Heat

[Sue Wilkinson]

Is it just me or is this weather quite difficult to work in?

I've spent the last few days either painting for a client or removing cement render from a wall. I've just knocked up a batch of mortar to point up the wall (internal out of sun) but I'm not sure which is the most knocked up; me or it!

Phew! It would be nice to be sat under a tree with a good book, but not sure about doing this stuff.

Sue

 

[thiambal]

All this talk of being knocked up is certiainly making me hot

I am sitting in an 80 degree sweaty mess in our office (a former light industrial unit badly converted)

Was painting the outside of the house yestrday evening - the paint was drying irritatingly fast.

 

[Penners]

I'm not sure which is the most knocked up; me or it!

Er... would you care to re-phrase that, Sue?! :shock:

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

No, not the way I currently feel javascript:emoticon('')
Smile

But you know what I mean. Mind you, the bath I've just got out of was heaven.

Sue

 

[Penners]

All things considered, I hope it was a cold bath!

 

[Moreteyne]

Well I'm painting the roof of my windmill at the mo. Working from 6 til 12, then kicking in again in the evening. There's a lot to be said for Continental hours.

 

[Gervase]

I'm trying to render a stone cottage. 17 miles of hessian, gallons of water, and it's still a bloody nightmare.
Makes you boggle at the Romans!

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

Yes, but Gervase, they had hundreds of slaves and plenty of cheap roman labour. You I guess, like me, are on your own. Not even a slave to mix the mortar.

Rather you than me on the outside in this weather. I found today that the mortar on my hawk was drying out before I got to the end of it and I'd have to spray it to get the last 3rd onto the wall.

Oh well, joy to know that tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter!

Don't forget the sun cream.

Sue

 

[Sue Wilkinson]

Moretyne, that is a very sensible plan. I can't do that as I'm stage managing a show in the evenings at present, just to make sure I burn the candle at both ends.

But well done for being sensible.

Sue

 

[CHRIS]

I have the fantastic chance to work building a new road checking the levels of the nice fresh Tarmac!!!!!!!

I will be right next to the nice and quiet machine with the fresh smelling black stuff

 

[L1zzy]

Urm if you're anywhere near me you'd be better off throwing sand down as our tarmac in the streets has melted - makes lovely sort of tram lines to drive down tho with a curiously pleasing Whoooshhing noise as you drive!

My office might have air conditioning but I'd rather be at home renovating the cottage.

 

[CHRIS]

Sacked the idea of Tarmac - the gritters are out in force in East Anglia. But the council do still have the road closed near Saffron Walden to carry on resurfacing the road (only for them to have it done again at our expense later)

Just had to explain to client why their newish grass does not look too green at this time of year!!!! yes people are that stupid

 

[thiambal]

It is amazing how much people waste money doing things more than once. We had the lead water pipe into the house replaced and the sequence was this.

1. A man comes and gives estimate
2. Gang 1 come and mark up road and pavements
3. Gang 2 come and dig holes
4. Gang 1 replace pipe
5. Gang 3 temporarily repair holes

Two month gap

6. A compeltly new man comes and marks up temporary repairs with paint
7. Gang 4 come, dig up temporary repair and lay new load of tarmac.

Is it me?

 

[Penners]

I have the fantastic chance to work building a new road checking the levels of the nice fresh Tarmac!!!!!!!

Chris - if Essex was anything like Suffolk today, then I guess the Tarmac would have been self-levelling - ie: liquid!

 

[Penners]

Just had to explain to client why their newish grass does not look too green at this time of year!!!! yes people are that stupid

You might solve this problem if you adopt the practice of some American golf courses, and spray the parched grass with green dye in summer (yes - really!)

 

[Carol]

It is pouring with rain now in Somerset! Caught me while I was watering the garden too.

 

[CHRIS]

Penners

I know all about this as I lived in Colorado for 5 years from 1999 and worked as a Civil Engineer/Land surveyor over there, I was involved in large scale urban regeneration and saw all sorts of methods of getting green grass in the High Desert some of which involved paint!!!!!!

I remember that we could only use the sprinklers on Mon Wed and Sat for 1 hr and if caught you would have a ticket on your front door nice and bright orange to name and shame you. If you were like me a brown lawn was a badge of hounor.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/1637755/detail.html

The man wasting beer should be had up for treason (maybe not if he is using fizzy Bud etc)

My wife is from Texas and she had a call from her mother last night saying that the uk weather was in the news as they can not understand why we die at 30 deg when they are at 79% humidity and 27c at night for 3 months straight. I know they have air con and love to kill the planet but it still makes me laugh - same as when I saw the Norway news looking at the chaos on the M11 due to 3 inches of snow.

 

[middi]

I made my routine call to my mother in Italy and mentioned that the temperature here was in the 30's but cooler in the evenings.

I expected from my caring mother a reply such as : " don,t kill youself in the heat , slow down, drink a lot and take care of yourself"

Her immediate reply was: " you are so lucky in England with that nice cool summer weather ".

I just gave up and changed the subject.

 

[Penners]

they can not understand why we die at 30 deg when they are at 79% humidity and 27c at night for 3 months straight - same as when I saw the Norway news looking at the chaos on the M11 due to 3 inches of snow.

I've spent a fair amount of time in Sweden, Chris, where a metre of snow during the evening is cleared from the streets before the next morning's rush hour.

In our defence, however, I always explain that we do not have sufficient extremes of weather to justify the cost of buying hugely expensive plant to deal with those extremes efficiently. The great British public wouldn't be too happy to fund many millions of pounds-worth of (for example) massive snow blowers, only to see them parked up for 360 days a year.

 

[NT]

It is amazing how much people waste money doing things more than once. We had the lead water pipe into the house replaced and the sequence was this.

1. A man comes and gives estimate
2. Gang 1 come and mark up road and pavements
3. Gang 2 come and dig holes
4. Gang 1 replace pipe
5. Gang 3 temporarily repair holes

Two month gap

6. A compeltly new man comes and marks up temporary repairs with paint
7. Gang 4 come, dig up temporary repair and lay new load of tarmac.

Is it me?

Its publicly funded. Private finding tends to be more efficient due to much stronger competition.

I wonder why new and relaid pavements dont have a big fat concrete pipe laid in them with manholes at key points so services can be laid very rapidly, at minimal cost, with no significantgroundwork, and no traffic disruption. If highways wanted they could charge for using those tubes, to recover the costs. Could still be cheaper quicker and easier all round.


NT