Longest time off the tools?

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Funny wonder if a lot of our wives are now the biggest bread winners and why the shift has happened?

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I had 2 years off as i went to work as an openreach engineer, sold all my tools van etc as i swore i'd never plaster a wall again because i hated it at the time..... Then they sacked me [emoji15]

Been back on the tools 3 years nearly now and set up with my best mate, had chances to get out the game again since but actually almost enjoy work now. The grass isn't always greener.

Sure the wage was decent and guarenteed but i think once you've worked in construction its hard to fit in to other industries/jobs.

People who are employed whinge like f**k about everything and the "banter" is a different world apart. You can't joke about sniffing nickers or calling people a prick etc they take it all to heart


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My parents had a house up for sale in mayo for €170000, they needed to sell when it all hit and they got€85,000....a few months earlier it was under offer at €155000 but the bank pulled the funding as they saw it all coming.
 
I reckon I win this one hands down. Does 22 years count as a break??

I started my apprenticeship at 17 which involved switching between a few months at college and then a few months on site and then back to college etc

The college parts were a good laugh but looking back the firm I worked for on site took the piss really because all I remember is labouring. Anyway just as my 3rd and final year was nearing its end and I was awarded my very own certificate the 91-92 recession hit and that was that.

To be honest I' had enough by then anyway and got a job as a lifeguard at a waterpark and spent my days surrounded by fanny wearing swimsuits.

For some strange reason I honestly didn't miss being cold, wet and covered in s**t back then. And so followed a new path.
 
Funny wonder if a lot of our wives are now the biggest bread winners and why the shift has happened?

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My wife is a deputy head teacher, knocks spots off any wage I do earn, or might earn in the future
 
My wife is a deputy head teacher, knocks spots off any wage I do earn, or might earn in the future
And when she becomes a head................................i'll get to f**k a headmistress.....boooooom
 
I reckon I win this one hands down. Does 22 years count as a break??

I started my apprenticeship at 17 which involved switching between a few months at college and then a few months on site and then back to college etc

The college parts were a good laugh but looking back the firm I worked for on site took the piss really because all I remember is labouring. Anyway just as my 3rd and final year was nearing its end and I was awarded my very own certificate the 91-92 recession hit and that was that.

To be honest I' had enough by then anyway and got a job as a lifeguard at a waterpark and spent my days surrounded by fanny wearing swimsuits.

For some strange reason I honestly didn't miss being cold, wet and covered in s**t back then. And so followed a new path.
Having said that Im actually quite enjoying being back on the tools now. Obviously the fact Im on the tools now as opposed to mixing baths of browning from dawn till dusk plays a part. And mixing skim back then was done by stick or if very lucky a podger. But after spending years stuck in a welding bay or worse still working a CNC machine I enjoy the albeit small level of job satisfaction plastering gives when I've done a good job. Also working in different places and not having a boss watching my every move are a welcome bonus too.

Just gotta find a way around my OCD at everything being covered in s**t and I'll be a happy man
 
I've just come back from anteririor cruciate tear from footy had 9 weeks off had my meniscus repaired aswell how's ur knee now? I had op in July but still isn't right 5 and half months on

It was in 98 and i was with bupa then so the op went well and i made sure i did all my physio, could have gone back to football but didnt bother and never had any problems.
 
What is the longest amount of time you have been off the tools and why?

I came off them in 2009 and only do odd bits here and there now...

I came off to go travelling and when I returned I was not very well... luckily a few other ventures took off and I have not really needed to go back....

But after today I felt a bit rusty and wondered how many others have had a big gap in their careers?

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it was about two months, dan. just a year before yourself, in 2007. sold up and went to live in spain. dreams of being off the grid etc. before i knew it i was working for some irish guy doing sports bars and rich peoples villas. i was quite disillusioned but it was still better than here. you could get like alhambra negra for peanuts . a lot of people were jsuta alcoholics though because they had nothing else to do
 
It was in 98 and i was with bupa then so the op went well and i made sure i did all my physio, could have gone back to football but didnt bother and never had any problems.
Did u have hamstring graft? Pretty new is hamstring graft as dint there use another method back then? Still doing my physio now,carrying soundblock boards upstairs is physio I suppose aswell..nitemare its been
 
Worked from i was 14 labouring and skimming cupboards :)
You young ones know nothing of 50kg bags , no telescopics or tubs or feck all :)
Mixing to 4 or 5 of the fussy bastards with a bicycle cog.
Standing over tons of sand in the pissing rain filling a monster of a mixer then driving a beat up tipper to offload it.

Anyways after a few years of that i reckoned be a great idea to learn the game :)
Did that for 20 odd years, over in Europe and the USA and raised 2 kids and sponsored a lazy ungrateful ex who fleeced me in the end of the paltry sum i was able to save in a lifetime.

I was lucky , did a load of night classes and got a good qualification that i always wanted. It was tough but i did it and in 2006 left the plastering to a whole new career :)

It isn't all its made out to be , stuck about 7 years of it , the bear beef explains it well , its not the same , incompetent managers and crybabies.

Few mid-life crisis and all that shite , came out the other end and now ready to head back on the tools full time again.
Doing ok with what i do now , i make a living but fancy trying the tools again , i think im good enough and havent forgot it all.
Biggest fear is the fitness , ive being doing domestic for years now , throw a few bags of skim on , school hours , no work in it.
Got a nice client base built up again after changing my number when i got that job ( i was never plastering again )
So gonna try subbie for a few months and have my own work as a back up.

After all that b*ll***s , i reckon 8 years off the tools :)
 
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