Meriden

Nice village not far from the NEC and Birmingham Airport.

Quick nip up the A45 and you are in Sheldon Boy land.

Hi denise
Yes nice place you live in, we only really pass through on the 900 bus on the way to Coventry. It supposed to believe the Centre of England. I know it has a couple of good restaurants The Bull and The Strawberry Bank.SB

Its tough here, even the Rastafari go round in two's, and I wish, like Neil Diamond I could open the window and write a song about the Beautiful Noise that drifts up from the streets below, but the M6 refuses to give any thing but the sound of thunder and the whoosh of the roosters tail of speed and stress that follows behind every truck van and car.
What have I lost living here?, a stereo the wife's jewelery a bike out the shed, oh yes and my bird watching binoculars which were returned to me when the Fuzz caught the burglar who was younger than my underpants.
I have lost the remnants of racism that I fought a bitter battle in my heart through my early years using science, logic and the spirit of the 60's as an antidote.
There's not the same community spirit of old, but to me things seem always to be in a state of change.
Writing this I realise I've learnt a lot and there is an humungus amount that I could say on the subject, too much for here and now, so I'll try and some up with the most relevant thing I've learned living here.
If any of you out there, who think you can cook a curry.
Think again.
PJ

I worked for several years in Handsworth.

Many of the staff used to bring in food their mums had made.So delicious.Food from heaven.Nothing like in the shops.

Yes Denise,
Having black and asian friends I have picked their brains and culture for tips and inside knowledge on their food and going to any kind of Sikh celebration is a treat.

Yes PJ,

I went to a Sikh wedding and it really was a wonderful affair. I have to be honest I very much admire the Sikh's as a people and have always found them the be the most polite and friendliest of all our imigrant population.

Phil

So True Phil, they have a code of conduct which is not unsimilar to King Arthur's knights, and some.

I used to deliver concrete, screed and stone to the building trade, I spent a few mornings at the Guru Nanak temple in West Brom, waiting to tip, I was always invited to join in the food which is cooked by the wives every morning for all comers who worship there, making sure that rich or poor alike, you had a meal inside you to start the day.
PJ.

Hi PJ

Living in Erdington and doing aggregate delivery work. you didn't work for Ricketts did you?

Phil

No Phil, but know some of their lads, I spent the last few years in the building trade most of my work was on bigger stuff.
My last stint was with Central Tipper Hire.
Don't know how Ricketts keep their trucks so clean, we used to pull their legs that the boss wouldn't send them on to dirty sites.

We used Ricketts quite a bit and occasionally they used us. Didn't know them all that well I'll be honest. Most of the contact was by phone, although I did call at their yard Summer Rd? a few times. I think the father died or retired not long after we started using them and I think the son took over.

I know that because of the bulk they bought m.o.t. 1 and aggregate in it was cheaper for us to use their account with RMC than our own and then pay them.

Phil

Yes the son did take over, he was still driving the artic tipper in-between. Like everyone they must have gone through a rough period lately . It is a well run company and I don't think they had many debts which helps you ride out the storm, he might have had to mothball a few trucks, but there still going, I saw the little tipper the other day with a load of recycled hardcore.
There has been a lot of changes since the crash, a mate of mine a bricky is on half the pay he was 18 months ago.

Don't you think some employers are making a meal of this recession PJ

PJ

I thought Ricketts had a set up that was pretty much like our own only they were mostly reliant on the transport side. We got out of the skip hire business in the mid 90's when they introduced the land fill tax and skip prices doubled overnight. We sold out that part of our business there and then, I could see the writing on the wall.

We kept the groundworks and demolition going until my uncle had a heart attack and I also became unable to work. We sold out and both retired. Sadly both businesses failed not long after we sold out. I suppose they didn't know how to deal with our customers and I have no doubt the first thing they did was increase the prices.

Phil

I don't know SB, no doubt some firms would take advantage, as they say, "get rid of the dead wood" What a disgrace to refer to people who have made the firm what it is, as dead wood. If some had lost their enthusiasm or become disalussioned, look to the management for not giving the employees the chance to improve or move up or try something different and get the best out of them. The Japanese move the workforce around all the time to maintain interest and give all the opportunity to get involved with new ideas, new work practises. The boss has to return to the shop floor and work once a year to keep him grounded and reminded that he too is only one of the work force, unlike here where our bosses, even if they started on the shop floor assume the outdated and now laughable attitude of us and them and I know better, which I believe has been the ruin of England's manufacturing base.
I must go, got to take the Misses to the vet.
PJ

in my younger days when i was learning a trade we used work all over the uk and for a short time we done a job on the i.o.w shanklin (clifftops hotel) what a nice place that was and at one time was thinking about going to live there but like most things it never happened now a few years back we went on a weeks holes staying at the fairways caravan site but i said to the wife lets go to shanklin for the day so off we went it was just the same has the first time i went a few shops different no new builds pubs just the same shanklin chine and black gang no different it was like going back in time even the lift down to the beach was the same run by the same man so the man said if a thing works why Chang it so i think some times we Chang things for the sake of

alvechurch has changed in the last few years and so has hopwood got a new football ground looks most impressive