knighty saying hello

[Oldgreybeard]

Don't think anyone who spent time there avoided a run in with martin, his semi clad hippy girl fetish from yesteryear festivals was a tad questionable
I used to regularly drop the site & forget it for months at a time based on his "quirkiness, thru vitriol" lest I say something resulting in a perma "nuke"ban.

He did give me a massive amount of *h1t for a signature he took personally, it merely served to incentivise me to wind him up, once you were in his sights he had it out for you, so I was as careful as anything, thus sent little things back at him, he was apoplectic most days anyway, so it didn't take much, & then there'd be the threatening DM's. ..sometimes machine running out 3 at a time ..like a "one more thing" conversation

It was his problem though, not "st elsewhere's" ..he wasnt all bad ( far from it) but the bad bits were pretty intense
I always thought Martin would be like a character from viz "Malcolm Wright-Pratt" from "The modern parents"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Modern_Parents

I can't tell you how much this means to me to know that others had similar experiences. For around a a decade I've wondered what on earth it was I wrote to cause the upset, I've never got to the bottom of it and probably never will. There were no harsh words posted, nothing critical of anyone, he just didn't like something, I never knew what, as the post in question was deleted before I had a chance to re-read it. I do remember getting support from Heather, by PM, though. I didn't get any messages from him, despite trying to resolve things, although I did get one from one of the other mods promising to find out what had caused the upset. I think by then I'd been deleted so deeply that there wasn't anything to be done. Still, we shouldn't wish ill of the dead, and perhaps some of his erratic behaviour was when he wasn't quite himself.

I gained a vast amount of very useful knowledge from that forum, knowledge that played a big part in trying to get our "forever home" that we now live in as low energy and kind to the planet as it is. I remain indebted to all those that contributed to the old place for that, and all the bright ideas that helped me focus on the important stuff for us. The only real losers were the old forum's sponsors. I had a provisional order in to them for around £8k worth of kit, an order that I never went ahead with, purely as a knee jerk reaction to being expelled. Bit petty, looking back on it, and not something I'm proud of now.

[Mr Gus]

Yeah I was kinda sticking it back to Martin due to numerous folk he'd "offed" ..unfairly in numerous cases, old hands, including one very good solar installer guy whose name eludes me.

Colourful character, & I understood his frustrations to a point, but some of it he admitted was down to his beliefs topping others, ...akkk!
Such a character he had been it was a shock to hear he'd angrily breathed his last, when he gave info it was often good, I hope he found someone to take on his bee's (not a member of BBKA then)

I did message a few people from his bumper book of banning, after he passed, but it seemed coming back was too painful.

[AGT]

Had the same experience with Biff…
Was there for 10+years under a different name.

[Beau]

He there Knighty. Hope you keeping well

Only just found this place myself thanks To Renewable John

I was Bodidly over at the other place

[Mr Gus]

I was, iam, & shall remain Mr Gus, ..because my brain injuries mean I will fail with log-ins otherwise & forget all of you(se) existance.
So thank you to the folk who have made it easy on form of continuity from the old place, ..as for you awkward name changing buggers I really need a crib sheet of who you were before you did a T.A.F.KA.P.

(Lads, I struggle with remembering own birthday, I kid you not)

[knighty]

I was, iam, & shall remain Mr Gus, ..because my brain injuries mean I will fail with log-ins otherwise & forget all of you(se) existance.
So thank you to the folk who have made it easy on form of continuity from the old place, ..as for you awkward name changing buggers I really need a crib sheet of who you were before you did a T.A.F.KA.P.

(Lads, I struggle with remembering own birthday, I kid you not)

when'd you get the brain injury?

I fell on my head about 7 years back (might be 8 now idk)

[Mr Gus]

First & worst was 17 years old, was out cold for around an hour after falling backwards onto paving slab from a height that should have been a step ladder in use, after that a collection of concussions & knocks in & out of sport, rag-dolling down snow covered mountains, mountain biking crashes etc
I stopped counting after the first 16 concussions after. ..I was blacking out for a good few years after the initial 1st hit, till I was 25, the pressure on the brain whilst trying to do normal things, running, weight training, work made me aggressively self destructive & risk taking (me & me only) for a long time.
People saying they have long covid brain fog is the nearest they get to understanding what it takes to function, it makes life very forgettable, still have a weak lead side (left) but my brain has had enough practise compensating to hide it.

Had a few more out cold concussions whilst pushing it snowboarding or simply sheer bad luck cruising runs with boarding with my old firm by which point taking a hit was just another day, it is affecting my upright stability some days more than others for which pills help a bit but not much.

Character changing for sure, there were 3 of us in the vicinity plate all of whom had big head injuries within a few months of each other, all 3 of us hit the drink as a coping mechanism. 1 died (my mate) the other year due to alcohol, ..he was also strong & hid his injury well, incredibly moody, we stuck together till he moved to America in the early 2000's
The other guy despite being big was soft, & he has continued to drink his life away & load lots of jobs through a short temper & self pitying behaviour.

Hospital lost my records, so no proof no claim, none of us ever got the help we needed / need, such is the way for walking wounded, uncertain futures.

[ClockmanFRA]

Hi Knighty,

Me here, the odd one that also got banned before shite hit fan.

Once banned i used to call in at Rutland HQ of the old firm and pick up 4.4m solar rails clips and stuff. Most of the staff were pleasant enough but...... however, business is business and the prices for rails was always okay, stuck em on my roof rails and away i would go.

Got invited to Rutland HQ once and went through skips of absolute shite , Chinese’s wind turbine stuff. All looked good but had to be skipped so i paid scrap prices for the Christmas fun and came away with 4 complete chinky 12foot wind turbines, 2 went to Biff, Biif was a sod as HQ would not send to him. So i ended palatizing up 2 for Biff. and my mate a Lincolnshire farmer had them collected from his farm to Ireland. Yep Biff was a sod.

Once, when i was there, one of the electricians/solar monkey asked me what i was using for my main 48vdc to 230vac Inverter in a typical know it all way, i replied, "Nope nothing suitable on the market for my large electricity needs, so with a good friend in Tasmania i made a real one, even published a book on how to make a real H bridge 6KW one". Last time i called in the staff that were in packing were all very unhappy.

Also got 2 4KW PMG generators and sets of blades, but again absolutely shite. Each of the 4Kw 90kg generators was rolled up a plank by me and the young lad, he’s in the army now, into my estate car rear passenger space. From the generators i was really interested in the large Neos magnets.

Still got em but not really usable for anything.

Also got some rather lossy inverters that were basic but did work, if i recall i dropped two off at Stamford to forum member at a meeting on a bridge over the A1.

Knighty, did my Mrs pick up those two 48v forklift battery chargers? I can’t remember any more.
Dog food smell has nearly gone. Hahaha!

Take care.

[knighty]

nice to see so many old names/people here :-)

Mr Gus you sound like you've been through the ringer!

just the one brain injury for me.... they're weird tho aren't they

after the fall when I was back at work (3 months later?) I came out of work and got in my car... but the car wouldn't work, I was confused as hell and couldn't figure out what was going on... I was pressing buttons like aircon and the radio, I knew they wouldn't find it but I couldn't figure out what was going on... then I realised.... I'd got in the wrong side of the car and was sitting in passenger seat :-o

Clockman yeah I remember those chargers! glad they got some use :-)


glad I found this place, it's a way off but I'm planning a big solar install at work

[Mr Gus]

Sounds like you were lucky not to have to surrender your driving license for a while knighty.