Leadgate Labours

It took me sharing an email from the owner who said that the yard of the building we're renting and renovating looked "like Steptoes" to galvanise Garry to organise clearing it- something about which I have moaned and goaded for MONTHS! Gary will get a donation of thousands of pounds worth of glass for example; made up into bonded double glazed windows- to be sold as people come forward with building projects etc. But he will have the delivery dumped in the middle of the yard where it has to be negotiated for every activity. My concerns include rats and fire: there are stacks of wooden pallets all over the place and I fear mischievous local youths. 

 PART of the reason things got so bad is because I wanted to raise the funds to pay people to do the work. With hindsight that was a mistake, but so much had already been done by volunteers I think the administrator in me wanted to make his contribution. It still didn't excuse Garry's lack of organisation: I would rail at him for making extra jobs for himself by not thinking about where things would end up before he brought them onto the site or what changes would be necessary etc. An example yesterday was me having spent half an hour filling a large wheelbarrow with broken glass and being told to dump it with a pile of unusable windows. It took me a while to get through to him that it was making another job. Luckily I spotted a huge discarded rubble sack and put the glass in there.

 So I got a call on Friday saying that Garry's ex Social Woker-turned friend was coming to help clear the yard on Saturday. Of course I agreed to come. Ironically, said friend did not appear. By the time I arrived at about 1pm a LOT had already been done by Garry, Lorraine and (new dad) Connor, Wayne and Chris came a little later with their daughters and five hours later we were very pleased with ourselves- if aching and tired in my case!

 We will be meeting the owner at the site on Monday. A minor problem was turned into a major issue that eroded the excellent good will Garry had cultivated with the contractors; [edited]

 The flat at the building has been thoroughly "Lorrained" I called it: it actually looks like grown ups live there now. She is a mistress of passive aggression however: putting effort into not smiling and saying things like "it doesn't matter what I think because HE will do the opposite"- actually; when she said that yesterday I couldn't resist taking the piss out of her ostentatiously until she was forced to crack a smile. That woman hates me! LOL.

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