Coronavirus in the UK

I still have a booking for next weekend but am trying to get it done sooner. Maybe tomorrow.

I was in London today, met a mate for lunch, nice Lebanese food. Anyway, he was telling me about a holiday he had just booked, I already knew he was a rabid anti-vaxer so I don't really know why I asked but I queried had he had his jabs. His face lit up with a big smile, he paid £700 to a medical professional for himself and his wife to be put on the NHS system as double-jabbed, got his vax details even the batch number whenever money talks there's always someone willing to manipulate the system

LOL. It reminds me of a former employer in Libya who used to purchase degree certificates for employees that didn’t have a degree in Geology. They bought them in Malta.

Oh dear, another fever this time it's more of a flu type. Constant cough, shortness of breath, fever, headache, loss of appetite, no rash this time so I can dismiss Dengue fever.
Only had a fever 4 weeks ago not sure if that was dengue or not had a rash all over my back, if it was that 3x had dengue.

That reminds me about a survey company I worked for in Brunei.
It was the early days of Microsoft Word.
They had templates that made all of the technicians show that they had electronics degrees that went off to the client who was "Shell".
It used to make me laugh because many of the technicians who held real degrees in electronics were totally unsuitable for life in the real world.
Us mere mortals who did not hold degrees were the ones who did the day-to-day work.
I wish I had gone to Uni though - it did appear from the outside to be a great place to learn.
I did City and Guilds alongside a recognised M.O.D. qualification and the MOD Electronics was very difficult anyway.

Hope it is not serious, Jim.
Best to think positive all the time, not so easy when you are under the weather though.

Come to think of it there was a few family's that had fevers in my barangay Not covid -19 though. I will self isolate just in case. Surprised wife's never caught it.

All oil companies require their geologists to have degrees in Geology. Some require an MSc. Same for Engineers. It makes a lot of sense as without that degree the holder of a false certificate would know nothing. In truth both are needed, the degree and the ability to work in the manner you describe. Would you want your pharmacist for example to have a fake degree or even your nurse? Now tecnicians, thats different. They dont really need a degree.

For what its worth I am involved in the training of Engineers in the oil drilling sector and they all have degrees, all are wizards at maths as thats crucial and whats more spend two years with us continueing their training. The degree is a prerequisite and the other stuff is imporant too but the former comes first and foremost.

I know that Jim, (asymptomatic)

I spent years watching people with degrees come into countries to last only a day or a week before they were shipped out sharpish.
Common sense and a will to achieve is far more important than anything and you know only too well that people often had fabricated pieces of paper in the oil sector.
Spelling was always held in high regard in the technician discipline, seems that, as a "trainer in the oil drilling sector", it was not required not nearly as much
Without technicians, offshore vessels would not know where they were and they could drill in completely the wrong place.
"Guestimate" and "maybe" don't work in electronics but they do in Geology.

They are two differing disciplines. And for that reason accuracy can be difficult, just like astrophysics. I am sure you don’t need me to explain that.
You know what. My employer’s spelling is atrocious. But he excels in the oil industry as an Engineer. Extremely well known and highly sort after and has a knack for commanding very high rates for his services. Technician he isn’t, Engineer he is. He doesn’t need to spell too accurately but he sure can manage numbers very well indeed. I am not sure many oilfield techs can do that. None that I came across. We aren’t talking schoolboy stuff here although I know you would like to believe it was schoolboy stuff.
Technicians? Technicians just do the day to day work. My old employer employed technicians in their drives, they are like car mechanics but less skilled. The engineers are the designers. Key difference. If a technicians focus is on spelling then he shouldn’t be a technician. Oops sorry missed an apostrophe out.

Having been around for many years it will not be the first time I came across sour grapes when it comes to education. Often there are individuals that do well who can only count with their fingers who do extremely well for themselves and yes you are correct there are those with degrees that are pathetically useless but it isn’t the case that all those with a simple education do extremely well and isn’t the case that all those with degrees are pathetically useless. Like I said, so many oil companies have large training programmes for graduates these days and that being the case employ graduates and not technicians. Then they mould them and train them. They are assessed and if they don’t cut it they either do not progress or are retired. So there is a filtering process going on.

If you are genuinely interested that must surely address your questioning.

On the flip side I have witnessed a large number of very skilful factory workers in the northwest, from Eastern Europe. Farage was correct. They are skilled and perhaps should be treated as such. Same as lorry drivers.

Apologies for any grammatical or spelling errors.

sort after ?

Well spotted. Sought after.

I noticed over the course of time that spelling could be atrocious on the forum without anyone giving a monkeys until such time as a member wanted to weaponise the error. And then it became VERY important. I also noticed that it depended on who the member was that had made the mistake as some were permitted to make them whilst others were picked up promptly.

You found anymore?