateway" drugs first; cannabis, alcohol leading to what I call the party drugs; speed, ecstacy, acid etc. There were good times at first. Helping the summer's supplies reach Ibiza and being rewarded with parties in "It" girls mansions was fun, and scary on the way over. I felt special when some coked up slapper from the cover of that months heat was dribbling her thanks all over me for keeping them all stocked up.
The upper classes take drugs in a different way to other people. It was very unusual if the drugs were not on the house. I remember one house had a couple of unused Penny Black stamps stuck on the ceiling in the loo, a rather rare stamp I'm lead to believe? Funnily enough, a member of the Rolling Stones still owes me a nifty...
But heroin and crack were something else and when they got a grip on me my life was never to be the same again. Gone were the days of holidays in the Algarve and nice motor's, partying with friends who worked in the city. Hello to street homelessness in the West End, ducking into doorways when I saw those same friends walk by. Being homeless is tough, really tough. Imagine walking into a city you don't know, where you don't know anyone and no-one knows you. You have no money, only the clothes on your back. Now survive. It's hard...and cold in the winter.
Prison spells followed rehabs followed prison's followed rehabs but I just could not get clean, no matter what I tried there was something that still needed to be medicated and only those drugs would do. I did AA/NA/CA meetings, CBT, even equine therapy! I tried leaving the country at my families expense but there's drugs everywhere. I came back a broken man.
Eventually through a mixture of numerous established and unorthodox techniques I got clean, and have been ever since. I am 28 this year and now work as a producer in the film industry. No-one knows of my previous exploits.
Joe
PS In the past a couple of PH's have PM'd me for advice/information on various drugs. I am happy to discuss my experiences in the belief that knowledge is power and the more you have the better decisions you can make. This is an inspirational thread and has encouraged me no end. Maybe this post will help someone in a darker place to see there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Joe,I had a happy childhood. Loving family, money, private schools etc etc, all the crap that is deemed necessary for a happy upbringing. Popular at school, all the birds blah blah blah. And then I discovered drugs. Usual story, the "gateway" drugs first; cannabis, alcohol leading to what I call the party drugs; speed, ecstacy, acid etc. There were good times at first. Helping the summer's supplies reach Ibiza and being rewarded with parties in "It" girls mansions was fun, and scary on the way over. I felt special when some coked up slapper from the cover of that months heat was dribbling her thanks all over me for keeping them all stocked up.
The upper classes take drugs in a different way to other people. It was very unusual if the drugs were not on the house. I remember one house had a couple of unused Penny Black stamps stuck on the ceiling in the loo, a rather rare stamp I'm lead to believe? Funnily enough, a member of the Rolling Stones still owes me a nifty...
But heroin and crack were something else and when they got a grip on me my life was never to be the same again. Gone were the days of holidays in the Algarve and nice motor's, partying with friends who worked in the city. Hello to street homelessness in the West End, ducking into doorways when I saw those same friends walk by. Being homeless is tough, really tough. Imagine walking into a city you don't know, where you don't know anyone and no-one knows you. You have no money, only the clothes on your back. Now survive. It's hard...and cold in the winter.
Prison spells followed rehabs followed prison's followed rehabs but I just could not get clean, no matter what I tried there was something that still needed to be medicated and only those drugs would do. I did AA/NA/CA meetings, CBT, even equine therapy! I tried leaving the country at my families expense but there's drugs everywhere. I came back a broken man.
Eventually through a mixture of numerous established and unorthodox techniques I got clean, and have been ever since. I am 28 this year and now work as a producer in the film industry. No-one knows of my previous exploits.
Joe
PS In the past a couple of PH's have PM'd me for advice/information on various drugs. I am happy to discuss my experiences in the belief that knowledge is power and the more you have the better decisions you can make. This is an inspirational thread and has encouraged me no end. Maybe this post will help someone in a darker place to see there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Fantastic well done & I hope that now you are clean that you life goes to greater things, not a lot of us would have survived that.
Bruce V8,
If it's any consolation I have had my false hip replaced 3 times and this one is the one that I wouldn't know I have ever had a hip op.
If you have any problems with your hips e-mail me and I can tell you who to see to get it sorted straight away.
All the very best a great read.
If it's any consolation I have had my false hip replaced 3 times and this one is the one that I wouldn't know I have ever had a hip op.
If you have any problems with your hips e-mail me and I can tell you who to see to get it sorted straight away.
All the very best a great read.
Kneetrembler said:
Bruce V8,
If it's any consolation I have had my false hip replaced 3 times and this one is the one that I wouldn't know I have ever had a hip op.
If you have any problems with your hips e-mail me and I can tell you who to see to get it sorted straight away.
All the very best a great read.
Cheers mate. Only had this hip (one of those new fangled ceramic ones) for three weeks and all seems good so far.If it's any consolation I have had my false hip replaced 3 times and this one is the one that I wouldn't know I have ever had a hip op.
If you have any problems with your hips e-mail me and I can tell you who to see to get it sorted straight away.
All the very best a great read.
Arsebiscuits. I forgot to mention the time I rolled a Land Rover into a minefield in Bosnia. This was entirely due to me driving like a bell-end.
As my Dad works for an airline, he took us with him around the World while I was growing up. I've lived in the Far East (Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong), Middle East (UAE, Saudi, Yemen, Jordan) but mainly Africa (Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Angola, Sudan). I went to boarding school in the UK from the age of 7, but the longest I've lived in one place is the last 8 years in Southampton.
Many stories to tell, but none quite as epic as some of the others here. Riots in Lagos and Kaduna stick in the memory - I was 6 in Lagos, watching what was happening outside the compound by climbing up a tree to see over the 10 foot high wall. The Police were beating unarmed people mercilessly, and for some reason I shouted at them to stop. I was rewarded with a tear gas canister being shot at me. Luckily it missed, but landed over the wall. I was climbing down from the tree as I passed out and was dragged inside by our maid.
That night some rioters broke into the compound and set fire to our generator, leaving us without power for the backup radios (phone lines were already down). We couldn't get in touch with the fire brigade, so the fire burned for over an hour before they happened to be passing and put it out. Came perilously close to setting the diesel storage tank off as well, I seem to recall.
On top of all this the next morning our driver was bitten by a green mamba, and sadly died in hospital.
Other than that I've survived two life-threatening diseases (Malaria Falciparum and Yellow Fever), managed to talk my way out of being deported from South Africa, survived a small plane crash (nose wheel failed to deploy), accidentally swum with hammerhead sharks, and been chased by a rhino.
After all that I'm happy to be in a city where not a lot happens, don't see myself moving any time soon!
Many stories to tell, but none quite as epic as some of the others here. Riots in Lagos and Kaduna stick in the memory - I was 6 in Lagos, watching what was happening outside the compound by climbing up a tree to see over the 10 foot high wall. The Police were beating unarmed people mercilessly, and for some reason I shouted at them to stop. I was rewarded with a tear gas canister being shot at me. Luckily it missed, but landed over the wall. I was climbing down from the tree as I passed out and was dragged inside by our maid.
That night some rioters broke into the compound and set fire to our generator, leaving us without power for the backup radios (phone lines were already down). We couldn't get in touch with the fire brigade, so the fire burned for over an hour before they happened to be passing and put it out. Came perilously close to setting the diesel storage tank off as well, I seem to recall.
On top of all this the next morning our driver was bitten by a green mamba, and sadly died in hospital.
Other than that I've survived two life-threatening diseases (Malaria Falciparum and Yellow Fever), managed to talk my way out of being deported from South Africa, survived a small plane crash (nose wheel failed to deploy), accidentally swum with hammerhead sharks, and been chased by a rhino.
After all that I'm happy to be in a city where not a lot happens, don't see myself moving any time soon!
ukwill said:
BruceV8 said:
Well here goes.
... Do you think anyone will read it?
TL;DR... Do you think anyone will read it?
I did.
I assumed anything that was four times as long as the story about the old Polish bloke who did all that stuff would be amazing.
I was slightly mislead.
Anyway- for you miserable sods who couldn't be bothered to read it, I shall abridge it to a readable length.
brucev8 said:
At 16 I joined the army and have been in it ever since.
Left school at 15
Worked in a bread factory (tea maker but worked my way up to oven cleaner)
25 years later moved to Mc'd's bun factory and got made redundant two weeks later.
Dont have a passport so never travelled, although I did go to Dover once to "see" France with my family.
Only had one girlfriend, and she turned out to be a he.
Spend most of my spare time building objects out of matchsticks, buildings, roads, fence post's, that sort of thing.
Smoke a lot due to me needing so many matchsticks so can't really move much.
Still, who knows what other exciting things will happen over the next 40 years...
Worked in a bread factory (tea maker but worked my way up to oven cleaner)
25 years later moved to Mc'd's bun factory and got made redundant two weeks later.
Dont have a passport so never travelled, although I did go to Dover once to "see" France with my family.
Only had one girlfriend, and she turned out to be a he.
Spend most of my spare time building objects out of matchsticks, buildings, roads, fence post's, that sort of thing.
Smoke a lot due to me needing so many matchsticks so can't really move much.
Still, who knows what other exciting things will happen over the next 40 years...
Probably have to nominate my Grandad, details are hazy but i'll do my best.
He joined the TA or whatever it was back then as bit of extra income thniking he'd never go into combat.
3 weeks later he was called up as WWII started.
He left my nan with her 2 kids at home, in the house she still lives in now.
He trained as a Royal Engineer & his job was building things in the army, bridges & such like.
He was also tasked with mine clearing for tanks.
2 weeks before the end of the war he stepped on a mine & half his left leg was blown off.
He said it was literally "sawn off" in a field hospital from just below the knee.
He was gutted as all his Nazi regalia had been stolen whilst he was in theatre, he had guns, flags & various other bits & bobs.
Anyway, he was flown home, worked as an engineer building motorways, bridges etc round this way.
Fathered another 4 kids, he had heart problems, bronchitis, asthma, half of one leg, he also had diabetes & smoked 40 Capston full strengths a day.
He also suffered from a stroke.
At the age of about 84 he contracted a disease in his left leg.
The doctors said they could operate but there was a chance he could die on the operating table.
He decided to sack it off & passed away in his bed at home with his kids around him.
He joined the TA or whatever it was back then as bit of extra income thniking he'd never go into combat.
3 weeks later he was called up as WWII started.
He left my nan with her 2 kids at home, in the house she still lives in now.
He trained as a Royal Engineer & his job was building things in the army, bridges & such like.
He was also tasked with mine clearing for tanks.
2 weeks before the end of the war he stepped on a mine & half his left leg was blown off.
He said it was literally "sawn off" in a field hospital from just below the knee.
He was gutted as all his Nazi regalia had been stolen whilst he was in theatre, he had guns, flags & various other bits & bobs.
Anyway, he was flown home, worked as an engineer building motorways, bridges etc round this way.
Fathered another 4 kids, he had heart problems, bronchitis, asthma, half of one leg, he also had diabetes & smoked 40 Capston full strengths a day.
He also suffered from a stroke.
At the age of about 84 he contracted a disease in his left leg.
The doctors said they could operate but there was a chance he could die on the operating table.
He decided to sack it off & passed away in his bed at home with his kids around him.
my life has been decidely dull so far. combination of distinctly average childhood and the fact i lived in the arse end of nowhere for the first 17yrs of my life.
uni perked things up, but nothing thread worthy. initially wanted to be an airline pilot but graduated at the wrong time and since then have made some very bad career choices ending up as a design engineer in a very narrow, number crunching field of heavy industry.
ho hum. king herald's posts on this kind of topic last year made me buck my ideas up. i took voluntary reduncancy 6mths ago and have been using the severance to finish my mammoth renovation project [stupidly bought a house that hadn't been lived in in years at the top of the market - whoops]. hoping to sell up and pack up before the end of the year and find a challenging job somewhere exotic. don't want to blink and i'm 40 with 2.4kids and a new mondeo every 3 years.
the most interesting life story of my peers was an old ex. she's half iraqi and grew up in baghdad through the iran-iraq war, lived overlooking the crossed scimitars and had a swedish spy for a neighbour who suddenly 'disappeared' and his wife raped she escaped just prior to gulf1, but her dad didn't get out until afterwards. when gulf2 kicked off we were watching a news spot on the iran-iraq war when the camera showed a picture of the youngest victim of that conflict. it was the ex's little cousin. her dad was offered the health minister's post by the coalition but turned it down.
uni perked things up, but nothing thread worthy. initially wanted to be an airline pilot but graduated at the wrong time and since then have made some very bad career choices ending up as a design engineer in a very narrow, number crunching field of heavy industry.
ho hum. king herald's posts on this kind of topic last year made me buck my ideas up. i took voluntary reduncancy 6mths ago and have been using the severance to finish my mammoth renovation project [stupidly bought a house that hadn't been lived in in years at the top of the market - whoops]. hoping to sell up and pack up before the end of the year and find a challenging job somewhere exotic. don't want to blink and i'm 40 with 2.4kids and a new mondeo every 3 years.
the most interesting life story of my peers was an old ex. she's half iraqi and grew up in baghdad through the iran-iraq war, lived overlooking the crossed scimitars and had a swedish spy for a neighbour who suddenly 'disappeared' and his wife raped
she escaped just prior to gulf1, but her dad didn't get out until afterwards. when gulf2 kicked off we were watching a news spot on the iran-iraq war when the camera showed a picture of the youngest victim of that conflict. it was the ex's little cousin. her dad was offered the health minister's post by the coalition but turned it down. Edited by shirt on Tuesday 15th June 21:32
JohnnyJones said:
I don't know if you'd class it as exciting, but this is me..
Fortunate enough to attend a public school, unfortunate that I made no use of it. Left (chucked out) after O levels. 1986.
Went to a large construction company to learn to be a civil engineer. After I had been with them 18 months they scrapped the training programme. Leaving me at a loose end.
So I started driving a 3.5 ton pickup around the country for a friend of my mothers, not great pay but I enjoyed the wandering around the country. This chap paid for my HGV licence when I reached 21. 1990.
I had a nasty motorbike accident and got a 10k payout. I bought a 1962 40 foot bedford coach at the age of 22 and set out around europe with 3 friends, 2 guys and a girl. The 4 of us travelled until a few weeks after leaving the UK we broke down on a beach in the north of Corfu. Corfu played a part in my life for the next few years, I worked on a watersports driving the speedboat that did the paraglides for the next 7 years or so. In the winters I travelled.
I had a bit of a fallout with my Greek boss and came home for the winter, probably about 1997.
I saw an ad in a paper for HGV drivers, trucking to Eastern europe, Russia and Ukraine. Off we go.
This was unbelievable. Really good money and really good fun. Exploring those towns and cities not long after the wall had come down was amazing. Driving all the way down to the Black Sea coast, then a weekend off while the truck got unloaded, I could go on forever.
But winter was cold. After the 1st one I decided that I wouldn't do it again. The top lifting off your batteries in the night with the frost, oil frozen in the sump, 3 or 4 weeks drive from home. Character building to say the least. But got through it.
So for 2000 millenium I went to India with an old friend. We bought Enfield Bullets and set out from Goa. We spent 3 months touring the north of India did probably 4000 miles, Hampi, Varanassi, Agra to see the Taj Mahal etc etc. Fantastic trip.
Then back to the truck, we were going deeper into Russia now, as far as Ufa in the foothills of the Ural mountains. And still to Ukraine. I remember watching Dynamo Kiev play Arsenal at their ground outside Kiev with the security guards from the factory I was delivering to, tickets paid by me. Priceless.
Next was Africa, I have an Aunt in Port Elizabeth so I went to see her for the next Christmas. I went to Cape Town for New Year with a friend of my South African cousin. I met a Belgian guy in a bar, Paul something, he'd been Cousteau's right hand man exploring the Southern Oceans and researching shark behaviour. Anyway he was off back home for a funeral but his job on a game fishing boat was open. Next morning I was at the waterfront introducing myself to the owner of 'Wild Thing'. This was a cool boat, twin turbo diesel engines and we would either fish for sharks between Cape Town and Robben Island or head out 60 or 70 miles after Tuna and so on. I did this for a couple of weeks, but Paul was on his way back from the funeral.
I met someone else who owned an overland adventure company and he offered me a job. So I used to leave Cape Town, head North to the Namibian border with my cargo of up to 20 guests, Aussi and Kiwi backpackers mostly. Through the border, across the Namib Desert to Windhoek. Over to Swarkopmund on the coast next, then East to Maun in Botswana and the Okavango Delta for a few days. Victoria Falls next, then back through Zimbabwe to South Africa and on to Cape Town. I did a few of these runs, but they weren't well paid at all so when spring came I was ready to head back to Europe to make some more money with the Russian job.
It wasn't to be. In my absence the EU had decided to let the Russians, Georgians Khazaks etc drive in europe on their own licences, so my job was gone. Ah well.
I spent the next year travelling Spain running a whisky promotion. I had an artic all made up to be like the inside of a whisky distillery and we did most of the cities and towns with it including a week in every border crossing in the Pyranees. Fantastic.
But 2003 found me back here at a loose end and I had met Helen who is still my partner. I went to Oulton Park for an assessment to work as a race instructor, I had done a bit in earlier life. From there I have built up a driving / drifting experience company and have a dozen or so cars including a new V10 R8.
I'm only 40, so plenty of time for more travels. Would be good to sell up when I'm 50 and head off again.
Well that's the story so far.
Fortunate enough to attend a public school, unfortunate that I made no use of it. Left (chucked out) after O levels. 1986.
Went to a large construction company to learn to be a civil engineer. After I had been with them 18 months they scrapped the training programme. Leaving me at a loose end.
So I started driving a 3.5 ton pickup around the country for a friend of my mothers, not great pay but I enjoyed the wandering around the country. This chap paid for my HGV licence when I reached 21. 1990.
I had a nasty motorbike accident and got a 10k payout. I bought a 1962 40 foot bedford coach at the age of 22 and set out around europe with 3 friends, 2 guys and a girl. The 4 of us travelled until a few weeks after leaving the UK we broke down on a beach in the north of Corfu. Corfu played a part in my life for the next few years, I worked on a watersports driving the speedboat that did the paraglides for the next 7 years or so. In the winters I travelled.
I had a bit of a fallout with my Greek boss and came home for the winter, probably about 1997.
I saw an ad in a paper for HGV drivers, trucking to Eastern europe, Russia and Ukraine. Off we go.
This was unbelievable. Really good money and really good fun. Exploring those towns and cities not long after the wall had come down was amazing. Driving all the way down to the Black Sea coast, then a weekend off while the truck got unloaded, I could go on forever.
But winter was cold. After the 1st one I decided that I wouldn't do it again. The top lifting off your batteries in the night with the frost, oil frozen in the sump, 3 or 4 weeks drive from home. Character building to say the least. But got through it.
So for 2000 millenium I went to India with an old friend. We bought Enfield Bullets and set out from Goa. We spent 3 months touring the north of India did probably 4000 miles, Hampi, Varanassi, Agra to see the Taj Mahal etc etc. Fantastic trip.
Then back to the truck, we were going deeper into Russia now, as far as Ufa in the foothills of the Ural mountains. And still to Ukraine. I remember watching Dynamo Kiev play Arsenal at their ground outside Kiev with the security guards from the factory I was delivering to, tickets paid by me. Priceless.
Next was Africa, I have an Aunt in Port Elizabeth so I went to see her for the next Christmas. I went to Cape Town for New Year with a friend of my South African cousin. I met a Belgian guy in a bar, Paul something, he'd been Cousteau's right hand man exploring the Southern Oceans and researching shark behaviour. Anyway he was off back home for a funeral but his job on a game fishing boat was open. Next morning I was at the waterfront introducing myself to the owner of 'Wild Thing'. This was a cool boat, twin turbo diesel engines and we would either fish for sharks between Cape Town and Robben Island or head out 60 or 70 miles after Tuna and so on. I did this for a couple of weeks, but Paul was on his way back from the funeral.
I met someone else who owned an overland adventure company and he offered me a job. So I used to leave Cape Town, head North to the Namibian border with my cargo of up to 20 guests, Aussi and Kiwi backpackers mostly. Through the border, across the Namib Desert to Windhoek. Over to Swarkopmund on the coast next, then East to Maun in Botswana and the Okavango Delta for a few days. Victoria Falls next, then back through Zimbabwe to South Africa and on to Cape Town. I did a few of these runs, but they weren't well paid at all so when spring came I was ready to head back to Europe to make some more money with the Russian job.
It wasn't to be. In my absence the EU had decided to let the Russians, Georgians Khazaks etc drive in europe on their own licences, so my job was gone. Ah well.
I spent the next year travelling Spain running a whisky promotion. I had an artic all made up to be like the inside of a whisky distillery and we did most of the cities and towns with it including a week in every border crossing in the Pyranees. Fantastic.
But 2003 found me back here at a loose end and I had met Helen who is still my partner. I went to Oulton Park for an assessment to work as a race instructor, I had done a bit in earlier life. From there I have built up a driving / drifting experience company and have a dozen or so cars including a new V10 R8.
I'm only 40, so plenty of time for more travels. Would be good to sell up when I'm 50 and head off again.
Well that's the story so far.
- You have certainly seen the world. I don't know if my life qualifies as exciting, but, is there anybody out there that would be prepared to read and review my autobiography in exchange for a free copy? It's about how (amongst other things) bipolar disorder keeps causing me to move home, hence the title, UNSETTLING. It's published by a UK charitable foundation called Chipmunka. It's not a miserable book, not at all. I've had a few good reviews from people who have read the free extracts that I've posted online, but not the whole book.
BayTheMoon said:
I don't know if my life qualifies as exciting, but, is there anybody out there that would be prepared to read and review my autobiography in exchange for a free copy? It's about how (amongst other things) bipolar disorder keeps causing me to move home, hence the title, UNSETTLING. It's published by a UK charitable foundation called Chipmunka. It's not a miserable book, not at all. I've had a few good reviews from people who have read the free extracts that I've posted online, but not the whole book. If you are up for it, a link to my email address is on my website. www.baythemoon.com. Or post a message here.
E mail me a copy, I'll revue it for you. Plenty of time for reviewing when you work offshore. 
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