Here at last!

[Stan the Baron]

A warm welcome to our elite forum @Stan the Baron ~ interesting resumè of your diet and exercise regimes ~ very well done on your amazing weight loss too ~ perservererance & determination paid off ~ hope to see you again and looking forward to hearing about the origin of your username. Take care now x

Dx Type2 April 2016
Metformin withdrawn due to intolerance
Diet control and exercise only
32 HbA1c 2017

Hi, found a little time to explain my username, it goes back about 50 years, I worked in precision engineering all my life and back in '67 just like know more or less pay freezes was the order of the day. As an underpaid skilled ex apprentice I was left with no choice but to change job, and one came up at the highest paid company in the area. work was mostly for Aerospace companies, Rolls Royce, British Aircraft Corporation as it was called then, and many of the companies that were absorbed by BAC, and of course the MOD. Pay was high, very high, maybe as much as 50% more than similar companies, with sacking rates to match, they's allow anyone to try, but after a month or so, if you didn't cut the mustard you were gone. My job was on nightshift, with almost unlimited overtime, within weeks I was earning 3 x what I was before, to put things into perspective, in 1969/70 my pay would buy 3 Ford Cortina MK 3's, todays equivalent , 3 Ford Focus or Mondeo would be about £60,000, so yeah I was doing ok. However lunch time at 1am could be a bit boring, if it wasn't for the card schools, every night we played 9 card brag, with a very stringent requirement to qualify as a winning hand, so the kitty wasn't won very often, sometimes months would go by, and by then £50/60 would be there to win. However, Thursday night was pay night, cash then, not like now, so Thursday was 3 card brag night, this was a big money game, some out and out gamblers lost almost all their weeks pay in half an hour, and me, I was single still, with money to burn, this gave me an edge, and I won more often than not. I always kept a record of my winnings , and losses, so that I knew when I was betting my own money, after those first few weeks, I never did, which only served to increase my edge, so much so that on several occasions I actually doubled my pay, and it was this luck that lead to me being called the Baron. Now looking back I have to wonder, was it a term of endearment or was it unspoken thoughts of the Medieval robber Barons! All a longtime ago now, but I do still have good recollections of those times, which lasted almost 10 years, the 1971 crash of Rolls Royce ended our major supply of work, the company kept going until '77 but became smaller every year. I know feel that I've had quite a lucky life in so many ways, seen a glaciers running into the sea at Spitsbergen, and paler bears in the wild at the same time, had a flight in a WW2 Spitfire,fully aerobatic, and even took the controls for a short time, great kids and wife, and the best dog ever now. He's helped no end with my diabetes exercise, and getting where I have with it was hard work yes, but also I was lucky, would never have done so well without a lot of the Baron's luck. I even consider myself lucky to have contracted T2, I would not be as fit and healthy to day if I hadn't. So thats it and its now goodnight form the Baron, take care 🙂 x

 

[Ally beetle]

Thanks for the great story, it seems that you have had a great and interesting life and I bet you have loads of story's of you life where that came from.

I always loved the stories I was told when I was a care assistant 10-15 years ago the people I helped to care for they had some great stories about life they lived.

Thanks so much for the insight into your life. When I get to retirement I hope to have a few stories up my sleeve.

 

[Martin Canty]

Great story....

I too look at my T2 dx as a lifesaver, totally turned my life around from a decidedly unhealthy route.....

 

[Wirrallass]

What an interesting ~ humourous in parts ~ account of your life plus more, about how you earned the grand nickname of the Baron! You are fortunate to have had so much luck in your life (Some are less so) right up to and including being dx with Diabetes. Thank you for sharing this with us Stan.

My late father travelled the world over especially during WW2. He would tell me a different story or an account of an event every time we spoke ~ each one was interesting ~ some hilarious ~some unbelievable ~ some courageous ~ some sad ~ but he never ever repeated the same story twice in all of the 70yrs in which he kept me interested until he passed away aged 86yrs.

In turn, I tell those stories to my grandchildren who are always eager, like I was, to learn about their great-grandad ~ his travels and tales.

Thanks again, take care x

 

[HOBIE]

Welcome Stan the Baron 🙂

 

[Stan the Baron]

Looking forward to hearing the story of @Stan the Baron! Copepods are edible, but not usually eaten by humans, as they're small marine invertebrates, near bottom of food web.

Just in case this didn't come your way! 🙂 Hi, found a little time to explain my username, it goes back about 50 years, I worked in precision engineering all my life and back in '67 just like know more or less pay freezes was the order of the day. As an underpaid skilled ex apprentice I was left with no choice but to change job, and one came up at the highest paid company in the area. work was mostly for Aerospace companies, Rolls Royce, British Aircraft Corporation as it was called then, and many of the companies that were absorbed by BAC, and of course the MOD. Pay was high, very high, maybe as much as 50% more than similar companies, with sacking rates to match, they's allow anyone to try, but after a month or so, if you didn't cut the mustard you were gone. My job was on nightshift, with almost unlimited overtime, within weeks I was earning 3 x what I was before, to put things into perspective, in 1969/70 my pay would buy 3 Ford Cortina MK 3's, todays equivalent , 3 Ford Focus or Mondeo would be about £60,000, so yeah I was doing ok. However lunch time at 1am could be a bit boring, if it wasn't for the card schools, every night we played 9 card brag, with a very stringent requirement to qualify as a winning hand, so the kitty wasn't won very often, sometimes months would go by, and by then £50/60 would be there to win. However, Thursday night was pay night, cash then, not like now, so Thursday was 3 card brag night, this was a big money game, some out and out gamblers lost almost all their weeks pay in half an hour, and me, I was single still, with money to burn, this gave me an edge, and I won more often than not. I always kept a record of my winnings , and losses, so that I knew when I was betting my own money, after those first few weeks, I never did, which only served to increase my edge, so much so that on several occasions I actually doubled my pay, and it was this luck that lead to me being called the Baron. Now looking back I have to wonder, was it a term of endearment or was it unspoken thoughts of the Medieval robber Barons! All a longtime ago now, but I do still have good recollections of those times, which lasted almost 10 years, the 1971 crash of Rolls Royce ended our major supply of work, the company kept going until '77 but became smaller every year. I know feel that I've had quite a lucky life in so many ways, seen a glaciers running into the sea at Spitsbergen, and paler bears in the wild at the same time, had a flight in a WW2 Spitfire,fully aerobatic, and even took the controls for a short time, great kids and wife, and the best dog ever now. He's helped no end with my diabetes exercise, and getting where I have with it was hard work yes, but also I was lucky, would never have done so well without a lot of the Baron's luck. I even consider myself lucky to have contracted T2, I would not be as fit and healthy to day if I hadn't. So thats it and its now goodnight form the Baron, take care

 

[Copepod]

Wow, that was a story well worth telling! Thanks @Stan the Baron! Only just reading, as have been offline in Lake District all weekend, which was wonderful and very sociable. 🙂

 

[Stan the Baron]

Wow, that was a story well worth telling! Thanks @Stan the Baron! Only just reading, as have been offline in Lake District all weekend, which was wonderful and very sociable. 🙂

Glad you found it worth reading, thanks, might get around to filling in a few more details as time goes by, like moving nearly 300 miles at retirement! 🙂

 

[Stan the Baron]

What an interesting ~ humourous in parts ~ account of your life plus more, about how you earned the grand nickname of the Baron! You are fortunate to have had so much luck in your life (Some are less so) right up to and including being dx with Diabetes. Thank you for sharing this with us Stan.

My late father travelled the world over especially during WW2. He would tell me a different story or an account of an event every time we spoke ~ each one was interesting ~ some hilarious ~some unbelievable ~ some courageous ~ some sad ~ but he never ever repeated the same story twice in all of the 70yrs in which he kept me interested until he passed away aged 86yrs.

In turn, I tell those stories to my grandchildren who are always eager, like I was, to learn about their great-grandad ~ his travels and tales.

Thanks again, take care x

Hi, talking of war stories, as you did, my dad was at Dunkirk, a very brave man it seems, he once told me about the chap, and there's always one, who wouldn't sleep in the billet at night, just talked and talked and talked. They cured him, one night all out on patrol, there was some shooting, and would you believe it , this chap got shot in the arm, so off he went for treatment, and back to the UK of course, the night time talking stopped!!! 🙂 My dad died in '97 aged 77, his medal was presented the King George VI, below are the details, there is more but I only have it in a scanned document! Take care x
First Name: Victor Tilbury
Initials: V
Surname: Prior
Nationality: British
Rank: Private
Service Number: 6086350
Gallantry Awards: Military Medal
This Level 3 Gallantry Medal was established during the First World War on the 25th March 1916 and introduced in the London Gazette issue 29535, (back dated to 1914) to personnel of the British Army and other services, and personnel of Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank. It was the other ranks' equivalent to the Military Cross (M.C.), (which was awarded to Commissioned Officers and, rarely, to Warrant Officers, who could also be awarded the M.M.).

The military decoration was awarded to Victor Tilbury Prior for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire or for individual or associated acts of bravery which were insufficient to merit the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Conferment of the medal was announced in the London Gazette and Victor Tilbury Prior earned the right to add the letters M.M. to his name.

 

[Stan the Baron]

Hi, talking of war stories, as you did, my dad was at Dunkirk, a very brave man it seems, he once told me about the chap, and there's always one, who wouldn't sleep in the billet at night, just talked and talked and talked. They cured him, one night all out on patrol, there was some shooting, and would you believe it , this chap got shot in the arm, so off he went for treatment, and back to the UK of course, the night time talking stopped!!! 🙂 My dad died in '97 aged 77, his medal was presented the King George VI, below are the details, there is more but I only have it in a scanned document! Take care x
First Name: Victor Tilbury
Initials: V
Surname: Prior
Nationality: British
Rank: Private
Service Number: 6086350
Gallantry Awards: Military Medal
This Level 3 Gallantry Medal was established during the First World War on the 25th March 1916 and introduced in the London Gazette issue 29535, (back dated to 1914) to personnel of the British Army and other services, and personnel of Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank. It was the other ranks' equivalent to the Military Cross (M.C.), (which was awarded to Commissioned Officers and, rarely, to Warrant Officers, who could also be awarded the M.M.).

The military decoration was awarded to Victor Tilbury Prior for acts of gallantry and devotion to duty under fire or for individual or associated acts of bravery which were insufficient to merit the Distinguished Conduct Medal.