BULL WEEK!!

[John]

Better gerraload of overtime in Baz!!! Last shift, week Friday afters! Bloody Nora, I'm on neets next week too! Short week mate ;D

[dazb]

Bet yer got one or two stuttering here John, just did a Google search looking for a "Bull Week" equivalent or definition and couldn't find one, I know that at least one member has a Geordie alternative though.
Sadly no Bull Week for me ar've put a week of "lakers" in instead, worn art wi all this shopping. Keep thi jib up and art o muck lad.

[John]

Dazb said:

Bet yer got one or two stuttering here John, just did a Google search looking for a "Bull Week" equivalent or definition and couldn't find one, I know that at least one member has a Geordie alternative though.
Sadly no Bull Week for me ar've put a week of "lakers" in instead, worn art wi all this shopping. Keep thi jib up and art o muck lad.

Hardest shift I ever had was one night in my sleep in BED!! I cut more coal in that night than at work, and I was a bloody lazy electrician!

[dazb]

I only ever knew one other kind of electrician and that was a late electrician, "late" as in the Monty Python Late Parrot sketch and even then only the most avid of observers could determine the difference in many cases.

[John]

I was about 20yrs old at the time Daz, and it was nightshift. My chargehand sent me to cover some hard rock development on a new drift area going down to the next seam, which incidently, the NCB spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on, only to close the pit the following year without even completing the project!!
Anyway, back to the story, I arrived at the development, and there was one team of workers there plus a new Deputy, who I had not made the aqaintance with until that night. Not knowing what he was like, I did a round and checked everything was OK. He came up to me, and in a good Somerset accent, said " are you my electrician" Being the over confident apprentice, I said "yeh" and told him my name.
Pleasantries over, he said " Oive made yer bed, it's over there out draft and on them there cables"!! I was dumbstruck, or should that be "Gobstruck/Goafstruck" Well I didn't need telling twice!!! He came over to me after I'd made myself comfortable and said "what time do you want waking for snap"!!!! Jeeze, this Deps been sent from heaven I thought! So arrangements were made to have an early morning call for "brekkie" LOL

After cutting down a few trees and turning them into logs for the next generation of coal miners, I was awoken to a hot cup of coffee, cakes and bickkies!!! WOW, this Deputy would have made a damned good pit Manager!! Beat the "pressed beef" sandwiches I had, and bloody cold pit head baths water out of my bottle, I thought I'd died and come back to pit heaven where electricians were Kings!
To top it off, he gave me a refill of coffee and a bar of chocolate....Needless to say, I lost that job the following night!

He did tell me, when he first got his Deputies ticket, he was a real smart arse and upset an electrician, which we all know is not hard to do
He was on a very urgent stone development at some other pit and caught the electrician fast asleep and ordered him to find some work to get on with....He did, he found fault with every piece of gear in the heading and cost the Dep a shift down!!! Cost him a kick up the rear end from his Manager, so he treated all tradesmen with respect from that day on!! ;D

[John]

As you've had a go a electricians, here's one about a fitter.
Boulby Potash Mine, North Yorks.
Fitters nickname JC (Jesus Christ) had long hair and long beard, used to use a long cane like JC did, hence the nickname, real name was Eddie Callender.
We used to have snap rooms, usually a table and benches in a cut through at the face area,
Scene...Day shift about an hour into the shift, south east district, modified Bord and Pillar district, using one Joy undercutter, RU21, one Eimco Secoma single boom drill rig and one roofbolter, same make, two LHD vehicles to muck the headings out after shotfiring.
JC was in the snap room reading his paper, then resorted to cracking the crossword, we all know fitters are really bluffing everyone when they pick up a newspaper!

Undermanager in Charge walks into the snaproom to use the phone, sees JC doing the crossword and says "What the F are you doing" Typical under manager, dead stupid, if JC had bee screwing his missus the question would still be the same!
JC says " What the F does it look like I'm doing" and carries on filling his puzzle out now rather annoyed at being pestered by such a rude stupid person!
Under Manager now rather irate at being made a fool of...Hmmmmmm didn't need JC for that, said "Haven't you got anything to do???"
"Sure, loads' says JC
"Well get off your A*&^ and get to it then " said the U/M
"OK" said JC putting his paper carefully away in his snapbag.
Two mintues later a very irate Deputy comes running out of the headings, grabs the U/M by the throat and orders him out of the district. JC had danger tagged every machine for the least little defect and had cost the Deputy his dayshift production targets.

[John]

Here's another one from that mine. I was the electrician covering both the East and South East districts at the same time JC was the fitter in the southeast panel. My base was the larger East district with the other fitter Pete Elliott.
The Deputy was a worrier and tried to chase us many times out of the snap room, never really worked though!
I had done one of several rounds checking both districts out for electrical defects and was sat down reading a book when Bernie the Deputy came in, I had I disagreeistant with me when Bernie ORDERED me out to get something done.
Oh well I thought and F him too, he's going to pay for this....So one very pissed off electrician together with his assistant went to "look for work" Hmmmmmm well away from phones and communication in the district somewhere!

I caught up with Pete Elliott, who was also real pissed off for the same reasons, he'd been chased out a little before me. I'm going back to danger tag a few machines he was grumbling, why I said?? Just get yourself comfy and forget about him, somethings bound to breakdown and he won't be able to find us, then he'll have a nervous breakdown!!

About two hours later, I said, comeon then lets go back and see what the damage is!
Half the machines were down and Bernie was having a stroke, where you two been, didn't you hear me shouting for you on the Tannoys.... No! been very busy and nowhere near a Tannoy.
He never pulled that one on either of us again Daz!

[dazb]

Quote: "As you've had a go a electricians, here's one about a fitter.
Boulby Potash Mine, North Yorks."

I wasn’t having a go at electricians at all, in fact I was brought up to consider underground electricians as being lucky, well I was taught as a mechanical apprentice that I would be lucky if I ever saw an electrician underground. Well that wasn't true because in thirty years or so I tripped up over dozens of em.

[Ragger]

Bull-Week.

I remember bull-week very well indeed, making sure you didn’t overlay cause the money would be needed to survive the holidays.

I could never work out how some of my mates managed being on that popular three shift system. Days, Afters and Giro.
;D ;D ;D

[John]

Dazb said:

Quote: "As you've had a go a electricians, here's one about a fitter.
Boulby Potash Mine, North Yorks."

I wasn’t having a go at electricians at all, in fact I was brought up to consider underground electricians as being lucky, well I was taught as a mechanical apprentice that I would be lucky if I ever saw an electrician underground. Well that wasn't true because in thirty years or so I tripped up over dozens of em.

Cheeky bugger ;D But then again I was trained as a Mech/Elec...Not much time to laze around when your doing both jobs

[John]

Ragger said:

Bull-Week.

I remember bull-week very well indeed, making sure you didn’t overlay cause the money would be needed to survive the holidays.

I could never work out how some of my mates managed being on that popular three shift system. Days, Afters and Giro.
;D ;D ;D

Days were my problem Bill, night on the piss and I didn't hear the alarm go off, that was my Dad banging on the door, I was dead to the world>
I ended up going to see the Assistant Elec Engineer and asking him if I could go on nights regular.... I can't repeat his words on here, but in polite English he said something like " your pulling my leg, shut the door on the way out" I'll leave the pit English he spoke to your very vivid imagination Bill ;D ;D

Anyway, a couple of days later I went back and tried again, this time he looked at me and said " Are you serious?" ;D I spent the next three years on nights and most weeks I did complete a full five shifts plus loads of overtime. I was making more as an apprentice than the day shift electricians.