The glass canopy takes shape

This little job has turned into quite a large project.
With a bit of luck the build should be finished this week.
It started out as the customer asking a casual question about possibilities.
It's been a very interesting couple of weeks.
From being swamped in mud to being frozen to the marrow, it's what makes being a handyman fun.
If you want to see more pictures visit my photo blog

The British toilet cistern.

I had an interesting comment on my Burlington Bell Cistern postings from "Mick" about his experiences of a toilet cistern. He sent this link History of the British Toilet. If you want to "flush" out some interesting facts about cisterns this is a very interesting website.

The Porch is taking shape...

Now that we have a dry spell I've done a bit more on the porch this week. If you'd like to have a look at some of the photos go to my new photo blog

Cliff joins the team

The workload is increasing at "Eastbourne Handyman Jim'll Fix It" and so we have been joined by Cliff Surridge.
This is how Cliff introduces himself. "
Hi guys and gals, I'm new to the area having recently moved to Polegate from Essex. I've been in the building industry for most of my working life beginning with carpentry, moving into general building doing anything from tiling, painting, basic plumbing, plaster boarding, fitting kitchens and bathrooms, as well as total refurbishments. Over the last couple of years I've trained as a plasterer, and now, since moving here, concentrate mainly on that trade. But as always, I can do most things that my customers need, so that they don't need to call in several different tradesmen to get a job done. I've just teamed up with Jim and I'm now currently fitting a kitchen in Langney.

With Cliff on the team we should be able to do even more of those outstanding jobs you have -especially those that pile up before and after Christmas. If you have jobs that you would like done before Christmas call Jim on 07930 335 937.

Rain stopped play

What a miserable week (weatherwise) last week was.

It rained, and rained, and rained, and then it rained some more. My plan had been to complete the basement porch. Someone must have heard about my plan, and smiled. Then that someone let it rain for forty days and forty nights... No, that was someone else, wasn't it? It just felt like forty days and nights.

What I did manage to do was catch up with other workloads.

I've changed several light fittings, renewed sockets, switches, and a cooker hood, replaced washers on literally dozens of taps, rehung a couple of doors, restored two of my customers computers to fully functioning former glory, replaced a hand rail, built some flatpack, custom built a kitchen cabinet to hide a boiler, hung some curtains, and wired up a door bell. The one thing I didn't do last week was stop and offer a lift to a young teenage girl standing at a lonely bus stop in the pouring rain.

Why not?

Prejudice and cowardice!

I'm a 55 year old man driving a builder's van.

She was about 11 - 16 (who can tell?) and drowning at the bus stop.

Driving along the road, I was approaching the bus stop and saw her standing there, trying to hide behind the bus stop pole for protection against the rain.

I started to slow down, intending to offer a her a lift.

The windscreen wipers were having difficulty keeping up with the rain.

In the same second as I started to slow down, I made the decision to continue on without stopping. I don't think she even noticed me or the van.

Twenty years ago I would have stopped.

Ten years ago I would have stopped.

Five years ago I would have stopped.

But last week I didn't.

As I prepared to slow down, my thoughts were purely selfish.
She'll think I'm some sort of pervert.

She'll be afraid.

She could accuse me of something afterwards and I will have no defence.

and many other scenarios filled me with disquiet.

I have found the whole thing strangely sad.

She will never know that it made me feel wretched.

What has happened that we have developed into a society where I, and people like me, don't do what comes naturally (to offer help), because we are afraid of what might never happen.
Am I getting older and wiser, or simply older and more afraid?

A basement porch

This week I've beeen in the process of building a porch over a stairway to a basement.

The rain has not helped!
Raf the plasterer has been going home miserable and looking like a drowned rat.
Sometimes it has felt like a training camp for the Somme.

An old loo had to be taken out, the brickwork made good and raised up to give what will be a full height ante room. The brickwork was in a terrible condition and the render was falling off the walls. Added to that we needed to sink a sump hole right next to an old main sewer pipe.
The basement has flooded several times over the years and so the owners are installing a sump pump to (hopefully) cope with any new flooding. Now that all the ground work is done the next stage is to build the superstructure. This should be completed next week if the weather allows.
I'll be publishing pictures as the project develops and they can be viewed on my photo blog.
To see what's happening follow this link it will be updated daily.