Well I've always known that I'm not a literary giant amongst men probably due to a secondary modern education and the lack of an enthusiastic teacher. I did however excel at maths ,technical drawing, metalwork, woodwork, art and physical training.
Perhaps I'm more of a practical sort of person.
When I first joined the service (swing the lamp) pump escapes were still common in a lot of counties, along with Bedford TK's nicknamed noddy wagons, you've guessed it your corresponding with a dinosaur.
Frankie, your right there are much better tools on the appliance to achieve cutting a hole in metal these days. Zip guns, cengar saws and epco hydraulic jacking gear moved to the great tool grave yard years ago. I suppose that because it takes up little space, cost nothing to maintain, is already carried on every pump in the county, takes about 5 seconds to teach somebody how to use it, its a wonder that we still carry the thing.
I don't mean to sound sarcastic.
But it is still a tool that can be utilized by vertually anyone to gain access to a vehicle if you don't carry dedicated cutting equipment on your pump.
I last used it at an RTC drill to cut across a bonded laminated windscreen prior to the A posts being cut by the clan lucus, very little glass dust is produced but obviously masks have to be worn by everybody in the operations area.
Wee brian thankyou for your comments. In my humble opinion this is still a practical job, being able to think laterally and utilize equipment is an advantage.
fireftrm you are very sharp. I agree that we do need to be able to read and write, and that my english skills are lacking You obviously enjoy word games, resuce indeed, as much as I enjoy Su Doku.
In my defence, this is the first time I have ventured into this environment.
I enjoyed reading the discourse on guidelines or string as some prefer to describe it, particularly Dave Bevs.
There are some very intelligent and humorous people out there and I look forward to learning more from them.