Now the season is over (as good as) and there is no football to moan about, here is my contribution for this week.............. Mostly for the over 30's perhaps but maybe not. If you could start your life all over again what would you have done differently? For me, I gained an interest in law a little late in life to do much about it (in my 40's) so if I could start over I think I would like to have studied law and branch off to becoming a barrister, prosecuting or defence lawyer. I know they are not always the most popular of people but better than being a solicitor that deals with property or marriage breakdowns. Other than that I think my life would be left well alone and football and fishing would have still played a significant part as they have done over the years.
Not bad as it turned out. I would have spent more time practicing and developing my guitar technique so I could have been better when younger and would be better now!
Good idea this Thai I would definitely NOT turn down the chance to be a professional footballer, I played at a reasonable level in the amateur game and could have joined a top tier ( the old first division) team, but turned them down because my first wife didn't want to leave London
I would say I'd like to have gained my confidence at an earlier age and been able to have started my own company a lot younger than I did, I'm sure it would have been much bigger now and also I could have taken more of a back seat role now rather than slogging my guts out as I still do ! I think that I'd also liked to have worked abroad when younger as well.
I would have gone abroad to live ten years earlier than I did (early 30s instead of 40s). Then I would be in the same position as now only ten years younger and therefore much more employable, and I would be able to live in and see more of the world than I have.
I personnally wouldnt change a thing, if i did i wouldnt have the wonderful partner i have and three great boys to enjoy my weekends with playing and watching football and now cricket season has started that too. I have a job i enjoy and pays ok so at the moment life is rosy. Its like the butterfly effect one little change earlier in your life would change your life now. (not a good thing if you content with your lot but if you an unhappy with what you have then change away) Great Thread ThaiCanary
That's quite interesting actually.When I was a twenty year old student I got stopped for an alleged motoring offence, overtaking within the confines of a pedestrian crossing.i knew that I han't done it and so did the copper that stopped me.He had watched me go by and pulled out behind with the intention of getting me for speeding but I stopped immediately so that he couldn't get a reading. The case went to court and I pleaded not guilty.In those days the police did their own prosecution for minor offences and I came up against Inspector Balls (real name) I told him that I had given the officer the make,colour registration number and reg number of the car I had supposedly overtaken,(Blue Hillman Imp URT97G).The Inspector asked if the officer had written this down,I said yes in a black notebook.The Inspector said policeman don't have black notebooks.He then asked if I could recall the number of the police car that stopped me. I replied UDX661K.His officer nodded to confirm that was correct. The good Inspector then lost it completely and said the fact that I knew the number didn't prove a thing.To which I replied that in that case I don't know why he had asked the question and that he was wasteing the court's time.He then asked a totally irrelevant question "How far do you think a car travels in one second at 30mph?" I replied "Forty four feet".He said nothing.Then,with a flash of inspiration that looked rather more like panic he asked "But do you know what forty four feet is? What do you estimate the length of this courtroom?" I looked it up and down.It looked very much the same as the workshop I rented for tinkering with cars.I said "About thirty feet" The magistrates adjourned and a reporter came over to me "He asked a chap that last week,it is thirty feet" My lecturer at college said I should consider law as a career after my acquittal.I was just a working class smart alec,trained as a teacher of English but started my own business in 1977.My one regret,probably turning down the offered nomination as a Euro MP because I thought there was no chance of winning.The chap who took it won.
I think we all must have had missed chances either by luck or making what hindsight shows to have been a poor choice. Like Zeller I am broadly happy with the way things have gone (probably more by luck than judgement). I wish I'd tried at bit harder at school/college and Uni but I did enough to get me by whilst having a full social life and given the circumstances and the firends and meories I still have and cherish I would probably make the same trade again. Probably my biggest two regrets are not meeting my wife earleir (not a lot I could do about that) and never learning a second language although I am now attempting to do so but it is considerably harder doing so in my 40's with a young family than it would have been in my 20's when I had no other commitments.
I think i would have embraced the computer era and stcuk with accountancy. Finished up in ad sales - the one you enter when every other door is shut! Now that is going down the pan as well. Bugger!
I am only 27 but I regret not applying myself more at university. I may be a bit young to have regrets but trying to get anywhere in the current economic climate with an average degree in an average subject isnt easy. I wish I had done a degree in a subject which would have been more benficial. The problem for me is I have never had any idea what I want to do. I have developed a love and passion for business but a degree in Sports Coaching and a job within the NHS currently isnt really helping. Saying this, I know that things could be a lot worse and I am lucky to have a job and be healthy.
"Je ne regrette rien" Honestly there are many incidences over the years where I could have made a different choice. From chilhood through to last week I probably could have taken a "better" path that would have led me to more success, personally or professionally. But I'm in my mid-forties with an amazing partner. We both are currently in good health (touch wood), are employed and bring home enough for a decent quality of life. All of that I rate as being blessed compared to the majority of people on the planet. So wouldn't change a thing I've done. Mind you, I bought a Rover a couple of weeks ago. That might turn out to be a bad one...
Have to say, that I wouldn´t have changed a thing, except that I would have liked to have gone on with my career for another 7 or 8 years, unfortunately due to chronic ear problems I had to stop when I was 53. The life of a professional musician is as varied and rewarding as any I can think of, no two days are the same, no two concerts are the same, no two conductors are the same, in fact not even one conductor is the same sometimes . The opportunity to play, rather than just listen to, all the great classics from Bach to the present day is something not many get the chance to do, and the feeling when suddenly (on the 31st, and final take, of a 5 hr recording session, when you´re absolutely knackered) everything clicks, and the producer finally says, " Thank you gentlemen, that´s everything covered", is as satisfying as beating W. Brom 4 - 0 to stay in the Premier League. In fact the life of a professional musician is probably not that dissimilar to a professional footballer, they´re both team games, where every individual can play his own game, but is still reliant on his teammates to do their job for the end result to be worth listening to/watching. The adrenalin rush I used to get from playing an important solo well, is almost indescribable, but probably no different from scoring in the 4th minute of injury time to seal a win. I can also understand when many players say that they don´t enjoy sitting in the stands watching games, I don´t enjoy listening to music, I didn´t, even when my ears were okay, I´d much rather be in there playing. Still I had 30 odd years as a professional, so I´ve got no complaints. In fact just reading Norfolkbhoy´s, reminded me of how grateful I am to have been able to learn another language and culture, makes you see your own country of birth in a slightly different light.
I just want to make a point here about university and higher education: I am 32 and I have never been to university, I was in fact too "dumb" and "would never amount to much" as my teachers repeatedly told me when I was 15-16 years old. Many of my friends went to college and then Uni and studied things not because they were interested in the subject matter but because they were either pushed into it or because they had no clue what to do. Out of my Friends who went to uni 3 of them are stuck in teaching jobs that they hate, with degrees that are not relevant and are in huge debt. I went to college and did and NVQ level 3 in electronics and then did not go to uni as it is not for me, I am a do'er not a learner. I now own part of a very successful industrial weighing and systems company and found that I did have something in me that the teachers did not spot, a talent for selling and system design. All self taught and with help from experience and others around me. As for regrets I have none regarding that part of my life as I love doing what I do and the rewards are plentiful. If there are any young people on here reading this my advice is do not go to Uni unless you have a specific aim and career in mind as you may end up in a job you dislike and get stuck in. Apart from that I could have been a better person in the past morally but we all make mistakes, the trick is to learn from them and if I had not made them mistakes I would not be who I am today. A father of 2 great kids who are my world and a husband to my awesome wife who has stood by me for the last 12 years through thick and thin. At 32 I still feel young and have lot of time (hopefully) to do the things that I have yet managed to do.
But as we know Maestro, the orchestra can easily play a passage the same twice (or more) even if a conductor can´t conduct it the same.
My oldest friend was classmate of mine from Secondary Modern whom I met at eleven got "relegated" to the lower stream at 15.He left with no qualifications.He is now MD of a company with 2000 employees worldwide.
