Goodbye Leylandii!

I have had a great week.

You all know my hatred for Leylandii, so this week we had the pleasure of removing some more!

I was not due to do this job this week, but I still cannot get fence panels to do a large contract in Reading. Thankfully both customers fully understand, a big thanks to Jeanne in Reading for being so patient and understanding, and Mr Lewis for allowing us to bring his job forward.

The job at Boxford near Newbury has a few phases, repairing a large close board fence, which we did a few weeks ago, removal of this large Leylandii and replace with a post and rail fence to match up with the existing fence, remove yet more Leylandii and replant with Privet and a few other little jobs.

We really wanted to get all the trees down before the birds started nesting, so this was a really great time to do it. As it happens, we did have a few problems as with all jobs, however this was more mechanical failure of equipment rather than the work.

Firstly our chipper decided to give up the ghost, so I had to rely on good old Cliff from Snelsmore Ponies to allow me to dump the trees on his land to chip later. Then my trailer wheel bearing finally said enough as well - so its being repaired whilst we are away next week.

One really funny bit of the job was my helper. He had not used a post auger before and he thought that he would try to do a hole on his own, despite my warnings! Well you can imagine what happened....yes it was something off of "you've been framed" with him spinning round and round as the drill hit a root! I nearly peed myself!

Check out the before and after pics above - it was a pretty radical change.

We fly off to get married today, so will post a few pics when we get back

More piccies from the "Do me Ugly" tour

As time goes by, more pictures are coming through - but by no means all of them!

Here is a quick selection of recent ones - staring Hemant Amin, a Senior Partner from Charles Lucas Marshall Solicitors, who was the unfortunate victim of curiosity when he came over to find out what was going on.....what a great sport he was!

Also, Richard Pennington, the first victim of the Apron of Doom - I think he rather liked wearing it - is there something you need to tell us Rich?

There are a few more of yours truly.....!! Interestingly, I have no pictures of Neale James or Adam Hillier, the organisers of this ... is there any out there?

We are jetting off on Thursday night, to be greeted by a further Stag/Hen do over in South Africa arranged by some rather loud Afrikaner friends which will almost certainly be a rather heavy session - I had better say goodbye to my eye brows now!

As yet, I have seen no pictures from Karen's Hen Party, but by all accounts it was pretty good, they went to Jongelers at the Corn Exchange and then off for a bop after.

More pictures to follow if they are interesting/funny etc

Leylandii Hedges - Another one bites the dust!

I love Leylandii Hedges, especially as they disappear into the chipper!

This week I had a nice job for a fellow BNI Networker. Ann Merrick of Infineo wanted her Leylandii hedge removed and replaced.

I first met Ann through Karen of The Best of Newbury. Ann's company Infineo provide Tech support to small and medium businesses, including remote support and backup. This has helped us on many occasions, including a total machine failure which would have meant disaster if Infineo had not been doing our daily remote backup. They charge a small monthly fee - its worth it not to have the hassle of dealing with PC's and backups.

This was the Monday after my stag do and I was not feeling particularly great still. We decided to get to site very early and crack on. Then disaster struck. My very reliable Landrover decided today was the day to spring a diesel leak - not just a drip or two but a major split in the pipe, spraying diesel everywhere.

I called a mate to come and take a look to see if it could be fixed at roadside - not a chance! It was still drive able, so I drove to Lancaster Landrover in Thatcham. I have been using these guys for about 15 years and know most of them, but even they couldn't sort this one out quickly - the tank needed to come out and parts to be ordered.

This really screwed me up. You cannot hire anything with a towbar. So I got a lift home to pick up my shooting truck, a beat up old Suzuki, just to recover my helper and tools. It was then my neighbour Cliff Pursey of Snelsmore Shetland Ponies came to my rescue. He has an old Ford Sierra with a towbar which he lent to me - what a Diamond Geezer!

Having lost half a day, we really had to move to get the trees down, and chipped to keep on schedule. My Landrover was fixed by lunch on the Tuesday, so we worked until 6:30 to get the stumps out, which were a bit stubborn to say the least! Its not the first time we have worked in the dark - I must buy some floodlights as its becoming a regular happening!

We have re-planted a new Leylandii hedge which we will hopefully keep under control. One thing I forgot to do is the "before and after" pictures of this job - its a shame because the change was so radical - you cant remember everything especially when suffering with hangover and car failure!

I survived the "Do Me Ugly" Tour!

As predicted, they "Did me Ugly".

I am still having flashbacks about my Stag Do. People are still showing me pictures - who ever thought of putting a camera in a mobile phone should be flogged!

We all met at Newbury Rugby Club at about 12:30. On arrival, the lady on reception gave me a sympathetic "you poor thing" look. I entered the room to a loud cheer. Adam and Neale had prepared the room for what was to come, decorating the table and walls with pictures etc announcing the "Do me Ugly Tour", they even did a Tee Shirt for me - how kind!!

The Tour rules were very simple:

1. You can only drink left handed
   
2. You cannot point
   
3. You cannot say drink

Sounds easy eh? Yeh right! Everytime you broke one of the rules, you got a yellow card, if you got 2 yellows, you got a red card and had to pick a forfeit from the bag. These ranged from drink a shot, down in one, streak across the pitch at half time and wear the dreaded "Apron of Doom".

As we started, everybody was so keen to stitch each other up that the most common rule default was somebody shouting to the ref and pointing "He just said drink", which obviously backfired and meant you had a red card and forfeit - how silly!

Richard Pennington was first to fall victim of the "Apron of Doom". This was basically a woman shaped apron etc - I say no more. He had to continue to wear this until somebody else picked that forfeit and he seemed to wear it an awful long time.

One very funny part of the day was when a partner from Charles Lucas Marshall came over to find out what was going on. The poor soul got a red card almost immediately and picked the Apron of Doom as a forfeit! We did have some fun with him! I think he learnt his lesson.

Ivan, the rat man, really wound me up about a dwarf stripper that had been arranged - In my highly suggestible state, I actually believed him - just you wait mate, this is not forgotten!

One change to the rules was that my Dad was allowed to pass his forfeits to me or my brother, so thanks Dad for stitching me up a few times.

I discovered later that there was a plan to get me to kick a few goals at half time to add to my humiliation, but luckily the Club didn't let this happen.

As it happened, I didn't see any of the rugby, nor did many of the others. The bar staff know how to pour a Springbokkie now as they seemed to spend most of the afternoon doing it. A big thanks to David Smith and the bar staff who took everything in great spirit. Thinking about it now, going to a Rugby Club for a stag do is a bit suicidal really - lesson learnt from me.

Anyway, we all staggered off to the Nags Head - I was very thankful of the long walk and fresh air (and to Richard Bennett for propping me up on the walk down). This part of the evening is the most blurred, but I do remember buying the whole pub a drink which cost a small fortune - I must have been doomed as normally getting a drink out of me is difficult to say the least.

Why is it you want to eat an Indian when drunk? Anyway we crossed over to the Indigo Bay - I cant remember much about this only that Bill my future Brother in Law fell asleep in the loo for 1/2 hour until being finally evicted. He was meant to be looking after me but was in a bad way. Apparently he did this a the rugby club too so I was told after. Also, Adam went very pale, stood up and said he needed to go home and walked out. Adam had a "down in one" forfeit on a pint of cider which nailed him. Neale seemed to be the most sober, the Babycham obviously had worn off by now!

The rest of the evening is a bit unclear - we did go to Gordons but I ended up home thanks to my Cousin Paul's wife Cathy. Bill passed out, I talked rubbish to the misses for an hour non-stop then passed out too.

Sunday Morning was painful, in fact Sunday was painful.

I cant wait to get to South Africa for my African Stag do......the day before our wedding - oh God!

BIG Thanks to Adam & Neale for sorting the event, all those that made it, the Rugby Club, The Indigo Bay and The Nags Head. Also sincere apologies to all persons offended and abused during the event.

I am on a quest to find any photos of this event - please email them to me on info@garden4you.co.uk

Stag do Warning

Picture: The Evils of drink... a heavy session in South Africa - its not me either!

As some of you will know, I am shortly to marry my long term partner Karen - "There's still time love" as a few friends keep saying to her!

I wasn't keen on really having a Stag Party, especially when you know the sort of people I do.

Despite my protests, it's happening this weekend. My mate Neale James of Breathe Pictures and Radio 107 on Sunday Mornings, and Adam Hillier of Verbatim Calls Centres are arranging this between them.

This task historically falls to the Best Man however my Best Man is my very good friend and hunting companion Coen Vermaak of South Africa, where we are actually getting married. I am sure when we all arrive in SA, Coen will have arranged a "Lekker Jawl" for me, the night before the ceremony!!

Anyway, I am not really looking forward to my Stag Do. I have premonitions of what will occur, and who will "Do me Ugly" as the saying goes. Ivan the rat man, an extreme party animal, and I have a nasty habit of getting totally bladdered and becoming a comedy double act, most to the disgust and annoyance of anybody in earshot.

Neale on the other hand is a bit of a girl and after 2 glasses of Babycham and a Bailey's wants to go home, after headbutting the nearest bird-bath!

Adam is Mr Gadget and when I want the most bizarre tool of any description, Adam has one, or even two. Again, Adam and I have had quite a few good sessions in the past, one recently where we watched the rugby at his house, drank the place dry of cider and had loads of a South African shot called Springbokies, after which he promptly passed out and missed the evening he had planned with his ever suffering wife Emma.

Also in the group is Ashley, Brad, Richard and Jamie of Pervasive Networks, all very bad news - remember Amsterdam boys?, Richard Pennington of Calixus - our fall guy for the night, my brother Malcolm, my future brother in law Bill who is a policeman and mad Scot, and my Dad - yes My Dad!

Neale has already commented on me bringing Dad on his blog, but my Dad is a major party animal too, but probably wont make the evening event (he needs his Horlicks and an early night as does my brother!)

Anyway, I apologise now to Newbury Rugby Club, the Indigo Bay and the Nags Head and any other pub we get thrown out of in advance, as well as any taxi driver daft enough to take us home afterwards...I am sure there will be some pictures next week!

Never thought I would be a "Page 3" Model....

Well what a surprise! Me, a Page 3 Model - read on....

My wife to be (the ever suffering Karen from The Best of Newbury) and I were very kindly invited to the West Berkshire Business Clubs annual Business of the Year Awards dinner by one of the finalists, Nigel Morgan of Morgan PR (my PR Guru as previously described).

Also on our table was Roger Hick of RhD Design and his wife Pam. Roger and Pam are one of my long standing customers who regularly call me to carry out work on their garden. Roger is also in my BNI Chapter too. As it happens, as the evening went on, it came to light that we were at the same school at the same time - we even knew loads of the same people and spent a fair bit of time recounting the weird teachers and various incidents at school that we both knew about!

The event had 3 finalists;

Nigel Morgan of Morgan PR
Robin Winnet of WinIT
Melvyn Byles of Netstationers

The Award was one by Robin Winnet, but I am sure it was a tough choice with 3 really great finalists.

As to the rest of the evening, there was a charity auction, which ended up costing me dearly - never take your misses to an auction...! We ended up buying a day out with Nigel Morgan!!??

All jokes to the side, this will be a really great day at Meridian TV and a chance to see behind the scenes and meet more PR and media people so will really help our businesses moving forward.

Anyway, back to the original story. A few weeks later, I had a few funny phone calls from various people joking about our picture on page 3. It didn't make much sense to me when out on site, but when I got home, the Out and About Magazine was on my desk, opened at page 3.

I must say I look rather dashing (clever photography hid my second chin as commented by my cousin Paul the Plasterer) and the misses looked gorgeous as normal - I will try and get the picture to add to this posting.