Let the chaos begin.

So, we romped home at the quiz the other night. First prize resulting in a fiver each which was nice. They weren't doing food like they normally do at half time (chips etc) but said we could go and get some take-away food and eat it there so we ended up with our table heaped in pizza, chips and kebabs.
Some good questions on history, geography and general knowledge which we did well on and then onto the pictures round - "Who are these Brit Awards nominee's ?"
Bollocks.
Who the hell is Professor Greene ? I did get Adele though. Luckily, the rest of the team were of far more use than myself and so we left those who came in second and third place a long way behind.
Mind you, how many of you would know what the night of April the 30th is ?.....
Apparently it is 'Walpurgis Night'.
No, me neither.

One minute I can't find staff, the next I am swamped with them. I have had four people contact me in the last two days looking for work and two of them look promising.
One of the lads who wants to work for me is local so that's a big help.
On the other hand, a colleague of mine has just got rid of two of his guys who had been with him a while as they were constantly taking the piss with being late, not doing what they were asked etc. Both have had a couple of warnings but didn't take the slightest bit of notice. I told him months ago to get shot of them but he kept giving them the benefit of the doubt. You can't help some people.

Next week sees a lot more kit rolling out on a variety of work, mainly drainage, ditching and some groundworks. The weather has been great in the last week so hope it stays like that for a while as it has enabled us to get on with several jobs and get them out of the way.
The pipelayer goes back on the Fastrac next week also ready for the off so might need a couple of new wearing parts before we start and at the same time I will bung some new metal on the Dowdeswell while we are at it.
Have been offered some ploughing in the autumn for the Magnum but it's only for one season with the possibility of a second. As tempting as it is, time you factor in another plough, metal, diesel and labour, it just doesn't add up. Mind you, some silly bugger will go and do the job for next to nothing.
I've always said that it's not the jobs you do where you make money, it's knowing the ones to walk away from.

So next week hopefully will hear the sound of clattering tracks, whining hydraulic pumps and steel on stone and soil.
Mind you, its more likely to be the sound of shear-bolts breaking, me groaning and drivers whining.
Bring it on...


George Stephenson invented the Toffee Crisp.