Insulation, Coffee to go and a Glut of Apples

Hi Everyone

There have been a couple of interesting stories in the last couple of weeks with a common theme. The first was that over 30,000 homes across the country have had insulation work done to their homes under a government backed scheme that has cost millions of taxpayers' money. Apparently, about 90% of the work done was deemed to be substandard and has left the homes in a worst state than before. The second story was that locally work to repair potholes had again been carried out to a poor standard resulting in the work having to be done again. Back in my early working days we worked with carpenters, joiners and bricklayers to name but a few trades. All had completed a five year apprenticeship, with nightschool an important part of the programme as well as the five and a half day working week It was not unusual to call some of them craftsmen and, in my opinion, many were highly skilled. Then back in the 1980s many companies abandoned the apprenticeship scheme as many workers became self employed with savings in cost for the employers. Now we have short term apprenticeships with little or no access to further education. Of course, there are many good tradesmen around but I would suggest that the overall numbers has been seriously reduced. Now all these homes with defective work to the insulation and the roads with poor pothole work need further work to be carried out with better skilled workers than before, but that assumes that there are many better tradesmen out there. In their defence, I would also suggest that supervision of the work has been seriously depleted in recent years.

I think that most of us enjoy a coffee or two. In recent times, the popularity of a takeaway or coffee on the go has become popular. This week, a young lady was standing at the bus stop with her coffee on the go. Her bus arrived before she had finished her drink, so, rather than take it on a crowded bus, she poured what was left down the stormwater grid at the edge of the pavement. Unfortunately she was spotted by three environmental officers, with the result that she was taken to court and fined £150 under Section 33 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Now the first thing that occurred to me was that she was caught breaking the law by three Environmental Officers. Three officers in one street! That is astonishing when you consider how difficult it is to find a doctor or policeman. All of us have, no doubt, poured coffee down the kitchen sink, so now you have to make sure that you are not spotted by an environmental officer. I think that I am fairly safe, but I will have to make sure that the Main Contractor is not a secret officer.  

The advice you get when you visit your local health centre is to eat everything in moderation. The trouble is that we have this tree that is growning wth Bramley cooking apples. We have struggled in previous years, but this year the crop is exceptional. Nobody leaves our house without a bag of apples. I take a box of apples to the local knit and natter group at our local library, we have more boxes in the garage and greenhouse, we both eat every apple recipe known to man (or woman) at least twice a day and still, when we look from our window at the tree, we see at least one hundred apples still up there. I wonder if three Environmental Officers might help.  

Just a Thought:

 How many workers does it take to change a light bulb. Four, one to change it and three to hold the ladder.

Sorry, I am running a little bit latte.

Brian