Tradies

Since I moved into my little cottage in Surry Hills/Redfern I seem to have had a trail of tradesmen in and out. All have been there in a professional capacity. First there was the Hire-a-hubby to put up picture hooks and put together my Ikea units. Then came the handyman to fix the door, only he never actually came until he had missed several appointments and many phone calls. There was the plumber who fixed my revolting drain problems and now there is the renovator.

The Renovator is the man who put in the bathroom vanity and painted the house before I moved in. He’s coming to fit the new hot water tank (so I hope he is a qualified plumber too). I was told he would be calling me last Monday, so I waited. And waited, nothing. Yesterday when I was on the bus at about 11.30 I get a phone call from a private number.

‘Can you be at your house in fifteen to twenty minutes?’
‘Who is this?’ said I.
‘I’m coming to fit your new hot water system.’
‘Ahh, NO! It’s Sunday, I’m on a bus and at what point did we book this?’
‘I’m a very busy man you know.’
You may be, but…’

Anyway, the upshot of the conversation is that he’s coming between 6 and 7pm on Tuesday night. And I still have no idea what his name is.

Update 10:13 26-9-07 His name is Jim and he turned up at 1930. Ohh and he was really smelly.