Are you a survivor?

Skipped

Musicians who have somehow navigated endless miles in very cheap and very old Death Trap vans, at some earlier point in their lives, are arguably Survivors.


Conversation on Motorway:

"What is that flapping noise?"

A Flapping Noise you say? Let's listen for a moment.
OK.....
It sounds a bit like that that Flapping Noise that a Tyre Sidewall makes when it partially detaches.....

skunkwerx

Heres a story. 

I work in a large shopping mall, inside a medium size shop. 
Last year a bunch of up-to-no-gooders sabotaged an electrical plant or something quite a way away. The whole mall shut down as part of the result. Emerency lights came on, the sirens sounded, all power was lost. 

At the same time smoke was seen (apparantly) at one end of the mall, hence the alarms had gone off to evacuate. 

Very quickly us staff decided to usher the people out and get out ourselves. Not something we would have taken lightly because our shutters are electric and apparantly have no emergency supply.. so we knew half the store would be nicked upon our return. 

Anyway, tills went dead, mid transaction as all of this happened. 

Did any of the queue move? Nope. They instead started arguing and complaining at us. 

The time it took to stand there explaining that we knew nothing of what was going on except we have lost all power and the mall alarms are going off, and that we could sort out transactions when the mall is safe and to just concentrate on getting out, was long enough that if there was an actual emergency, people would have been way too slow with their bullshit!! 

That was the time I learned how stupid people in a pack can be. 

skunkwerx

Trains as well! Man oh man. 

Not often I travel on them but hot damn. 
I must have been the only one who wasnt staring at the screen of my phone while on the station, on the train, and on the station again. No one was alert at all. I could have stripped naked, and no one would have noticed! 

No, for me Im scanning everyone there. Constantly eyes up and down the carriage. Airports, stations etc are hotspots for crime or terrorist attacks, and every day there is millions of eyes there yet no one is looking  

TheBlueWolf

@quarky ;

The breakup  with my youngest daughters mum was very acrimonious. I was pretty well known by then for drinking too much and, in my befuddled head, decided to keep on drinking to cope. I *did* find accommodation but by then had a full blown alcohol addiction which became my default coping strategy and ended up out on the streets. Thankfully I got involved with a cold weather shelter who found me permanent accommodation. It meant quitting the booze which was slowly killing me but I haven't looked back or had a drink since.

There's some amazing people out there and I'm not sure I'd have got my act together without their help

p90fool

I doubt very much that I'm a survivor. In stressful situations I like to have a nap. 

I'm going to die peacefully in my sleep while simultaneously smashing into the side of a mountain at 600mph. 

digitalscream

I'm not sure whether I'm a survivor by that definition or not, but I've been in a number of life-threatening scrapes (car wrecks, fires and similar) and you'll note that I'm still here.

My wife and daughter are total panic-merchants - anything like that happens, and they're as likely to freeze, scream or shout for me do do something about it as anything. I've tried explaining to them that if there's an accident and they're able to do any of those things, then the life-threatening part is probably already done with and now it's just a case of getting out of it without putting themselves in any more danger (ie it'd be mostly under their control at that point)...but it doesn't seem to have made much of a difference.

sgosden

No one would really know untill they were in that situation, but most people would like to think they'd have that survival instinct. 

Got a friend who let go of the steering wheel of her car and covered her eyes when someone pulled out infront of her. luckily her then boyfriend shouted "brake" (which she did) and grabbed the steering wheel. 

I'm another situation, a car basically slid sideways infront of me across a roundabout and smashed onto a central reservation. 
I pulled up onto the curb and got the driver out the smoking car (turned out to be discharge from the air bags, no fire).He was fine, just in shock. what suprised me wasn't the lack of anyone else pulling up or asking if a needed help, but the incredible amount of people who slowed down on the way past to have a good eyeball!

quarky

TheBlueWolf said:

@quarky ;

The breakup  with my youngest daughters mum was very acrimonious. I was pretty well known by then for drinking too much and, in my befuddled head, decided to keep on drinking to cope. I *did* find accommodation but by then had a full blown alcohol addiction which became my default coping strategy and ended up out on the streets. Thankfully I got involved with a cold weather shelter who found me permanent accommodation. It meant quitting the booze which was slowly killing me but I haven't looked back or had a drink since.

There's some amazing people out there and I'm not sure I'd have got my act together without their help

Holy shit. Well done for getting back on the right road, that can't have been easy to go through or recover from.

TheBlueWolf

quarky said:

TheBlueWolf said:

@quarky ;

The breakup  with my youngest daughters mum was very acrimonious. I was pretty well known by then for drinking too much and, in my befuddled head, decided to keep on drinking to cope. I *did* find accommodation but by then had a full blown alcohol addiction which became my default coping strategy and ended up out on the streets. Thankfully I got involved with a cold weather shelter who found me permanent accommodation. It meant quitting the booze which was slowly killing me but I haven't looked back or had a drink since.

There's some amazing people out there and I'm not sure I'd have got my act together without their help

Holy shit. Well done for getting back on the right road, that can't have been easy to go through or recover from.

I'm back to being a regular bloke these days, plus it's made me a lot more grateful for what I *do* have rather falling for the grass being greener shtick.

Cirrus

I've got no idea what I'd be like in such a situation. I have clues that I'd do *something* rather than *nothing* in a shock nightmare scenario, but it's never been battle tested beyond car accidents, stressful emotional times etc.

My wife tends to shut down in shock/ surprise situations and try to figure things out, I have to admit I have in the past wondered what I would do in an emergency situation where I could either save myself or try to help my wife if she did that in a plane crash/ gun battle/ fire. Honestly, I have no idea what I'd do. I suspect I'd be shouting instructions to her as I fled.

viz

p90fool said:

I doubt very much that I'm a survivor. In stressful situations I like to have a nap. 

I'm going to die peacefully in my sleep while simultaneously smashing into the side of a mountain at 600mph. 

You're not an airline pilot are you?

Sporky

skunkwerx said:

No, for me Im scanning everyone there. Constantly eyes up and down the carriage. Airports, stations etc are hotspots for crime or terrorist attacks, and every day there is millions of eyes there yet no one is looking  

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/sheeple.png

pintspiller

I like to think I'm survivor, but I'm  probably a sheep.

I'm like an agro-magnet at the moment. At work any way. Any shit to hand out just seems to go my way. I just want to leave.

TheOtherDennis

I was talking to some people I hadn't seen in a while last week. They asked how MrsTheOtherDennis is these days, and when I told them that she is now effectively paraplegic and needs hoists and professional carers to move her from the bed to a chair, to the loo, etc (due to a degenerative condition of some years standing), one of them said "Crikey, what do you do if there's a fire?"

I hadn't actually thought of it until then, but if I couldn't somehow manually shift her, and the fire was bad enough, I guess I'd have a choice - either leg it and save myself for the sake of some sort of future, or sit beside her and hold her hand while we die together.

Still haven't worked out which would take the most courage.

axisus

TheOtherDennis said:

I was talking to some people I hadn't seen in a while last week. They asked how MrsTheOtherDennis is these days, and when I told them that she is now effectively paraplegic and needs hoists and professional carers to move her from the bed to a chair, to the loo, etc (due to a degenerative condition of some years standing), one of them said "Crikey, what do you do if there's a fire?"

I hadn't actually thought of it until then, but if I couldn't somehow manually shift her, and the fire was bad enough, I guess I'd have a choice - either leg it and save myself for the sake of some sort of future, or sit beside her and hold her hand while we die together.

Still haven't worked out which would take the most courage.

Wow, really sorry to hear about that. My old boss was a lovely guy and his wife had the same kind of thing.

stickyfiddle

With air crashes I genuinely wonder if its partly down to expectations and planning.

 There are plenty of people who assume plane crashes are deadly and if they crash they'll be vaporised, and in any other situation they'll be able to pick up their bag slowly and walk off the plane.

So in a big crash they sit there in pain waiting to die, or, if it's a small crash they're the very same casually getting their bags out of the overheads because that's the only way they ever envisaged getting off the plane. 

Ill admit i it I never pay much attention to safety briefings because I hear a couple every week at the moment, but at the same time i always note how far I am from exits in both direction and mentally picture myself putting a life jacket on rather than just watching someone do it in a video. It can't hurt and it might save my life, so why not? 

ToneControl

stickyfiddle said:

With air crashes I genuinely wonder if its partly down to expectations and planning.

 There are plenty of people who assume plane crashes are deadly and if they crash they'll be vaporised, and in any other situation they'll be able to pick up their bag slowly and walk off the plane.

So in a big crash they sit there in pain waiting to die, or, if it's a small crash they're the very same casually getting their bags out of the overheads because that's the only way they ever envisaged getting off the plane. 

Ill admit i it I never pay much attention to safety briefings because I hear a couple every week at the moment, but at the same time i always note how far I am from exits in both direction and mentally picture myself putting a life jacket on rather than just watching someone do it in a video. It can't hurt and it might save my life, so why not? 

I always try to reserve seats at the back, on the exit row

richardhomer

ToneControl said:

stickyfiddle said:

With air crashes I genuinely wonder if its partly down to expectations and planning.

I always try to reserve seats at the back, on the exit row

Plus the fact that they're not known for reversing into things....

stickyfiddle

Exit rows suck - you can't keep your carry on with you AND they often don't recline. Bassinet seats are where the action is. Legroom for days!

Otherwise I'm all about aisle seats at the front to get off quickly. Though I grant that's usually because I want to get to the front of the visa queue more than anything else.

Chalky

Fire in the daytime is worst. Manchester Woolworths fire was a good example - people saw the furniture section smoking, even on fire and didn't move. Its daytime so fire can't be dangerous, right?