The best days of your life & why?
Discussion
San Francisco holiday aged about 36 with wife, a week there then drove to Los Angeles over Big Sur. Just perfect weather, perfect driving. Visited the Getty museum and had my mind blown. Drove around the hills /vineyards and quaint towns in california near the coast. Chilled, no stresses, no idea of what life was to bring.
40th birthday- free day in Vegas with a pal. Titty bar brunch, strip club lunch, gun range in afternoon shooting machine guns, pistols, assault rifles. Met back up with the ladies in our lives for a fabulous evening meal in the Bellagio's posh restaurant. Got smashed afterward :-)
Planning now for my 50th, something as memorable would be cool.
40th birthday- free day in Vegas with a pal. Titty bar brunch, strip club lunch, gun range in afternoon shooting machine guns, pistols, assault rifles. Met back up with the ladies in our lives for a fabulous evening meal in the Bellagio's posh restaurant. Got smashed afterward :-)
Planning now for my 50th, something as memorable would be cool.
2012 through 2014ish, had just left school, moved into a flat with my friends whilst doing an apprenticeship, started making good money (10-15 an hour full time as a 18-19 year old) .
Decided in 2014 to go back to do uni, have been depressed and skint ever since, can't wait for it to be over.
Decided in 2014 to go back to do uni, have been depressed and skint ever since, can't wait for it to be over.
silverfoxcc said:
This got me thinking, whilst i am not the heavily built company owning beaded globe trotter PH listee, i have has a few that i can smile at when looking back
Roughly in chronological order
1952 Being taken to Heathrow to see the First Jet Airliner take off
1958 passing the then 11+ and going to grammar school
Getting a full split cane fishing rod as a present
1959 Catching a 1lb 2oz Roach at Picketts Lock on the River Lea... see later
1961 17th April at White Hart Lane
1964 passing the driving test first time and saying to Dad, Just off to Petes in the car....... Independence
Off to Clacton and Hastings and Margate in it with the lads.. those of a certain age will know
1964-90 speaking to countless celebs/politicians/sportsmen through the job at BT and being security cleared for very spooky places
1960-67 going to all the concerts in London Stones, Beatles Xmas shows Chuck Berry Everlys Making the Cook Ferry in at Edmonton each week for a top English Group, and this in a pub dance hall. Animals, Who, Rod Stewart......Yep i am old enough to have seen all the good bands!!!!
1961-7 going to Brands Hatch,Snetterton Crystal Palace racetracks Meeting Jim Clark Graham Hill when the F2 races were at the Palace, great track and sadly missed
1965-6 hanging about outside John Lennons House in Weybridge listening to the Beatles rehearse songs and just jamming. Wish i had a tape recorder
1967 .Getting my Daimler Conquest Century for £50.00..loved that car
1968 Turning a hobby into a business by doing wedding photography, licence to print money
1972-4 meeting Glen Campbell, Tommy Cooper, Max Wall, Duane Eddy Morecombe and Wise on different occasions! ( all my show biz heros!)
1974 Going to US for first time Laker Airways and a Visit America airpass , fly anywhere you wanted on the regional airlines £90 ret on Laker and the airpass was about £100 Total spent in three weeks was less than 1K
1977 Getting married
1978 Son born
1986 Meeting Walter Payton and the NFL refs each year for the Wembley games
1991 going to Ann Arbor and calling US high school games
1997 Being asked by the NFL to operate the then experimental coach/QB radio system in Croak Park Dublin and staying up half the night with Jim McElwee and the crew going over anything NFL
1999 getting early retirement from work at 52 on full pension and a wedge of money
buying a 1990 RR ( The proper RR not a BMC off shoot) and shuttling brides about
2001 waking up after the quad bypass op
back in the US mid Sept....a very weird feeling ....not one of the good times
2002 doing Dublin and Paris for the 25yrs with Mrs Fox
2003 still fishing and still looking for second 1lb roach!!, then one evening had three roach in successive casts of 2lb 4, 2lb 8,and 2lb 12, then 20 mins later a 22lb carp. Plus the lake is within spitting distance of a pub that does good beer and food and 5mins from home
2008 taking one of the last QE2 cruises
2009 chatting to Barry Cryer whilst having a pee together!!! and then to Bruce Forsyth who had come to watch his show at Edinburgh Fringe
2012 Grandson arriving
2014 Granddaughter arriving
2015 spending a week in London 5* hotel and taking in a few shows not worrying about the last train home!
2017 Taking the family on a 40th ann cruise and Mrs Fox letting me do 15 days in US getting from San Francisco to New York by car and plane
Watching Grandson start school
nothing spectacular by normal PH standards but looking back so far, it has been interesting and i feel that in some cases being in the right place at the right time.
This whole thread has been an enlightening experience but I think we have a winnerRoughly in chronological order
1952 Being taken to Heathrow to see the First Jet Airliner take off
1958 passing the then 11+ and going to grammar school
Getting a full split cane fishing rod as a present
1959 Catching a 1lb 2oz Roach at Picketts Lock on the River Lea... see later
1961 17th April at White Hart Lane
1964 passing the driving test first time and saying to Dad, Just off to Petes in the car....... Independence
Off to Clacton and Hastings and Margate in it with the lads.. those of a certain age will know
1964-90 speaking to countless celebs/politicians/sportsmen through the job at BT and being security cleared for very spooky places
1960-67 going to all the concerts in London Stones, Beatles Xmas shows Chuck Berry Everlys Making the Cook Ferry in at Edmonton each week for a top English Group, and this in a pub dance hall. Animals, Who, Rod Stewart......Yep i am old enough to have seen all the good bands!!!!
1961-7 going to Brands Hatch,Snetterton Crystal Palace racetracks Meeting Jim Clark Graham Hill when the F2 races were at the Palace, great track and sadly missed
1965-6 hanging about outside John Lennons House in Weybridge listening to the Beatles rehearse songs and just jamming. Wish i had a tape recorder
1967 .Getting my Daimler Conquest Century for £50.00..loved that car
1968 Turning a hobby into a business by doing wedding photography, licence to print money
1972-4 meeting Glen Campbell, Tommy Cooper, Max Wall, Duane Eddy Morecombe and Wise on different occasions! ( all my show biz heros!)
1974 Going to US for first time Laker Airways and a Visit America airpass , fly anywhere you wanted on the regional airlines £90 ret on Laker and the airpass was about £100 Total spent in three weeks was less than 1K
1977 Getting married
1978 Son born
1986 Meeting Walter Payton and the NFL refs each year for the Wembley games
1991 going to Ann Arbor and calling US high school games
1997 Being asked by the NFL to operate the then experimental coach/QB radio system in Croak Park Dublin and staying up half the night with Jim McElwee and the crew going over anything NFL
1999 getting early retirement from work at 52 on full pension and a wedge of money
buying a 1990 RR ( The proper RR not a BMC off shoot) and shuttling brides about
2001 waking up after the quad bypass op
back in the US mid Sept....a very weird feeling ....not one of the good times
2002 doing Dublin and Paris for the 25yrs with Mrs Fox
2003 still fishing and still looking for second 1lb roach!!, then one evening had three roach in successive casts of 2lb 4, 2lb 8,and 2lb 12, then 20 mins later a 22lb carp. Plus the lake is within spitting distance of a pub that does good beer and food and 5mins from home
2008 taking one of the last QE2 cruises
2009 chatting to Barry Cryer whilst having a pee together!!! and then to Bruce Forsyth who had come to watch his show at Edinburgh Fringe
2012 Grandson arriving
2014 Granddaughter arriving
2015 spending a week in London 5* hotel and taking in a few shows not worrying about the last train home!
2017 Taking the family on a 40th ann cruise and Mrs Fox letting me do 15 days in US getting from San Francisco to New York by car and plane
Watching Grandson start school
nothing spectacular by normal PH standards but looking back so far, it has been interesting and i feel that in some cases being in the right place at the right time.
(I'm a few years behind you at 64 - would have loved to meet Graham Hill an my all time hero Jim Clark)
I would say it has to be now for me. Spent a fairly unhappy time married from 95 to 2012, lots of debt, lies, cheating and just general misery. I finally walked in 2012. Fast forward to now, I'm marrying the most amazing girl next July, I've known her longer than I knew my ex wife, we bought a fantastic house together last year, I have my own man cave finally with a weekend toy in there for good measure. Changed jobs this year, hated my last one and that was the last remnant of my previous life. Finally after 43 years of struggle I am calm, happy and comfortable.
Skyedriver
Jim Clark was the best by a long way, i never saw Fangio or the other 50's greats drive 'live' so i am using 61 onwards as my start line.
He could drive anything and to see him go round the corners at Palce on three wheel in a lotus Cortina absoluting thrashing the gig Ford Galaxies of the time was a joy to watch. F1/F2/ Saloons he was a master. . I visited the Museum and his grave at Chirnside in 1976 and cried my eyes out. Mrs Fox couldn't understand......
I know it is a theorectical argument but i dont think the drivers of today could handle the F1 cars of the 60's and 70's. The joy of watching pit stops and good close hand racing has gone due to the Playstation type cars of today. It seems that if you are not scared of speed and can point it straight. you are a driver. Those guys had tyres narrower that todays Saloon cars, proper clutches and no traction control PLUS you could actually see them driving as opposed to a helmet going around. Yes there have been safety improvements and quite rightly ,but for me the add ons that cars have now it has taken a lot of the skill out of the sport. Seriously i only watch the races now until the first corner, and 90% of the time if there isnt a coming together, the guy in front usually wins. Back then there were characters, Graham Hills interviewxs were a hoot. And the tracks are not as challenging Spa,The Ring,Zandvoort Brands hatch, The Full circuit at Monza Still it'sprogress and my rose tinted specs might need updating. Not starting an argument just how i feel
Jim Clark was the best by a long way, i never saw Fangio or the other 50's greats drive 'live' so i am using 61 onwards as my start line.
He could drive anything and to see him go round the corners at Palce on three wheel in a lotus Cortina absoluting thrashing the gig Ford Galaxies of the time was a joy to watch. F1/F2/ Saloons he was a master. . I visited the Museum and his grave at Chirnside in 1976 and cried my eyes out. Mrs Fox couldn't understand......
I know it is a theorectical argument but i dont think the drivers of today could handle the F1 cars of the 60's and 70's. The joy of watching pit stops and good close hand racing has gone due to the Playstation type cars of today. It seems that if you are not scared of speed and can point it straight. you are a driver. Those guys had tyres narrower that todays Saloon cars, proper clutches and no traction control PLUS you could actually see them driving as opposed to a helmet going around. Yes there have been safety improvements and quite rightly ,but for me the add ons that cars have now it has taken a lot of the skill out of the sport. Seriously i only watch the races now until the first corner, and 90% of the time if there isnt a coming together, the guy in front usually wins. Back then there were characters, Graham Hills interviewxs were a hoot. And the tracks are not as challenging Spa,The Ring,Zandvoort Brands hatch, The Full circuit at Monza Still it'sprogress and my rose tinted specs might need updating. Not starting an argument just how i feel
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