Only Fools and Horses

Not a bad week really, finished off a couple of jobs and picked a nice chunk of work up. The downside of this (well, it's not really a downside, just a pain) is that I am now desperate for a couple more decent guys. I think I am going to have to split my two best blokes and put one on civils and construction and one running the earth-moving side. I'll have to cover the ag work and run the rest with a broom up my arse to sweep up as I go along. One of the lads I had last year who I shared with a local estate has now gone and got himself a full-time job and is doing really well. Good luck to him, he's a cracking worker and should do them proud. Still, it doesn't help me at all. I might have snaffled a lad who did a bit for me a year or so ago and is bored working where he is now. He's a decent operator so might fit the bill.
However, that still leaves me a couple of labourers short really but no doubt something will turn up.

Had a chap ask me to come and quote for cleaning out his pond for him last week so went and had a look. A fairly straight forward job but the far side would be a bit tricky due to it being fairly wet and would more than likely need either the long reach on bog tracks or at least a set of mats. The upshot was that he wanted me to give him a written quote with a full breakdown and method statement of how I intended to do the job. I told him what an approx day rate would be and he then told me that it was a lot more expensive than if he hired a machine in himself..... Right, I can see where this is going....
He'd obviously got a price or two to hire a machine and do the job himself but wanted me to explain exactly how to do it so he could then do it all himself and save a few quid.
I told him that I couldn't write down the method I would use as I made it up as I went along. The look on his face was priceless, especially when I told him he was far better to do it himself as he had intended to do all along. He looked very embarrassed and admitted that it was an option he was considering.
I then told him to keep my number as I had a winch and could pull him out when he lost the lot over on the far side....
If he had been straight from the start and told me what he intended to do but could I advise him, I'd have been happy to help him, in fact I would have popped in when he was doing it to see how it was going as I have done for others in the past.
They say the Lord loves a trier - well, this f*cker doesn't.

I've got a couple of horses to go and look at next week and a friend from Hertfordshire is coming along to cast an expert eye over them. Should be a nice day out and might find a half decent hoss at the end of it. The problem is that with work being busy I am going to have to probably employ someone to look after it and exercise it when I'm not around. Part of me thinks it defeats the object a bit but then at least it will be there when I want it and someone else gets the use of a horse and a wage.
Mind you, with the way the price of diesel keeps rising, I might be riding the hoss around from job to job, in fact, if I pulled a little cart around also I could collect any old rags and scrap as I went about.
No use fighting it, it's just a matter of time...


Telly Sevalas invented plasma TV's.