Deliveries - why does life have to be so hard.....

I'll start this little rant at the beginning.

I've just taken on a new contract at the local abattoir (glamorous life ain't it?), and when I tried to service their ancient fly control units found that two out of three were not working. I picked up the phone and ordered two replacements for the customer.

Now to the uninitiated, one fly unit is much the same as another. Not to the pro. I will only sell the best quality units I can, and decided to look up an old supplier who made what I've always considered to be the best units money can buy.

There begins the problem. The company in question has recently been bought out buy another (less good) manufacturer. Always willing to give folks the benefit of the doubt, I thought I'd give them the order anyway.

I rang on Wednesday, ordered the units I needed, and paid for them and 24 hour carriage with a flexible friend. Thursday comes, and no sign of a delivery. I phoned them up, to be told that they hadn't been dispatched because my order came in too late (2pm). "Why didn't someone ring me and tell me that?" I asked. "They tried but there was no answer". That was a blatant LIE. How do I know? Simple; I have something called call diversion on the phone, which means that the calls go through to my mobile. At no point on Wednesday was I not contactable.

I let rip a bit, and was told that my order would be dispatched free of charge that day, for delivery before 10am on Friday.

It's now 1pm as I write this, and guess what? No deliveries.

I phoned them at 10.30am, "We'll find out and call you back" the chap says.

I phoned them again at 11.30am "We are waiting for the depot to get back to us" he says.

Now I have a problem. When the MHS vet arrives on Monday, he'll read my report which clearly states that the fly control units are not working, and they will not be allowed to work. That leaves me looking pretty silly.

So, for anyone else who has suffered at the hands of City Link, I sympathise.

Long time no read.......

Well, to those of you who bother to read this nonsense, I owe you an apology.

I've not posted for a while, and that's something I'm going to put right. Before I do, I'd just like to tell the reader why I bother with this.

The original concept was just to be able to have a rant once in a while. I also thought it might be nice to give the reader a little idea what goes on in what some folks think is my 'strange' lifestyle.

I'll address what I've been up to soon, but before then I need a good rant............

Some people.......................

can't take a hint, can they?

After their results last night, on top of all the other problems during the last week, you'd think Gordon Brown would be at the Job centre by now, wouldn't you?

Not likely. He'll hang on until the bitter end. The problem is that labour politicians are notoriously ball-less, and are too frightened of loosing their seats to risk anything.

I think we all know who the biggest supporter of the PM is......... David Cameron. Without Gordon, the Conservatives are likely to win the next election. With Gordon, it's certain.

We've all lived through history today. In years to come, people will talk of the disastrous elections of June 09..........

A new dawn.....

Well, like a fool, I stayed up until 3am to watch the Euro election results.

My jubilation at the dismal failure of the Labour party to achieve any real success was tempered by the shameful results of both the Northwest and Northeast of England, where for the first time in British history, fascists have won seats in national elections.

Nick Griffin managed to get a slot on the Today programme this morning, and I found myself listening to someone who put across some credible opinions on race and integration. In my half dazed state, I had to pinch myself to remember what these people really are. If I can be conned that easily, how easy is it to fool the electorate? After all, the Labour party convinced people that they were socialists back in 1997.

The country is in chaos.

We have a man leading Britain today who was put into office by his peers, and has never had the balls to stand up to the electorate as a prime minister. He's now run out of MPs to employ in the cabinet, and has had to resort to giving life peerages to his pals so that they can then sit in cabinet.

"We need to sort out the expenses" they keep saying. How can we trust them to do that, when it was them that put the system in place that allowed they to rip us all off.

LDV is due to go into administration today. More manufacturing jobs gone for ever. In my home town of Barnstaple, one of the biggest employers who manufacture doors has just laid the majority of the workforce off. I wonder how much money would have saved these companies, and how that compares to the billions poured into the banks?

We need a general election, and fast. Lets sweep parliament clean, and have a fresh start.

Any minute now, frightened labour politicians will start claiming that now is not the time due to the rise of the fascists........

D Day ~ 65 years on

Today is D-Day.

In 1944, Allied forces landed on the Normandy coast, and began the liberation of Europe. It was a time for innovation, skill, bravery and hope. It also marked the start of a campaign that would eventually lead to the end of Nazism.

Watching the commemorations on the television was very moving. Old soldiers, still proud, stood in the rain to pay tribute to the friends and allies they left in France. As the cameras panned around to the beach, you could see the remains of the 'Mulberry' harbours still lying in the surf.

A Lancaster and two Spitfires flew past, and that enchanting noise of the Merlin engines gave me the same feeling as when I see an old steam engine moving off.

Whilst happy that those people risked, and often gave their lives to give us all freedom, I wondered what the people of that era would think of the resurgence of the Nationalist movement in the UK today.

Britain is in a sad state now...

Sorry I've not been around.......

I'm sure a few people are wondering why I've not posted on here lately.

Well, there are two reasons. Firstly, I blame our (dis)honourable members of parliament. Like most of the nation, I've been pretty disgusted at some of the recent news, and thought it was safer not to post while I was in such a foul mood.

The second reason is much more straightforward. It's haymaking time and I've been working crazy hours for the last couple of weeks. More of that later...........

I'll put together a couple of posts over the next few days. I may even have a rant or three...........................

One of the frequent questions....

I'm often asked:

"How did you end up doing pest control?"

Well here goes.

At the age of six, we had a minor rat problem in the garden. The Local Authority was called in, and when the 'ratman' arrived, I watched him carefully, fascinated by what he was doing.

When he left, I told my mum: "I want to be a ratcatcher".

Honestly. The age of six!

Anyway, I learnt to trap and snare as a child, and loved every minute of it. Each morning, before setting off for the one and a half mile walk to the school bus, I'd be off with the dog to check my trapline. I became quite proficient at catching squirrels and moles, but I really enjoyed ferretting rats for my terrier.

When the time came to leave school, I was aware that proper pest control wasn't available to me. I plumped for what I thought was the next best thing; gamekeeping.

At seventeen, I left my keepering job (under a bit of a cloud) and decided to become self employed. Pest control was what I really wanted to do, but I really needed money as well, so I went labouring for a builder while I built up the pest control work.

I struck lucky fairly quickly. Because of my shooting connections, I was asked to clear up some rats on the (big) local shoot. I did a good job, and as a result, I was offered the chance to take on the whole estate. I did all the farms for rats, poisoned the moles on a thousand acres of cutting grass and controlled rabbits and squirrels in the forestry.

As the years progressed, the business grew and we also took on 90 acres of farmland on a share farming deal. The two businesses were too much, even for a workaholic, and we left the farm. At the same time, my part time technician came into some money, so we also parted company with the pest control business.

I was then working for MAFF on the wildlife unit. At the end of Foot and Mouth in 2001, I parted company with the government and started looking for something else. Pest control seemed to flow through my veins, so I took a job as a 'Wildlife Technician' with a national pest control company.

A rapid rise through the ranks ended up with my resigning as Regional Manager, in favour of a 'promotion' to General Manager for another much smaller pest control company.

We parted company in February of this year, and the rest, as they say, is history.....

Westcountry Environmental Services was born!