Are you a mad hand washer?

Doing the job that I do, I'm a bit keen on clean hands.

In fact, it has become a bit of an obsession over the years. Every time I finish a job, I stand there, at the back of the van, washing. My paranoia is so bad now, that I don't even consider sitting in the driving compartment without first washing. The problem now is that I've started to wash TWICE!

Let me explain. I do my stuff, then pop the gear back into the van and wash. I then sit in the drivers seat, and do the paperwork. Next job is to put the paperwork into the site folder, and discuss the report with the site contact. Simple? Not for me. I then feel the need to wash again, before I set off.

Am I going mad?

My washing system consists of a 25 litre (5 gallons to the non-french) container of cold water. Being inherently mean, I cannot justify the expense of one of those snazzy hot water devices like the AA use. It's cold water and liquid soap for me...

So there we have it. Matt has finally gone mad, and is so paranoid that he is constantly washing his hands.....

The problem is that this is now spreading into home life as well. I load the dirty stuff into the dishwasher, and yes, you've guessed, I'm there at the sink, washing my hands!

Anyone else?

Snooker and other TV

Last night found me watching a bit of telly.

I've always enjoyed snooker, and had some of that on for a bit. Is it me, or are the audiences getting noisier? Not very fair when there are two tables playing.....

I pressed the red button at one stage, and watched a couple of 'classic frames'. The 147 break by Cliff Thorburn in 1983 was a bit of an eye opener. Nice quiet audience, with the occasional ripple of applause and a standing ovation when the break was over.

Switching over, I watched the remake of Reggie Perrin. Clunes is excellent, but why, oh why do we need the laughter track? Come on auntie beeb, I don't need prompting when to laugh. Humour is a personal thing, and I object strongly to being told when I should be laughing.

Rant over.

Moles

I love moles.

Since going self-employed, one of the most rewarding things I've done to pass the time and earn an honest crust is to trap the little velvet fellows.

It's good, easy work for me. Unlike the normal 'run of the mill' pest control work, you get to show off your results. The farmers I've done work for seem to be pleased with my results, and the money is more forthcoming than with rats.

Charging a per mole fee is nice and straightforward. Unlike some of my contemporaries, I haven't bothered with travelling charges, or minimum fees, it's just a straight x per mole caught.

Even the garden jobs have been a pleasure. I was delighted to catch a mole right underneath a sonic/solar powered/vibrating/crappy mole 'chaser' the other day. The customer was understandably miffed that he'd wasted money on the things.......

Why Blog?

Well, here we go.

I've joined the blogging trend. Why? Well, I'm a ratman (a pest controller really..), and I like to rant.

Being a member of a large number of internet forums, I'm well known for having strong opinions. Perhaps I will express a few of them here in future.

Having more time on my hands now that I'm self-employed means that I can spend some time on this, and hopefully amuse and annoy a few people along the way.