[SEL] Skills

[Listerdiesel]

On 23/01/2009, Best, George <George_Best at adp.com> wrote:
> "The skills to restore and or maintain old engines are quickly slipping
> away with each new generation. Jim"
>
> It does seem that fewer and fewer people have the skills to repair
> things.

Perhaps the generation that we mostly belonged to were brought up just
at the end or just after the end of WWII, and had to go through the
shortages and for some, the deprivations of that period. You never
forget those early days and the things you had to go without and the
'make do' situations with home affairs.

The later generations never had to cope with rationing (twice) or such
things as no TV, no central heating, no cars in the driveway (or no
driveway!) and so on.

I'll be 63 next month, and can clearly remember rationing after WWII
and most of the shortages that we went through as a family. You never
forget, so yes, we do tend to hoard stuff and mend old equipment that
would have been thrown away, and if we get a bit of enjoyment out of
doing so, then that's all to the good.

Skills per se are gradually being lost as they are not taught any more
in schools or college:

Our own Ruston & Hornsby horizontal open-crank diesel was from
Abingdon technical College, thermodynamics teaching facility. The
college decided that they would drop the courses so the entire lab was
closed and disposed of.

Peter
-- 
Peter A Forbes
Email: listerdiesel at gmail.com
http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel
http://stationary-engine.co.uk
http://www.oldengine.co.uk