Boys, It's a Long Way Down

I've got to tell you that it's 8.5 metres from the ground to the top of my roof. Whenever anyone has to go up there, I fax the plans, give dire warnings, suggest cherrypickers and so forth. I draw diagrams, mention safety harnesses, and without fail the guys who get here to do the work know nothing about it. The same happened today when these guys turned up to put my new solar panels on the roof.

But even though they have harnesses, they haven't got them on. They have their Dunlop Volleys on (the roofers choice of footwear - have a look at the gallery photos if you have time to kill), but still... I walked down the street to take this shot and the boss followed me down. All along he's been calling out to them "hurry up, the barge is about to leave" and "come on, are you ready for the panels yet?". I must admit that some of his instructions were quite valid like "what do you mean you didn't take any measurements? Don't just guess!!" and "don't just stand there, wire it up while he's screwing them down!" We all know men can only do one thing at a time. It turns out that the boss was on contract ie paid by the job, whereas the boys on the roof were on an hourly rate. Gives new meaning to the phrase 'conflict of interests'.


Being a nurse I can't help but think the worst, so I said to the boss that they didn't seem to have safety harnesses on. "No, not a problem - we do it for a living" so I said "for a living I try to patch up people who have had accidents like falling off the roof. It's a long way down - the morgue or a wheelchair I would guess. I hope you have insurance as accidents happen..." I went back inside, then heard "don't stand there mate, you might slip" plus "be careful up there!" Hmmm. Anyway, they have finished without incident, but now the electricians are up there. Fingers crossed. Hopefully soon I will be generating power to send back to the elecricity grid.


As for quilty content to this post, the other half of the fabric I ordered arrived yesterday, so I am off and running with Mum's hexagon thingy. She doesn't read this blog so it's ok to talk about it. Here is the rest of the fabric. I bought far too much, but hey, that's what I do!