Not just a plumber’s housewife! Anecdotes ~ of the building trade. Details, names and places have been changed to protect the identities of the …guilty.
You never know when they will come in handy. Our washing machine died over a week ago - no panic, we’ve so many pairs of old pants, socks and towels… and more, we could probably go for a months with clean undies every day and no need to launder. Replacement machine has arrived.
Just as well - as I do not have an abundance of maternity smocks and I always manage to throw my dinner down the front of whatever I am wearing.
xxx
I am no domestic goddess. I don’t like cooking but I do like eating. My dinners might often look like a plate of red-brown-green slop but hopefully taste delicious. Most of the time that is OK but what about on my son’s 6th birthday?
Whilst the vast majority of parents (it seems) are happy to serve up a plate of chemically treated sugar as a so called ‘treat’ it is something I am simply not comfortable with. I really avoid food colouring, flavourings and artificial ingredients I just can not see these things as being a treat.
Every time he goes to another child’s birthday we come home with a bag of sweets and sponge cake covered in red & blue… We put them in the bin.
No I’m not being cruel, he doesn’t cry for them and want to eat them - because we have ALWAYS done this he takes it for granted. Once or twice he had tried a few shop bought sugary sweets - he doesn’t like them as they’re not part of our diet. As he is growing older I am encouraging him to make his own decisions, if he seems unsure about disposing of the cakes or sweets I tell him he can try them if he wants to. He is not tempted, he will ask me if I want them, I make it clear I would not dream of eating such a thing.
Having said all that - much as I strive for healthy perfection in our diets, in fact we do consume a fair amount of food that is ‘unhealthy’, biscuits, sugar, chocolate, chips, cakes, and even the occasional fizzy drink. These things, however, can all be free of chemicals, made with more healthy ingredients and eaten in moderation.
It was the young Tara Plumbing son’s birthday. I made chocolate cakes - lots of them. He loves Spongebob Square Pants who fortunately happens to be yellow and square-ish. It was very easy to make a marzipan figure with icing for big teeth and whites of his eyes and licorice for the black of his eyes and boots. I made his shirt and trousers out of paper. Our son loved taking his clothes of and seeing Spongebob naked! Didn’t want to eat him though - no artificial chemicals - but tasted far too sweet. Personally, I love the taste of marzipan.
Our son chose the menu for dinner - his choice - pizza (that’s home made just tomato and herbs), grapes, pancakes (with maple syrup), and the cake, of course.
All being well there will be many more birthday cakes to be made.
There has been a good reason for my lack of blogging this year - the same reason that I look like humpty dumpty. The double chins are because I’ve eaten too much chocolate. Appart from that I’ve been feeling terribly ill as I am being the human incubator for twins.
Should you happen to have a lovely twin pram for sale, or infact most other baby items in good condition, please email me.
xxx xxx
When Mr T.P. checks in to the office and asks if their have been many calls you might be surprised at his response.
If I can say - ‘no nothing’ - he is delighted!
It may seem strange, but we are inundated at the moment.
He tells me, “Do nothing to advertise!”
The work just flows or dries up in the slippery world of punning plumbing. I think I will be out there doing my promotions again pretty soon.
I can’t say too much about how we promote the company, because, in this cut throat business we don’t want to give away all our secrets to the competition. Many local people will be aware of some of our marketing methods. I will say this about how we advertise:
The fast train London to Ramsgate or Margate. We really could be in (East) London in just over an hour.
Well, the actual timetable is to be confirmed later this year.
All we know for definate is at: www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/main.php?page_id=376
It says:
The NEW journey time to Ramsgate should be 1 hour 24 minutes from St Pancras Station, via Ashford. The good news if you want East London or the City or anywhere on the Central Line you would get off at Stratford, which would save more time. Yes we would be there in just over an hour!
Currently, the morning commute Thanet - London is over 2 hours! Although later in the day you can travel to either Charing Cross or Victoria in about 1 hour 48 minutes.
The predicted new journey time for London (St Pancras) to Margate is 1 hour 38, just about the same time as the current ‘fastest’ train to Charing Cross but a journey which is about 10 minutes shorter than a typical trip to Victoria Station. Not so much to get excited about!
Whereas Thanet is a mere 77 miles from the Capital, if you were to have a morning commute from York ( 212 miles) the journey would be - less than 2 hours!!!! With later trains taking a little longer.From Bristol (105 miles) you can travel for 1 hour and between 30 - 45 minutes.
And from Brighton (53 miles) less than 1 hour!
It is the International Year of Sanitation and Thursday is World Water Day. This is the sort of thing you learn if you listen to R4 Woman’s Hour instead of bringing the PAYE records up to date.
www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_12_wed.shtml
“2.6 billion people worldwide have nowhere to go to the loo – one of the shocking statistics exposed in a new book co-authored by Maggie Black (and Ben Fawcett). Fittingly called ‘The Last Taboo’, it broaches the topic of excrement and the problem it poses especially for girls in the developing world, who are often kept from going to school due to a lack of proper facilities.”
You can see the U.N. website:
It is hard to believe it is Easter this weekend. We are just not prepared for Easter in March and it wasn’t so long ago I was indulged in a chocolate breakfast in bed for Mothers’ Day.
Schools, offices, and businesses will be closing for Easter so it is surprising that a few people have assumed Mr T.P. will be working on Friday and Saturday.
We value our leisure time. We often go away for Easter (not this year, though), last year we went to Hastings and remember it was glorious weather. Not really sure what we do this weekend, Mr T.P.’s golfing buddy has let him down.
You may have heard the expression, “it’s a jungle out there.” I can tell you this is a specific reference to our front garden. I don’t really share the nation’s passion for gardening (or any form of hard work). - I like gardens, but I think of my own as an expensive, time consuming burden. I like the work to be done by someone else, I’m a great fan of public parks! So, it is extremely unlikely that I will be found weeding at the weekend, but you never know.
You might not be aware of how dangerous it can be to be a plumber. This is a brief run through the main risks.
Working with gas, explosive stuff - of course this is dangerous.
Occasionally heating engineers and/ or other people are injured in gas explosions.
Even if no-one is hurt, the last corgi-registered engineer to work on the appliance or in the house may be held responsible for ensuring gas safety. This is why, much to the annoyance of some customers, if a corgi engineer works in a house he may point out faults which are nothing to do with the work he was employed to do. This is also why a gas inspection of an appliance may take a long time and be costly. This is also why gas engineers may be reluctant to work on appliances that they did not fit or which have not been regularly serviced.
A gas engineer cannot afford to have an ‘off day’. Sloppy, negligent work could result in injury, death and a prison sentence
There is always the risk of accidental damage to a building whilst on the job, any plumber should always be fully insured, just in case. Obviously, a water leak can do a lot of damage. Mr T.P. has seen a plumber set the loft insulation in a roof ablaze. He has also witnessed a case where there was an attempt to blame a fire on a plumber, the fire was actually started by the property owner for a fraudulent insurance claim.
What I found most surprising was that plumbers occasionally have to attend jobs in pairs, for their own safety! These are houses where workers are greeted at the door by housewives in negligées… some of these women are very scary! The men require a chaperone to protect their reputations.
The Quex Powel Cotton museum is open this half term - even though they are trying to keep it secret - their website says closed!
What a good time we had yesterday. Myself & another mum and three children (£10 admission - family ticket - special winter prices).
An additional £1 each meant we could touch some exhibits - a skull a skin, sharks teeth, turtle shell.
The really lovely weather yesterday provided the opportunity for a picnic and we spent 2 hours in the gardens - which are really lovely.
Half term is almost up on us, the children need entertaining, here is my own personal list of suggestions for the week ahead (depending on weather, etc…). Many places to visit are closed this time of year. We certainly will not be able to do all of these things: there are only so many museums we can visit and, of course, if we go out every day it does get quite expensive.
Sunday 17th - FREE! A 26 minute film by Andrew Cross commissioned to mark the opening of St Pancras International Droit House, Margate screenings every hour from 10.30 until 15.30.
Visit the Thanet Museums:
www.margatemuseum.org.uk Mon- Fri 9.30-4 £1.50/75p
Ramsgate Maritime Museum Thursday- Sun 11-4 (small fee) www.ekmt.fogonline.co.uk/page7.html
Travelling further afield:
Near Canterbury
if the weather is good? £9.50/£7.50 www.wildwoodtrust.org/
At www.discountbritain.net/ you can get money off vouchers for many places including our local zoos (Howletts) which open at 10am every day and Chislehurst caves.
Wed or Thursday: £6.50 www.sciencefestival.org.uk/
A day out visiting the museums of Canterbury? Consider: museum passport for discounted entry to Canterbury Roman Museum, Museum of Canterbury - with Rupert Bear Museum and West Gate Towers! Full price £6.20 Concessions £3.70, Family £15.00 www.canterbury.gov.uk/buildpage.php?id=120
I have heard that there is a week of golf lessons for children. 10am every day £75 for the week at www.manstongolf.co.uk
I think we will go swimming, perhaps to the park, for a walk, and riding his bike… and, of course, we will stay in. I’ve invested in some new paint and paint brushes!
Any other suggestions are welcome.
P.S. I have just read in the Thanet Gazette that the Quex Powell- Cotton museum at Birchington is open - with special stuff going on. The website says it opens in March…
xxxxx
Those drivers who sit in the middle lane of the motorway, not overtaking, and going too slow, are annoying to most of us, unless you are that person.
What should you do if you are behind them?
If you do not know why these things are dangerous then you really should not be driving.
Mr Tara Plumbing was pursued yesterday by one of these tailgating, lights flashing, undertaking maniacs - but Mr T.P. was not dawdling down the motorway in the ‘fast’ lane. He was travelling along the Thanet Way, in an easterly direction, in the overtaking lane - as he should, because he was overtaking the slower traffic. Maniac was close to Mr T.P.’s bumper, flashing his lights and swerving from left to right to get a look at the road ahead of Mr T.P.
Mr T.P., by the way, was driving a large white van; which means he only has wing mirrors for visibility; and the slower traffic in the left hand lane was pretty solid. Changing lanes to allow Speedy Gonzales to pass was not an option.
The slower traffic were all turning off to Whitstable, so as he passed this junction Mr T.P. (in his very large van) indicated to move into the left hand lane, only to find the Maniac behind him was trying to overtaking him in this lane. (N.B. That it why it is dangerous). Maniac, pulled back. Maniac then overtakes in the normal fashion, that is slowing down when next to Mr T.P. in order to make some tribal gestures.
It all makes more sense to me when Mr T.P. told me the maniac was driving a blue BMW. I lived in inner city London for many years and I can tell you BMW are the car of choose for wannaby gangsters and drug dealers and they are often stolen. A sensible drivers drive sensible cars: a VW Passat, a Volvo, an Escort - these cars are not stolen by boys who like to show off.
My confession - years ago, not long after passing my test, I found myself being one of those annoying slow people in the middle of the motorway. It was at one of those unfortunate junctions where 2 motorways meet. I found myself in the middle of the motorway - a scary place to be and I didn’t want to be there. I would have moved over to the left immediately but a load of boy in a van decided to do the driving up close behind me gesturing and flashing thing.
This was back in the days when cars did not have a passenger side wing mirror. By driving so close, in a large van, they had completely blocked my rear visibility so I could not see if it was safe for me to move lanes. After all, some other thoughtful driver could take that moment to overtake on my inside.
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