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Well normally I'm quiet at this time of year, this year with the relatively new business (2 years) I'm running round like a headless chicken all over the South East I'm not even sure how I ended up covering this area was only targeting London, now I'm getting up at 4 in the morning and getting home around 10 in the evening and it has been like this for the last 6-8 weeks. I could easily take on another 6 guys and still not be able to cope with the workload. It might sound great, but I can tell you it's not healthy Its not fun either and I'm beginning to hate it rapidly 

I guess it was just a matter of time till it happened, driving behind an ambulance this evening with a motorcyclist behind me, ambulance driver slows down for roundabout and pulls out onto it and I do the same. Motorcyclist comes up the inside of me just as I'm pulling out onto the roundabout and sticks his brakes on for no reason. I drive to the right of him and pass, a quick look in my wing mirror and he's on the floor I pull over thinking I've hit him, he then comes over ranting and raving calling me all the names under the sun saying that I had wrecked his bike blah blah blah. I tell him to calm down, the verbal abuse keeps coming I tell him again to calm down and we'll sort things out, more verbal abuse, I tell him if he doesn't shut up I'm going to put him on the deck again. He still carries on by which time I've had enough, so I grab hold of him, taking into account that the last time I had a brawl of any kind I was still in my teens and I'm thinking to myself what am I going to do now... Well that was it I got my first whiff of alcohol on him, he was then going nowhere, took his helmet of him, got some passing builders to call the police, they turned up

and breathalyzed him and he was over the top so got nicked. The police officer said he wanted to look at my vehicle to see if there was any damage, so of he went and came back and said as there is so much traffic dirt on your vehicle with no marks on it at all everything indicates that the motorcyclist has just lost his balance and fell off, if I had hit him the dirt on the van would have been displaced..... Moral of the story don't drink and drive and don't wash your motor..

Well one investment bank thinks there are more falls to the Tesco share price with a suggestion of a drop to 95p per share. And is at risk of achieving junk status.... I personally wouldn't touch it until the SFO have finished their investigations and a few of the old CEO's and directors have had their day in court which I think is inevitable now as more and more of their dodgy dealings are coming to light 

The snob in me, prevents me from entering such shops. I've only just got over the embarrassment of being seen walking out of the likes of Aldi's. Tend to do so with my hoodie up...

The problem with the pub industry is that most pubs were taken over either by the brewerys or by other hospitality corporations, publicans are restricted about what they can buy/sell and from which supplier they use. Some publicans are just scraping a living together and a low one too read the other day that it can be as low as £15k a year. Have a look on Rightmove.com and you can purchase a pub for a couple of hundred quid, sounds good but you'll end up losing thousands within a couple of years, no matter how many happy hours you have... There was also an article the other day about the VAT man and overpayments of VAT on fruit machines in pubs which went to court, VAT man won and now everyone has to pay everything back, send more out of business..

I spent my first year at college learning how to bash lead and wiping joints as it use to form part of becoming a plumber apprenticeships. It is very skilled work and I take my hat off to anyone who can do it. I can't and have never done it since I left college 30+ years ago, it is also one of our oldest artisan trades and can be dated back to the Roman era. 

As to promotion, I would avoid at all costs a diy website, they look rubbish and are rubbish. Plenty of people on here (regulars) who can help you out and not run off with your money and deliver rubbish. I would try adwords express which is easy to use, just set your daily budget and your done. I personally would avoid doing free work if your just starting out, after all you need an income to come in to pay your bills. I'm not a fan of email spam or marketing as others prefer to call it, but because yours is a specialised trade, I'd be inclined to email local builders do a short introduction of yourself with maybe a couple of photos of your work, after all emails cost nothing. My main point would be is don't waste your time trying to build your own website if you don't know what your doing as you'll end up regretting it. And if you want proof of the pudding take a look here

Many people are convicted in courts of law when they are innocent and likewise many are guilty when found innocent. Some court cases will be chucked out because it will be impossible to give the accused a fair trial. I guess its how the cookie crumbles. Would MLF allow him to advertise his business in the business directory? What about participating on the forum? After all he is innocent according to the Western Cape High Court..... But is he?

I think there's a lot of twaddle being written about what tradesmen earn and whether there is a skill shortage in the UK. Bricklayers will never earn more than either plumbers or electricians as the skills and educational qualifications and technical knowhow of the latter two are so much greater. Average wage of a qualified plumber on a normal 5 day week 40hrs = £30-£35k average hourly rate will be £15-£17 per hour and this is in London. Obviously self employed rates are different as will agency rates, I personally wouldn't use anyone from an agency as their employees / staff tend to be people who no company wants to employ and are pretty much useless and are only used when a business is desperate for labour. Brickies may earn £1k a week occasionally but certainly not continuously throughout the year regardless of what nationality they are. 

Well in London the way things are heading where they are trying to get zero emissions in Central London by 2020 us tradesmen will be back to using horse and cart...... Will be a proper cowboy then lol

I see that RBS share price has finally broke the £4.00 price barrier on Friday it's been a bit of a roller coaster ride, I guess it won't be too long before the great sell off....