bil

It's someone you build up trust with. Sadly they don't come with a special badge. Over the years you usually build up a list of people you can trust, and how far.

It's usually worth gambling small amounts you can afford to lose, and if people show they can be trusted.....

What else are you supposed to do?

HBG

We only have a smattering of SAS where I live, but 3 Para are well represented.

And medals? Everybody's got them. On Remembrance Sunday, our local Church is full and the banners are flying. And I have the greatest respect for those old boys and their medals.

Unfortunately one of the old boys with rows upon rows of medals fell out with his wife after 50 years of marriage. She delighted in going round to tell people he got his medals from ebay and had only ever worn a Boy Scout uniform.

I remember the old boy coming into a Spanish bar with his medals after the Church service and Spanish people bought him a drink, something I've not seen often. I haven't seen him since his wife exposed him.

angiescarr

AND most heroin deaths are caused by dosage mistakes. What excuse has the legally prescribed Methadone got. Shocking!

HBG

I wish I could answer that question. I've studied some, travelled some, lived some. loved some, and my answer would only be a sum of personal prejudices.

I couldn't answer the question without sounding cynical. I have a former school pal who is a high up member of the Church of Scotland. He spent his life campaigning for recognition of gays and something else I've forgotten. It got him nowhere, nowhere at all.

He's honest as the day is long, and is preaching his message from a lonely pulpit in the middle of nowhere, and nobody is listening.

That's the trouble with the truth, it's boring, it's better to talk about Amy Winehouse and her addictions. Or searching the internet for chrystal meth, and the other bollocks which has nothing to do with ordinary people living ordinary lives.

bil

She died clean tho.

HBG

You've taken the wind out of my sails, Bil. I was getting ready to tell you some home truths about your postings in this thread, but you've done me, neatly.

I was going to suggest that without Google, you'd be faacked, but you faacked me first. I raise my hat to you.

bil

I didn't post to screw you over, and I'd appreciate it if you would return the compliment. I like your postings. You are a good and descriptive writer and for us to spend time on here attacking each other would be a foolish waste of time.

Also, I don't wiki and google. I use them sometimes to check what someone else posts, or to supply a backing post for something I have posted, but I just post what I know. It's like a game. Being able to post something only really counts if you know it without having to look it up.

To post stuff that you just lift from another source, without understanding is a bit like pretending to be someone you aren't, and I don't do that either.

What you see is what you get, a chimney sweep with a mind like a librarian's dustbin. Full of disjointed crazy stuff that sometimes makes sense.

A damn good sweep tho.

HBG

Well, I'm humbled. I think you sussed out my previous occupation many posts ago but I'm still not going to repeat it, it's more controversial than yours, and it can lead to trouble for no reason.

What more can I say? The thread is about honesty, and I appreciate yours.

**** it, I need to say more. I wasn't a DCI, but merely a DI. Honesty can be a killer, even on an anonymous internet forum. I will blame you for all the stick I may get.

jackytoo

The family of Winehouse say she was clean of illegal drugs. Does not say if she had taken prescriptions drugs which includes uppers/downers, strong painkillers and methadone. It was claimed that Tiger Woods was hooked on Vicodin and a few celebs have gone into rehab for addiction to "prescription drugs". They don't just take them, some of them crush and inhale or inject them. We shall see when the full inquest is heard.

angiescarr

People who want to commit suicide slowly always will, regardless of the illegality of drugs. I used to smoke Cannabis (in my 20s) but didn't like it much. I was a 20 a day (minimum) smoker until 20 years ago, and I flirted for a while with a (small) straight bourbon habit n(well a couple or three times a week). I'm now addicted to grub!
I've got loads of self discipline though which has maybe kept me from going any further down any of the roads.. Or maybe I'm just not damaged enough.
Those who are damaged, need help. Not pushing further and further into the seedy side.
The rich and damaged can pick and choose their drugs of choice. You could even say they choose the method of killing themselves. The poor and damaged have to steal and prostitute themselves to pay to keep the criminal business going. More often than not they'll die of the wrong dose of a bad/or too pure drug, or from a disease or attack brought on by their lifestyle because their drugs are illegal.
Who does that benefit? And who does it damage the most? Lets not kid ourselves for a moment that we're protecting anyone.
I still maintain legalising at least Cannabis. And telling the truth about the danger levels of all the drugs is more honest and sensible than telling kids they're all equally dangerous (which they translate as deliciously naughty) as each other.

bil

Don't sweat it. Honesty is good under certain circumstances.

Basically, I'm too lazy to lie. Also, I learnt a long time ago that you are what you are, and changing that is just too much trouble. It's partly why reality and truth is important to me. If it isn't real, it isn't worth bothering with, unless of course you find fakes fascination, but then that's where they achieve a reality of their own.

bil

Here of course, is where the wheels touch the road.

If you lie to your children, and tell them that cannabis is dangerous, they will see many people smoking it without harm, including their friends and know you lie.

Then when you say heroin is daangerous, they won't believe you.

I never said to my children that heroin won't harm you physically, but then again, I never said to them that in itself it was dangerous. I just told them that it was addictive and mixed with all sorts of dangerous crap, and so on.

Fortunately their experimentation stopped with cannabis and booze, as far as I could tell.

HBG

I watched a news programme during the riots where a mother took her 14-year-old son to the police, either after recognising him on a video, or after he brought some looted stuff home.

She was then filmed after he appeared in court and was sent down, crying her eyes out.

Now, the absolute truth believers may applaud this woman's actions, but I don't. Her son will not benefit from his incarceration, he is most likely to re-offend, statistically.

And he is bound to hate his mother for grassing him up.

That horrible woman didn't even need to lie, she should have kept her mouth shut, and if the young boy had brought something home, she should have put it in the basura.

bil

She's a better man than me. I'd have kept schtum and given him the bollocking of his life. On the one hand, I accept that rioters need to be dealt with punitively, but on the other hand, that of the individual case, it won't do the individual a lot of good.

jimenato

So you would have kept quiet and you and your son would have waited in fear for the knock on the door which would surely come? Do you honestly think he would have avoided "incarceration"?

Perhaps this "horrible woman" actually thought it through.

Although perhaps it is better for your son to spend twice the time "incarcerated" because you didn't do the right thing than he should "hate you".