Away from racing.

D

Danny

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Feb 27, 2013
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Away from racing I've been trying to sort myself out a bit. Not that I'm that bad but as I approach 40 I thought if I'm going to have a mid life crisis I might as well try and improve my life a bit instead of pressing the self destruct button. Amongst giving up smoking (about 8 months ago now ) I've started swimming, doing a little bits at the gym, eating a bit better (which I actually quite enjoy) I've also started reading a few things but also being fairly lazy I've found that there are quite a lot of interesting things on you tube. I like pretty much anything that challenges the way I've thought about things and I've gone across a whole range of subjects.

I thought if its o.k with you guys I'd link some of the things I find worthwhile here. I watched this brilliant interview by Joe Rogan with Teddy atlas about Mike Tyson and I know he had history with him putting a gun to his head for whatever went down but I thought what he says is so true and I don't think it could be explained better.


https://youtu.be/3wCZY_vW860


I don't know if putting these sort of links up is o.k with you guys or even if you'd find them interesting but if it is o.k and it stimulates some discussion then I'll put some more up as I come across them or some of my old favourites. If anyone else comes across anything interesting and its o.k with the boss or the Mods then post them up :)
 
Good to hear that you've kicked the smoking habit, Danny. I don't think many people realise how addictive smoking is and how incredibly hard it is to stop. The main thing that helped me was my first grandchild being born and not wanting to go near him after I'd had a cigarette. 12 years later and I still think about having a cigarette sometimes but now understand why my son used to tell me that the house stank of tobacco. I used to worry about what smoking was doing to my health and when worried I'd reach for another cigarette.
 
moehat said:
Good to hear that you've kicked the smoking habit, Danny. I don't think many people realise how addictive smoking is and how incredibly hard it is to stop. The main thing that helped me was my first grandchild being born and not wanting to go near him after I'd had a cigarette. 12 years later and I still think about having a cigarette sometimes but now understand why my son used to tell me that the house stank of tobacco. I used to worry about what smoking was doing to my health and when worried I'd reach for another cigarette.
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I stopped almost 4 years ago now, but do Vape instead, I had tried many times before that and never managed. Don't actually feel much different, although haven't had a cough since, and the car and house don't smell of smoke any more. Nor do the white ceilings have a yellow tinge to them meaning painting every 6 months! Best thing I've done. Now need to lose some weight after being diagnosed with type 2 Diabetes, that was only 2 weeks before Xmas though, and after looking at what foods to avoid, just though, screw that, wait till after Xmas lol.

@Danny well done on your changes, you are welcome to post them in here :)
 
I own a beautiful 9 month old Black Labrador pup (first ever dog) and he has changed our lives even after 3 kids.
We go out to the country with him most days and love seeing different outdoor places which we would never have bothered with.

Well done on the fags.....I gave up 5 years ago and now can't believe I ever smoked. Hope that I don't suffer in the long term.
 
At 60-something I've yet to have a mid-life crisis, unless giving up booze, baccy and entheogens almost simultaneously aged 58 counts, which it might well. I do still vape, pinch a bit o'snuff and have the odd glass of wine on high days and holidays

If age brings anything it brings - me anyway - the realisation that it's the simple pleasures that supply lasting satisfaction: birdsong, a sunny day, a saunter in the countryside, cultivating my garden, reading, rumpy-pumpy

The acquisition of 'stuff', apart from an exquisite wardrobe and collection of equally exquisite welted leather footwear, never really meant much to me; and means next-to-zilch now

A roof over my head, adequate finances, fresh food and plenty of exposure to the natural world is all I've ever needed, and increasingly all I want

Lucky man that I am, I've never been without my needs

Link away Danny. I certainly wouldn't knock gym and swimming as methods to improve body and mind, but do try long solo no-particular-place-to-go slow-and-silent walks in the countryside: the ultimate high
 
harry said:
I own a beautiful 9 month old Black Labrador pup (first ever dog) and he has changed our lives even after 3 kids.
We go out to the country with him most days and love seeing different outdoor places which we would never have bothered with.


Well done on the fags.....I gave up 5 years ago and now can't believe I ever smoked. Hope that I don't suffer in the long term.
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I'm biased but a dog will change anyone's life for the better. Enjoy it harry
 
Agree about walking and dogs and getting the latter will ensure the former.

My wee Heinz is four years gone come a couple of weeks' time and he's still left a huge hole in our lives. I'm not keeping the weight off the way I used to but can't yet bring myself to get another, partly due to the emotional damage his passing caused me (I'm not sure I could go through it again) and partly because our life plans are fluid due to the prospect of moving to Spain.

Because of my age (over 60) I can get annual membership of the local authority gyms for £50-odd per annum and I like going down for a walk-jog-run-jog-walk on the treadmill for a good wee while, or a swim or a spell in the spa bath, sauna and steam room (where very occasionally you get some serious talent coming in :cool:) or all of the above.

On a dry morning where there's no threat of rain I'll happily take a long-route walk to morning mass which I find lifts me both physically and spiritually. It makes me wonder how totally shite my life would be if I weren't doing these things :confused:
 
Drone said:
At 60-something I've yet to have a mid-life crisis, unless giving up booze, baccy and entheogens almost simultaneously aged 58 counts, which it might well. I do still vape, pinch a bit o'snuff and have the odd glass of wine on high days and holidays

If age brings anything it brings - me anyway - the realisation that it's the simple pleasures that supply lasting satisfaction: birdsong, a sunny day, a saunter in the countryside, cultivating my garden, reading, rumpy-pumpy

The acquisition of 'stuff', apart from an exquisite wardrobe and collection of equally exquisite welted leather footwear, never really meant much to me; and means next-to-zilch now

A roof over my head, adequate finances, fresh food and plenty of exposure to the natural world is all I've ever needed, and increasingly all I want

Lucky man that I am, I've never been without my needs

Link away Danny. I certainly wouldn't knock gym and swimming as methods to improve body and mind, but do try long solo no-particular-place-to-go slow-and-silent walks in the countryside: the ultimate high
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Actually sounds like we'd have a lot in common drone. Even though the area I'm from (in the midlands) isn't the most desirable place to be walking around we still have a fair few spots that are nice for walking around fairly close by. Cannock Chase isn't far from me, the Wrekin in Telfordish/Shropshire, Clent Hills all nice spots.

Granger. I did try cycling last summer but I think I was a little unprepared I jumped on my bike went for a ride over the local reservoir got about 4 mile a way from my house and got a puncture ended up pushing the bike the whole way back in the middle of summer sun beating down and knowing I'd a 12 hour shift to do that night haha wasn't pleasant. I'll certainly be having another go when it warms up a bit.

That was the other big life changing thing that I'd forgot to mention and that's after 13 years of working nights which I basically only started so that I could fetch my daughter from school on an afternoon I've managed to get back onto a day shift job which is a blessing as for the last few years I've probably been living on around 3 hours sleep a day which has been rough to say the least. The Job is a lot easier physically as well as I've spent the last 15 years either pouring molten metal (1500C) or breaking iron with an hammer for 12 hours a night or when I'm really lucky shovelling tonnes of black sand. The new job I've got is an assistant in the lab at the same place and is a lot lighter work a lot better for my health but a huge drop in wages about 10k a year. I've hopefully negated that through my punting to some effect and using the dough to good effect so hopefully I can still keep the wolf from the door for the foreseeable.

Start next Wednesday I'm bit nervous as its a huge lifestyle change but hopefully it'll all work out well.
 
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Danny said:
the Wrekin in Telfordish/Shropshire,

The Job is a lot easier physically as well as I've spent the last 15 years either pouring molten metal (1500C) or breaking iron with an hammer for 12 hours a night or when I'm really lucky shovelling tonnes of black sand. The new job I've got is an assistant in the lab at the same place and is a lot lighter work a lot better for my health
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I love Shropshire and have spent several holidays there: the Wrekin, Longmynd and Stiperstones offer fine walks with fascinating geology. Ludlow and Shrewsbury are fine towns too. The urban ambling of the flaneur can be rewarding too

I'm sure health 'n' safety for what I assume is essentially foundry work is strict these days, and rightly so; therefore I'm sure you're hard labour has kept you strong and fit, though it's not something to do all your working life. I grew up in Sheffield and saw first-hand the impact a lifetime working in the steelworks had on health: buggered lungs mainly, though differently buggered to those who worked down t'pit

Good luck with the new job
 
Drone said:
I'm sure health 'n' safety for what I assume is essentially foundry work is strict these days, and rightly so; therefore I'm sure you're hard labour has kept you strong and fit, though it's not something to do all your working life. I grew up in Sheffield and saw first-hand the impact a lifetime working in the steelworks had on health: buggered lungs mainly, though differently buggered to those who worked down t'pit
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You'd be surprised re-health and safety what they still get away with tbh. They have certainly improved though over the years and as the ex miner brigade explain to the young ones on a regular basis its nothing in comparison to t'pit. And there are enough ex-miners in these parts to warrant our very own tin man.

https://binged.it/2rW0k7m

An ex school mate of mine got a bit boozed up this time last year climbed up and attempted to put a Santa hat on him :lol:
 
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You come across here as a thoroughly good egg on here Danny and I am pleased to see your focus and achievements. I'm close to looking 60 (+retirement) square on and constantly reflecting on what I need to focus on for better lifestyle balance. My current regime is wine, golf, food, squash and Grandchildren. The latter is 89% of my happiness - 6.5 of them so far and couldn't have enough. Admittedly they are all incredibly talented, intelligent, good looking, kind and lovable. (Even the three that live close to DO in Glasgow.)

Something that has surprised me recently. Bought a mobile home close to a beach and some remote nature spaces in Nth Wexford a couple of years back. Few places I'd rather be and amazingly positive for mood and mental health, because I have learned to think of nothing when I go there. + I have stopped going to Airports so much at weekends since - a beautiful development.
 
The good egg thing is a work in progress. I've struggled for so long in life and been through a hell of a lot I used to be quite resentful I suppose of people who've had much nicer easier paths and lived more fuller lives than I had the chance to. I've learned to let that go and for the want of a better expression "get the **** on with it ". I didn't have much guidance in life really and I've just had to learn most things the hard way and as such I suppose just felt a bit sorry for myself. Things I've seen and things I've read have taught me whilst my life had been bloody tough and hard work and I'd lost a lot of loved ones and friends far too young, that well, a lot of people had it a lot worse. That's fairly obvious really and of course people would point to the fact there are people starving in the world ...but you never really take that sort of thing in do you ? I don't know at which point it really changed I suppose it was over time but I listened to the story some years ago of an old lady ( Kitty Hart Moxon ? ) an Auschwitz survivor and that was probably the first time I can recall being struck by something that I thought how the hell does somebody get through something that tough. I think at one point she described how her and her daughter who slept on concrete floors and were fed literally nothing but bread and water carried out their daily tasks of hauling dead bodies from the Gas chambers to the incinerators. I was struck by the fact that someone had lived through that, done those things and survived to get out and live for another 40-50 years and live a full life. I think from that point onwards I started to realise that life can be tough and it certainly has its hard moments for some more than others but I think it was from that point that I found a new appreciation for the life I had. Its then as I suppose Drone was alluding to if I had a roof over my head and a hot meal at the end of the day and the Girls we're healthy and well then, realistically, bugger all else matters and I think as time goes on you do learn to appreciate the simpler things in life.

Through my toughest times I prayed for an easier life. So as I got myself in some sort of order, financially sorted, my daughter grown up sort of and into Uni for what that's worth, and problems got less and less …… well what the bloody hell does a bloke do then ? Nothing to worry about, no problems to fix and well that's it I'm lost. So recently I've discovered Jordan Peterson and his quest to get people to live a more meaningful life. Its a concept I've took to heart. His philosophy is life is bloody hard and there is a lot of suffering and then you die. Well that's pretty bleak, but true for the majority. His advice is what to do in the face of that and that is to be the best person that you can possibly be, get yourself together and then try to reduce some of that suffering in the world by helping others.


That might all seem a bit deep for a horse racing forum but as of yet I can't really figure out a better way to see out the rest of my days than self improving and helping others who are struggling the same as I once did. At the very least I should be an expert on how things shouldn't be done :)
 
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A fruit loop of the highest order that Jordan peterson,coining in 80,000 a month from donations,supoerter of Tommy robinson etc,etc you can imagine the rest..
 
I have no idea who Tommy Robinson is Giggs but I've found most of what I've seen of JP's stuff to be very good advice in general its certainly helped me anyway.
 
He believes universitys have a marxist ideology in teaching,men are being feminised, women are biologically not meant be doing what men do in terms of ambition role models etc,everything is biologiocal:rolleyes:
plus numerous other predictable things of the right,never trust someone who doesn't eat vegetables either...:thumbsdown:


Doesn't believe in climate change either,no doubt another left wing thing that's been made up/...
 
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That's a very strange interpretation of his work giggs imo.

Disappointed you didn't mention he sounds like Kermit the frog :rolleyes:
 
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Danny said:
That's a very strange interpretation of his work giggs imo.

Disappointed you didn't mention he sounds like Kermit the frog :rolleyes:
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He's as mad as a box of frogs,his thoughts belong in 50s america with these marxist conspiracy theorys even calls Trump a liberal coining in 80,000 a month donations as well, the stupid mans smart person(not having dig at you danny),like robinson feeding on the back of the populist movement,which will inevitably turn full circle in the near future and these people will be seen as leeches as they are..
 
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I thought about this and I don't normally respond when its very clear someone has made there mind up on a particular subject and as such I'm not trying to argue the case to persuade you giggs. I do feel though when I've sort of said I've learned a lot form this guy and then you've more or less labelled him a far right loon then the thought might cross peoples minds that, that's what I'm pushing here. I certainly haven't interpreted any of his work in that manner perhaps I've misunderstood things along the way as joking aside I'm not the brightest spark and just to write a piece that's readable for people is an effort and I have to be fairly careful in how I put this across so that I'm not misunderstood. When i say I'm not very well educated that's fairly true, when it comes to politics that would certainly be my weakest subject by someway. If you'd have said to me 12 months ago are you left or right I'd have probably replied that I was orthodox back in the day but could hit equally hard with either, more likely these days I could talk about my hips and say well the left is better than the right but I'll probably have to have them both replaced :lol:. Yes, I sort of heard people talk about left and right in politics but I had no idea what either was.

From everything I've seen Peterson isn't on the right or the left he's straight down the middle. I think he has started to battle against the far left on the basis that its very clear when the right has gone too far, its not so apparent when the Left have overstepped the mark. I think his main points are equal opportunities are a great thing. I agree. Equality of outcomes is an impossibility without taking away free will. I agree. There should be hierarchy's of competence i.e not getting positions based on gender, race or anything else just who's the best person for the role without that being classed as some sort of discrimination. Completely agree . If the top 20 mechanics are men then they should hold the top 20 jobs as mechanics not lets have 10 women mechanics and 10 men mechanics to make it fair, oh and a % of black, disabled, single mother, oriental, gay and transexual mechanics just to make sure we didn't offend anybody when we handed out the jobs. Which seems to be sensible way to run things by all means if the top 20 mechanics were all transexual, oriental, single mothers then by all means they should hold the top 20 roles.

I think no-one could really argue with most of his thoughts regards living a meaningful life basically sorting yourself out and helping others is a pretty hard view to tarnish. Small incremental improvements is also a decent structure for doing so.

The stupid mans smart man ? Well to me the guy is fairly smart to approach the subjects he approaches with as many people as he has trying to trip him up that takes some very careful wording one step out of place and they would hang him out to dry. I think a more apt description would be troubled mans, smart man. Depending on what background you are from ...I'm struggling to find words to explain it.

O.k so I go to the gym the other morning in an attempt to keep the Christmas podge at bay the girl behind the counter said to the few of us who stood there "you're mad you lot you should be in bed". To which I replied well it beats cracking open a can of tramp juice and sparking up a spliff at 7 in the morning. Oh yes the madness of starting your day with half hours worth of exercise !! Well I used to perhaps do the former on a regular basis and that was more the norm I can't ever recall someone saying to me that's mad that is. In fact it was more like a badge of honour the earlier in the day you started. It was also a really bad thing and looked down upon to show anything that passed for a level of intelligence. The only things that counted were drinking, drugs, fighting and doing anything for a laugh which basically entailed being an idiot. Some people may watch something like Jeremy Kyle and wonder where they find these people...I don't, I literally grew up around them. Actually one of my neighbour's from where I used to live ended up on there " mad dog deon" although I think he nicknamed himself "mad dog" we always just knew him as "daft deon" (you can check him out on you tube it might help you grasp the concept). When you spend your early life surrounded by these people most of whom never really get off the estate then its very difficult to see another way even if you know that way of life is wrong, most people just accept that's how life is and settle for it. I managed to find a way out of it myself but it wasn't easy. I found having a family gave me something to be better for, a reason to push through and do whatever it took no matter how hard to make life better for my little girl.

When I listen to Peterson talk about men picking up some responsibility, stopping doing all the things you know you shouldn't be doing and start doing things you know you should it resonates with me as that's pretty much how things panned out for me although I wasn't really conscious of it happening. At first progress was very slow and really hard but after a while things really started to come together and right about now things have really started to take off. A lot of the people I used to hang around with are still doing the same old drinking, drugs, bits of jail time in a endless cycle of just getting through the day with no real purpose in life. Now to some this walk of life might seem very strange if you were fortunate enough to have a decent upbringing, advice from parents who were half way decent or at least decent examples of how to conduct yourself in the world but that's not everyone, just pause for a moment and figure how life might have panned out for you if good old "mad dog " was your father and believe me when I say he's by far not the worst he's just a daft kid. I personally feel that there are a lot of people who could benefit from being shown that it is more than possible to turn things around just one small step at a time.

I thought I'd done a pretty good job as a father myself but it appears I've completely cocked it up as well and Peterson has actually shed some light on where I went wrong. See my thinking was I came from nothing no advice, no guidance, no help, and had to do everything for myself. So my immediate reaction to parenting was to make sure my daughter had everything, to do as much as possible for her and give her every opportunity I could in life the result of which was to end up with an 18 year old who can't do anything for herself, feels she's entitled to have everything without doing anything for it, pretty much just a spoiled brat haha. Joking aside though she's not a wrong un by any means and bit by bit I'm trying to reverse the process. Petersons advice of course is never do anything for a child that they can do for themselves and if I had my parenting time again I'd of thought that would be very sound advice to guide myself with.


to be cont...
 
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I meant to continue with this but having started my new job I'm working slightly more hours for a while but the biggest set back has been getting a full nights sleep. Having lived on 3 hours sleep a day through the week for the last 13 years whilst on the night shift I've suddenly realised that whilst a full nights sleep every night has made me feel about 10 years younger, eradicated what had become a constant brain fog and just generally reminded me what is is to feel like a normal human being again....I've also realised I've lost 5 hours a day Monday to Friday. I'm no Carol Vorderman but I'm sure that's around 20 hours per week I've lost which would probably equate to the time I spent nosing through the form books. So at least in the short term whilst I adapt I won't be around much and won't be doing much on the punting side of things. The longer term is certainly to be reducing my working hours as much as possible and basically topping up my living with the punting but that's realistically at least 12 months down the line hopefully though I'll still be able to be taking a interest before then but until I've settled into some sort of new routine it might just be bits and dabs from me for a while.

That aside the new job is certainly going well, I didn't really realise how much pain I've been in until it disappeared not aching everyday is taking a bit of getting used to. Its certainly been worth taking the drop in money. Thus far I have no regrets..well apart from it reducing my free time for form study to zero :(
 
The time for the form will come.

Most of the rest of us work(ed in my case) daytimes and find the time somewhere but it depends on how serious about it you want to be.

Even now that I'm retired I only spend a couple of hours on a Wednesday logging up the weekend form and looking for significant time performances, then a few hours on a Thursday (Flat) or Friday (NH) getting into Saturday's TV races.
 
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