Originally Posted by Douglas M

Hi oldman,

Who knows what may transpire.

My best indian electrical story.

When we were restoring the house we had to replace some tiles in the kitchen.

These were uniquely indian tiles, if you can imagine a tile made like cast pebble dash, cement with pebbles sticking out and then ground down flat in a machine at the factory so they look a bit like marble.

Once laid they need a final grinding in situ, but first you have to lay them relatively flat, so after three attempts the contractor finally gets them laid fairly level in the kitchen. On the due day the subcontractor arrives to polish them, with a machine that looks like it came from a scrap yard.

As you say, no plug, push two wires into the socket with any sharp object, bit of wood , nail etc. and off we go.

To start the machine (that had an external flywheel) the gnarled old subby scooted his even more gnarled flip flop covered foot across the top of the flywheel and whirr, whirr, around go the grinding wheels. Throw some water down and some form of abrasive and we are in business. Subby marches up and down grinding away.

The electrical feed cable to the machine is joined in several places and covered in insulation tape and is trailing in the mud which has now been created by the water , grinding paste and residue from the tiles.

So far so good, then the trip switch knocks of all the juice in the house, cuz other trades are also working on other things and weve got overload.

Stop all other trades working, flick the trip back, gnarled old foot scoots the flywheel, whirr whirr and off we go again.Ten minutes go by, more water more abrasive, more mud, juice trips off again. Slight concern on the face of gnarled old subby, but steeped in fatalism he flicks up the trip again , scoot scoot , whirr whirr etc.

Douglas moves on to other things, the trip goes off again and this time no whirr whirr . After a few minutes douglas sees subby approaching the trip switch box with a piece of bare wire about six inches long, that he has prepared earlier.

Douglas arrives at the box just after he does and asks what goes, subby who is from darkest india and no one on site can understand, indicates by sign language that he is about to by pass the trip switch so he can get on with his work. Douglas has visions of wet floors, joined cable, gnarled old feet and 220 volts coming together to smoke subby.

No way says douglas in whatever bits of hindi and body language he can contrive on the spur of the moment. Subby looks puzzled, but accepts that douglas doesnt understand the complexities of electricity like he does, clutches the piece of wire tightly, trips the switch up once again, scoot scoot whirr whirr and were off grinding again.

Douglas has to go out to panjim for the rest of the day and leaves them to it, when he comes back , the kitchen is almost finished, there is a shiny piece of wire overriding the trip switch, subby waggles his head and knowingly smiles .

What does douglas know.

Originally Posted by Douglas M

Hi all,

What makes goa special, even to douglas?

Douglas lived in a village inland and only rarely visited the coastal belt after the first 6 months, so my perspective is a little different.
Maybe could go on, a bit random, but a douglas perspective nevertheless.

regards

douglas

Originally Posted by dickylewis

Douglas

Sorry for calling you an Arse in previous threads; your tale of electrics made me laugh to tears, even funnier as i imagine it is pretty much true. I am afraid your memories of Goa have made the risk even more bearable and I am looking forward to an adventure. Let me know if you are ever in Cornwall.

Originally Posted by TONY P

Hi Douglas
Great post, but still in bullet point format and yet you wax so lyrical
Regards
Tony P

Originally Posted by dickylewis

Douglas

Sorry for calling you an Arse in previous threads; your tale of electrics made me laugh to tears, even funnier as i imagine it is pretty much true. I am afraid your memories of Goa have made the risk even more bearable and I am looking forward to an adventure. Let me know if you are ever in Cornwall.

Originally Posted by TONY P

Hi All
First great story Douglas anyway SHOPS in Panjim, you have to walk and search but there are 3 roads that run parallel to the road by the river and we wander up and down them (I always thought women were supposed to follow behind in India, I end up feeling like an old barge in tow)
Have found some great shops and some awful ones, can't tell you road names at the moment, can't find the map, there are some 'malls' but nothing posh. Hate designer shops. We had the same trouble in Margao couldn't find anything.
Like wandering around Mapusa market and Panjim market even the fish and meat bits, and then go for a good cold beer.
We hope to get out to live there later this year just trying to set up the 'Partnership/Company', sell the house (proving difficult). All the normal things that you have to do to satisfy yourself at least that you have done it as correctly as possible and cut the roots with the UK.
Regards All

Originally Posted by Remy-Ireland

Hi Dicky,
Nice apologie, yes I reckon Douglas is trying to supress a deep undying love for Goa despite what he has been through there.
His description of Goa on page 1 of this thread is so heartfelt that............well you just cant write like that and not have love in your heart for the place.

Dont supress it Douglas, let it flow man.
(I feel like a hippie saying that)

Regards,Love and Peace,

Remy

Originally Posted by Douglas M

Hi Remy,

Sure i loved goa , thats why i went to live there, i am sure i still do deep down.

But like everything else that is worthwhile, its a relationship, its a now time scale relationship and it is governed by the forces of yin and yang.

You cant ignore yin and yang, but what you can do though is assess the percentages of yin and yang flowing at the time , they are not often 50/50.

If you have to much pain and not enough peace, you have imbalance ie are either in the the wrong relationship or the wrong place.

Thats how i see it, there are other loves to be experienced elsewhere.

kind regards

douglas

Originally Posted by dickylewis

Will my wife try to divorce me when she sees my view of heaven in Goa?????????? No bloody Yin or Yan for me I'm sure.

Originally Posted by Remy-Ireland

Hi Douglas,

Nicely Put.
Ill have to use this yin yang, to much pain not enough peace thing in my divorce case.

Remy

Originally Posted by Douglas M

Hi Remy,

Divorce is painful on both sides.

Try buddhism, metaphysics and the concept of "the self is an illusion"

So if the self (ego) does not exist.

Then nothing matters that you think matters, including pain and peace.

You just are.

douglas

Originally Posted by Remy-Ireland

Hi Douglas,

The divorce thing was tongue in cheek but i like your concept nevertheless. I think as the government are finding out, the uk is developing a drink problem. Instead of metaphysics,buddhism and yin yang, most people are now just getting pissed to deal with their inner emotions and problems. Working longer,rising house costs,mounting debts and of course shitty weather all has its part to play in our "developed free world" as of course does selfishness, discontentment and greed.
Eh were am i going with this? I better stop now.

Kind Regards,
Remy