Thursday, March 1, 2007

Trouble at the mill?

Well, here we are, thursday lunchtime and i'm trying to think of something interesting to put on here. Not because anything has happened of note this week, I just feel I should.

I've been quite busy at work this week. The office's that we are currently fitting out with carpet tile have been nothing short of a nightmare. Basically, the guy who owns the office and is moving his accountancy business in there is trying to be the project manager on this job and, in my humble opinion, is making a right balls up of it. The builder's who have been renevating the place took their time and this has created a knock on effect, so when we arrived on the job last thursday, the decorating was only half done!! So a tricky job has been made even harder and has now run over by a day. Add to that a nice big VAT bill and we get a pretty shit week!!!

I'm also trying to generate more business but its tricky. Carpets and flooring can be classed as a deferrable product and because of the financial state of our country, retail is going through a very tough time. However, I can class us as being fortunate because our product is not one that can be sold on the internet (well not in large quantity anyway) as it is so bulky, and as the majority of products require specialist installation we may not suffer as much as the likes of the high street big boys selling clothes, CD's, and games. I do still feel that there is untapped potential for the carpet and flooring industry to use the internet to sell products, however, i'm struggling to find a profitable way for this to happen. Answers on the back of a postcard please!!!

Monday, February 26, 2007

Sunday Morning Call

Saturday evening arrived quite quickly and after a quick shower and packing my things I went and picked Paul up from his sisters house. We made our way to Graze in Bramhall, for a rendezvous with Ian and Cookie, before we set off to Wooller's house in Macclesfield. A couple of cans and a quick change of clothes and we set off for a bite to eat at the Flowerpot. By all accounts everybody enjoyed their food and we then headed for Wetherspoons. I have to say I was pleased that we could all sit down and chat, and more than anything, it was good to see the boys.

A couple of jugs of Vodka Redbull later and we were heading to Barracuda. As Cookie has said in his Blog, there were several young looking faces in the que and although I'm only 25, I did feel slightly old!!! Once inside the drinks started flowing and it all got rather messy!!! I had a great night, Paul provided constant laughs by generally being himself and Ian and Cookie were on good form too. Wooller seemed a little distant but I guess he had a lot on his mind, not least getting up for work on Sunday at 9am.

As we were preparing to leave, I began hunting for my coat, and unfortunately I couldn't find it. Whether it had been pinched or whether I'd misplaced it, God only knows but i was pretty pissed off. I'd only paid about £15 for it in the sales but it was a nice coat and the likelyhood that some theiving bugger had it again made me think about the downfall of society in general.

Now at this point, Wooller's girlfriend Michelle had arrived and I could tell that all was not well. We departed to the takeaway and he agreed to meet us at his house. My Chicken Tikka kebab wasn't too bad and after that we set off to try and find a cab. The cab driver had a CD on of a band called the Macc Lads. I knew of them but I'd never listened to any of their music. Maybe it was because I was a bit drunk, but their cover of the Sweet's song Blockbuster (changed to The Fat Bastard) was hilarious.

After waiting for Wooller for half an hour we had a few games of Xbox with a couple of cans and retired to bed.

At 8am in the morning, there was a rather loud, Gestapo sounding knock at the door. Maybe I'm dreaming I thought. Nope there it was again. As Ian was nearest, he answered the door. I was half expecting a Swat team to enter, only to be greeted with a rather cheery Michelle shouting morning at the top of her voice, before running upstairs to argue with Matt. Now, I appreciate that they had issues to sort but, 1) it was 8am, 2) Wooller had his mates staying and 3) time and a place!!!! 40 minutes later and she departed leaving Wooller quite embarrassed, and Ian, Cookie and myself rather pissed off.

It made me realise how fortunate I am though. Jennie is very considerate like that and I know she would never try and make a scene in front of my friends.

After leaving Wooller's house I went home, with Jen arriving about half an hour later. We went and did a bit of shopping at the Trafford Centre before renting Walk The Line from Blockbusters. I've seen the film before but, it really is good, so I was quite happy to watch it again. After that we had a nice meal with my parents before Jen went back home.

Car Problems.....

Well its been an interesting weekend. I'll start on friday afternoon. At about 3.30pm, I decided to nip to the bank to put some cheques in, and as I was walking back to my car I noticed that one of my rear tyres was looking decidedly flat. Not wanting to chance it too much I took the car over the road to Top Marks garage, where upon further inspection 2 screws were found to be embedded in my tyre. I'd also managed to take a chunk of rubber out of one of the front tyres so it was decided that 2 new tyres would be needed. At £235 for the pair I wasn't too happy but when you've got a HIgh Performance Sports Vehicle, I'm afraid needs must!!!

A trip to the Piggy (my local) on friday was quite good, one of the lads, Bez, who lives in London is moving out to Berlin with his girlfriend so a few drinks were consumed and I wished him happily on his way. Work on saturday was quite good until I was preparing to leave and noticed that somebody had scraped the rear wing on my car. Now, in the past I've never really looked after my cars too well, but since I've had my MX5, i've tried really hard to clean it regularly and really look after it. So I suppose its sod's law that something like this happens. I'm probably more annoyed that somebody else feels that its ok to damage other peoples property (and on this occasion my pride and joy) and get away with it. I guess its the way that society has become now.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Money makes the world go round....

Having set my blog up on tuesday I have since been unable to find the time to actually sit in front of the computer to add an update. So here we are thursday evening.

Its been an eventful week, what with a few things happening at home which I don't really want to go into (not because they're bad but because they're things that I don't feel I should be sharing outside of the 4 walls of my home), an interesting trip to the accountants and a very succesful day at work today. The trip to see Simon, my accountant, wielded a bit of a shock, in that our tax bill for the company stands at £2400 and needs paying by June 1st. Better get saving!!! In all fairness its given me a kick up the arse which I probably needed and has made me very aware of the fact that my business is my livelyhood and I probably need to re-evaluate the time I spend at work and use it more productively.

I spent Wednesday night at Jennie's house. On arriving I discovered that she'd prepared a really nice meal, which I gladfully ate with her parents. Jen's dad (Richie) is a big Everton fan so he went off to Goodison Park to watch the match whilst me and Jen enjoyed Dragon's Den on BBC2. I really like the show and find that I gain a lot of inspiration from it. I want to have a successful business and watching the likes of Duncan Bannatyne and Peter Jones kinda drives me to do better.

I managed to speak to Paul earlier this evening. He was out in Macclesfield with Wooller and I suggested that instead of meeting up and going out and getting wrecked that we maybe go for a bite to eat before we do. It'd make a change from sitting in a bar where you can't here yourself speak. Paul mentioned something about having a Gypsy's Playground rehearsal which may not finish til about 7.30ish so I get the feeling that it may not happen. I do sometimes get frustrated with everyone. The lack of enthusiasm for doing something a bit more civilised does annoy me slightly. Maybe i'm getting older but i've lost the urge to go out and get off my face, and instead would prefer some good food and conversation with a few drinks on top. However, I have to be respectful of my friends, not all of them have girlfriends and I think that Saturday may well be seen as an opportunity to go out on the "pull"!!!! Either way, it'll be good to see everyone out and I think we'll have a great time no matter what we do.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

My First Time

I've been reading my mate Cookie's Blog for a few months now and found it pretty interesting reading. So I thought I'd give it a go!!!

I'm currently sat at work, delaying doing a thing called an invoice register. Its a pretty labourious thing to do and it needs completing before I go and see my accountant tomorrow. I also need to tidy my office up which it seems is like painting the Forth bridge!!! No sooner have I tidied it then it needs doing again. I guess I'm just one of those people who struggles to keep an organised office!!

Spoke to Paul today and it seems that he's up in Manchester this weekend, and as my lovely Jennie is going out with the girls on Saturday night, it looks like a lads night out is on the cards. Just spoke to Cookie and he seems quite up for it.

Right must go, gotta do some work!!