I mostly used to work with DC equipment, that was only the 2nd mains shock I'd ever had (the time before the one I mentioned being because of some kit that some idiot had earthed incorrectly)

I get static shocks a *lot* however in my office building. I am convinced that something is wrong with our lifts and am sure they are acting as some sort of giant Van de Graff generator. I keep getting shocks off of them... but seem to be one of a select few that experience this

Mains (Alternating Current AC) and Direct Current (DC) shocks are far more dangerous to the body than static electric shocks. The nature of static electricity is such that it generally exists on the outside of the skin and it is the sudden discharge to earth, usually through painful points such as finger tips which have a high concentration of nerve endings, that causes the sharp pain. It is not normally dangerous to the human body, although it can be painful. The pain does not normally last for too long after the discharge. As fsharpminor has pointed out, static electricity is caused by two surfaces (that have to be made of dissimilar materials) rubbing together. So it is common to cause a build up of static when you slide out of a car seat, which you realise when you hold the door handle to shut the car door. It is also very common in office buildings when you walk over synthetic carpets wearing shoes of a different material (such as leather or plastic), particularly in weather when there is very low humidity content. Lifts can cause static electricity, but generally because nowadays they contain microchips for control purposes, they should be adequately earthed to get rid of the electricity which the lift itself generates. The simplest way to protect yourself against the pain of static electricity is to touch something metal with the fist clenched using one or more knuckles to carry the shock. This works for car doors, the metal plates around lift buttons, and so on.

This does not work for 240 volt mains, or high current DC terminals (note the use of the word current not voltage. High DC voltage is dangerous, but so can the 50 volts used in for example telephone exchanges, since the fuse protecting the battery can allow enough current to flow to kill you with just 50 volts). On no account should current from these sources be discharged to earth using any part of the body, since the current more often than not travels through internal organs and causes irreversible if not fatal damage.

I am so pleased and relieved to read that you are feeling better now, Fiona .

I did BTEC Electrical and Electronic engineering when I did my apprenticeship, but it doesn't help that much when you make assumptions about what other people do or have done! That lesson was well and truly learned years ago Also, you sometimes have no control over something developing a fault - often the first time anyone knows it's faulty is when something goes bang or someone gets zapped!

I've had a couple of ringing current belts as well, seeing as I've mostly worked in telecoms Getting a hit on those old metal tag frames isn't funny as your hand flies away and gets impaled by the metal terminals on the opposite side Asking someone to "hold this", handing them the krone connector plug and then pressing the ring button on the tapper was a common occurence back in my first job (the current would flow across their finger in this case, sadistic sods)!

As for the lifts, I just use my plastic pass I'd already thought that the carpeting in the office could be a problem, but I like the idea of a large VdG generator (I saw the one in Boston Science Museum several years ago... that thing was crazy!!!) - the lifts in this office have had endless problems it seems.

I am a first aider at work, and as part of our training we were told that all mains electric shocks should go to A&E for an ECG. It's most likely not necessary, but it should be done (but bear in mind I am doing the first aid at work course so it is the employer covering themselves in this situation).
The reason given is that an electric shock that goes near the heart can set up an out-of-phase heart rhythm. If you take an ECG, there will be a normal tracing, and a less-powerful version of the same tracing slightly out of step - a sort of 'shadow ECG'. This can just fade away naturally with no problems, but the problem is that if while it is 'wearing out', the shadow ECG and normal ECG cancel one another out - one should be an up and the other a down, and you end up with a flat line...no heart beat.
They did tell us that it is very unlikely, and also that if anything were going to happen it would happen within 24 hours, but that if we ever had to deal with a main electric shock -> ECG required.

Actually, knowing our first aid trainers, they've probably told us the right thing to do, but their reasoning could be thoroughly dubious. They once asked us what was in danger if you had an injury to your left-hand side, and we all muttered 'spleen' and the trainer said 'no, your liver' and proceeded to demonstrate where his liver was on the left side of his body...


Of course, my husband got an electric shock at home once, he told me a day or two later, and laughed at me when I said that if he'd told me at the time I'd've said he needed to go to hospital

I have PM'd you, cannot understand your comment at all !

Im getting close to 5000 posts !

Spammer!

Do you get a prize?

Yes - the disintegration of your real life...

People are funny.
There are quite a few part time people in my office, these people usually arrive after me, and leave before me. So they don't see me in cycle-commuter-garb
Last week there was a meeting, and one lady who is not normally around was around late. On my way out of the office, I went past where her meeting was, and she saw me in silly top and lycra shorts.
She's just come over to talk to me, and ask the inevitable 'do you cycle in then?', to which I once again avoided the temptation to answer 'no, I just dress like a cyclist to confuse people' and told her that I did indeed cycle in, three days a week at the moment, soon to be four days a week (once music lessons stop for the summer hols).
"Oh, so you've moved house then."
"Erm, no."
"But I thought you lived in Stortford...?"
"I do"
*sputter, disbelief, etc*

I still find it amusing that I'm seen as some sort of super-human to be able to even consider cycling to work! Today was even more amusing as the other person lives 10-15 mins walk from the office but she hasn't walked it once in the five years she's lived there and worked here!

thunderstorm + flooding + leather summer shoes + bare feet = blisters

Er, they don't know I'm on here either...

I went to Banks today and bought two publications. Seems a long time since I've done that! Well, on my own, anyway...

Newsflash: Fiona is walking home from work!

It's the Big Meeting on Saturday.

I remember when I was at a friend's house and she warned me not to touch the electric fence they had to stop the sheep from escaping. I said 'What, it's an elecric fence. It doesn't look like one.' and promptly touched the fence to see if she was telling the truth. Needless to say I steered well clear of the fence from then onwards!

Sounds intriguing!

Orchestra concert tomorow! I'm not allowed to wear my green bowtie though It's much more interesting than my black one!

Jacob.

Sorry about this, don't feel you have to read it, I'm just fed up of being side tracked and getting nothing done, so I thought it might help if I wrote down some ground rules for my self:

Today, I am going to do lots of effective recorder practise!

To achieve this, I will do my best to avoid distractions, I WILL NOT...
...decide that my room/piano/music bag/violin case/etc needs a tidy.
...be convinced by anyone that it would be nice to go into town/to waitrose/take dog for walk (my mum would take her anyway, so it's not animal cruelty, honest!)/do my mum's work for her.
...check the forums/facebook/emails/iplayer etc while warming up recorder as this generally turns into a couple of hours of warming up recorder rather than 5 mins.
...come on the internet (especially the forums but with the exception of hofnote) before 10pm.
...go near the piano or fiddle as it will become a day of bashing out Rachmaninov badly rather than proper practise of any instrument.
...spend overly long over lunch.
...decide that what would be a really good idea would be to make flapjacks/cake/scale selcting program etc etc
...decide to read a chapter of my book as one will become two and two will become three...

When practising, I WILL NOT...
...'waste' my 15-20 mins with my new recorder on practising notes, but will save it to practise performing the notes once the notes have organised themselves into something that is closer to the right order.
...spend hours and hours sight-reading beethoven piano sonatas: 2 or 3 sonatas at the most!
...record myself playing then spend ages editing it to make it sound like a concert hall rather than practising it to put the notes into the right order.
...record myself until I've sorted out the problems from last time I recorded myself.
...carry on playing the rest of the piece once I get to the end of the bit I'm practising.
...move on to practise another bit when the bit I'm doing isn't really sorted yet.
... gloss over breathing because it won't suddenly sort itself out on its own!
...play with the accompaniment until I can play without it.

erm, I think that's about it.

Wow, that's discipline... I've gone way off the boil at the moment, I think because my teacher is on holiday and I don't feel pressured to get things done.

This will, of course, result in a marathon practice session spanning the Friday evening, Saturday & Sunday daytimes before my lesson is due

I can't help thinking that you have just spend half an hour typing this lot out when you could have been practising .

Good luck anyway. I have started already trying to learn my Grade 6 scales - I felt I left it a bit late last year for Grade 4 and there are so many more this time, with lots of sharps and flats and going right up to top B. So my target is a new scale to be added to the "play from memory with only a few mistakes" list every day. Better go and do some now .

I don't think I've contributed to this thread before, but this is really random...I've just come back from a local restaurant where we popped out for a meal, and I sent the Chicken Korma back because it had so much sugar in it...sounds stupid and I don't usually make a fuss, but it was really sweet - yuk. Why do people stuff savoury dishes full of sugar??

Just noticed ... I have 999 posts. Will one more make me a prodigy and will all music then become easy???? Probably not but I might be one in name sake on this forum

edit: I'm a prodigy

My friends laughed at me today after I enthused about the possibility of getting a piccolo

Why did they laugh? Maybe you should buy one and play the really high notes when they are around to get them back!

ouch.

Why? I think they are pretty cool - I wouldn't mind learning it myself. I just don't have the time

Aww, that's a bit mean of them

I'm not sure I'd like a picc. What I would very much like is an alto floooooot

It was half an hour well-spent because it meant that I didn't spend several hours procrastinating and, instead, got about 7 hours of decent practise done.

I now feel mentally drained, so will get an earlyish night (meaning before 2am) and do the same thing tomorrow. There's hope for me yet!




What happened to the ceeeelllllooo?

The ceeeeelllllooo is still very close to the front of my mind

Me too.

I tried an alto flute a couple of weeks ago. I was okay with the straight head as well.

*wonders how much money she has in the piggy bank*

They just make the most gorgeous sound, but I must prioritise. My principal clarinet needs a check up, I'm looking for a better flute and I've got to get a 'cello...

I'm addicted to instruments. Oh dear...

So am I.

for us is what I say!

Ah, well my friends are quite cool. And I'm not really cool. I just sort of trundle along smiling, in my own little dream world. But we get on well. And they find it quite cute in an annoying way that I love flutes and music.

They were annoyed though, because for a while, my excuse for not going shopping with them was that I didn't have any money, (they all have bucket fulls, because they all come from the rich town.) And the reason I didn't have any money, was because I spent it all on my (first ever, beautiful, amazing, shiny, fantastic, brilliant, sparkly, ) flute, and was in debt to mum for ages.

You see, so know they have a thing against flutes. Plus the fact that I go on about them a lot....

One day one of them said, "what can be so interesting about a long metal tube with a few holes?"

for lots of people wanting Alto Floooooots


Even more for those of us wanting 'cellos

And as for being addicted to instruments....so long as no-body ever sends me to rehab for this addiction I'm happy to continue it!!!

You should try playing the recorder. One comment which particularly in my mind is: "You paid £300 for a stick with holes in?!?!" from my best friend (So far, I haven't mentioned to her the newest member of my collection, which was rather more than that).

The other observation is that if someone asks what instruments I play, then grades, when I say I've done grade 8 piano, it's generally "wow, you must be really good etc etc". When I say I'm doing grade 8 recorder, on the other hand, it's more like "erm... that's nice...do you play the flute?" or just "Why?!?!".

Hehe, I'm at work!

Although I'm not working. I'm at workSHADOWING today with mum.

Which means a whole day of hot chocolates and computers.

But apparently I have to go somewhere to learn how to lift old ladies this afternoon

I don't get why people think that investing hundreds, or even thousands of pounds in an instrument is silly. If you divide that amount by the time you'll have fun playing it it's a pittance.

EG: 7K on a piano that lasts you 10 years = roughly ?1.90 a day. I don't see the problem

(this is how I always justify big purchases and treats for myself, otherwise I'd never buy anything expensive!)

What I failed to mention was that the friend who said that is a violinist, so it was more a comment on the recorder than instruments in general. I don't think she was too pleased when I replied back "Well, why do people spend thousands of pounds for a box with strings on it?"

Haha fair enough. But for the average Joe Public who doesn't understand, I suppose you could tell them it's for the same reason that people don't do a Blue Peter job with a biscuit tin, a bit of wood and a few strings instead of buying a nice steel guitar

I'll remember that one for next time.

I love it!! I'm going to use this psychology with myself onwards of today. Big spenders here I come!

The way I look at it, is that if I averaged out everything I spend on music-related things (lessons, instruments, music etc) it is still less than a lot of people spend on alcohol and nightclubs. That usually shuts people up when they comment on how expensive it must be!

The problem is that I still like my nights out and other pursuits so it's not saving me much money!

Not just addicted to instruments... I think barry-clari is addicted to smileys too

Edit: oops, the quote doesn't seem to say who it was posted by... what happened?

Guilty as charged.

Tomorrow (9th July), it will be 25 years since the fire at York Minster Somebody I know who was in Canada at the time said it even made the national news over there.

International news, surely!

Don't you ever stop being s'clever



PS. "Clever" in Yorkshire-speke has a slightly different meaning